October 23, 2004 Minutes
D R A F T

UC Santa Barbara

Attendees:

UC Berkeley: Shawn DeMille (Chair)
UC Davis: Jeff Lagasca (Student Chair)
UC Riverside: Marlenne Felix, Clare Gmur, Teri Joaquin, Bryon Nuttall, Tatiana Svolopoulos, Nancy Jean Tubbs (Vice Chair), Catalina Vallejos, Jocelyn Wong
UC San Diego: Sean La Perruque, Shaun Travers
UC San Francisco: David Bell, Shane Snowdon
UC Santa Barbara: Kiko Almanza, Ted Burnes, Tanya Danel, Kiely Hosmon, Katie Joaquin, Rodolfo (Rudy) Lopez, Miguelito Mendoza, Kyle Richards (Secretary)
UC Santa Cruz: James Sheldon
Not present: UCI, UCLA, UCM, LANL, LBNL, LLNL, UCOP

9:48am Meeting is called to order.

10:02am Approval of the minutes (Emily Nalven moves, Shawn DeMille seconds)

10:03am Review agenda

10:05am Welcome & Introductions (Nancy Jean Tubbs)

10:10am Shane Snowdon

Shane Snowdon is now 50% UCOP fellow for LGBTI equity; 2-year fellowship to work system-wide on LGBTIA issues

Trans Health Benefits

1. UC employees… trans hormones and therapy now covered, surgery intended to be covered beginning July 1
2. Students… undergrads & grads covered by GSHIP or USHIP, student health advisory committee on each campus votes on coverage; not consistent from campus to campus or from provider to provider (may be able to find sympathetic physicians)
3. Two approaches for trans health benefit inclusion:
   1. Go to each campus health committee and advocate for trans coverage. Contracts generally reviewed annually, sometimes biannually. Some Southern CA campuses bundle their policies. Strategy: secure student allies (AS, student leaders, etc.) to join in advocacy.
   2. Possibility exists that the new state-wide gender identity non-discrimination law (AB 196) may require trans health benefits (but some trans activists don’t want to push it too far for fear of a backlash from employers throughout the state)
4. Current trans health benefit providers: City & County of San Francisco, State of MN, University of MN; however, none have examples of “model” health benefits package; UCOp is trying to write a truly good policy, with guidance from trans employees and physicians.
5. Clare: Create step-by-step guide for each campus to tackle this issue (Shane, Jocelyn, Clare, Shawn volunteer to work on this)
6. Provide competency training to folks in counseling centers—Dr. Lori Kohler at UCSF willing to travel to other campuses; also, Dr. Carol Scherffenberger at Kaiser (SoCal)
7. Strategies will vary campus-by-campus—e.g., loud and visible vs. quiet; first ask, and see what resistance there is and where it comes from

AB 205 & Financial Aid

1. AB 205 takes effect January 1, 2005 – gives state-registered DP couples most of the rights of married couples
2. Students who have registered DP will automatically become independent from parents (same as married students)…. Financial aid will be based on the income of you and your DP, not your parents’ income.
3. Will vote at Regents meeting at UCLA November 17-18; need students to speak in support of student equality
4. Caveat…. Students whose custodial parents has a registered DP will now have that DP’s income considered in the calculation of their financial need
5. Federal government does not recognize same-sex couples; therefore, UC aid and Cal Grants may be needed to give DPs the aid they would be entitled to if married; this will require DP to fill out form and file it with campus fiancial office along with FAFSA
6. Regents will also vote to extend in-state tuition and tuition waivers/reductions to to registered DPs students as to married students

Student Family Housing

2 yrs ago President of UC mandated that all “married” and “family” student housing be opened not only to students’ spouses but also to their “dependent family members”; uner AB 205, new policy likely to be issued clarifying that students’ DPs (as well as spouses and dependent family members) are eligible for family housing

Retiree Benefits

Retirees prior to July 2002 will now retroactively have their benefits equalized (with some exceptions)

Gender Neutral Restrooms & Housing

1. Shane Snowdon met with Provost MRC Greenwood and AVP Dennis Galligani to provide education about this ad other trans student issues
2. Two weeks ago, restroom conversion was raised at the regular meeting of the Vice Chancellors for Administration system-wide , and they were encouraged to convert at leat 50% of existing single-stall restrooms to unisex, base don campus inventory
3. Campus training is needed, e.g., for housing staff, registrar (and others) who record sex/gender of students, other front-line staff
4. Center directors should lead the efforts on each campus to do education
5. Office of the President sending a letter responding to letter from Student Regent regarding gender-neutral restrooms; it will suggest: inventory campus single- stall restrooms; converting 50% of single-stall to gender-neutral restrooms (by ??); and increasing gender-neutral restrooms in new construction and construction in progress
6. Nancy Jean Tubbs will write a letter on behalf of SCOM to OP on this issue

11:30am Jeff Lagasca: Conference Update

1. This year’s goals:
   1. Workshop solicitation went out last month (goal: 40 submissions by Nov 19)
   2. 10-12 caucus sessions throughout the day
   3. 62-70 workshop presentations
2. Only 4 submissions so far. How can we solicit more? Extend the deadline?
3. Suggestion to consider ending the conference sooner—Sunday afternoon will loose many people who are anxious to get home soon. Also consider moving up closing speaker (Lani Ka’ahumanu)… possibly to noon
4. Registration capped at 850
5. Group registration by number… names are not necessary for group registration
6. John White (UC Merced) had made a suggestion about a program idea…. We should follow up with him to invite him to present a program at the conference
7. Budget: around $40,000

Student Caucus

1. UCLA, UCSD, UCSB – funding being taken away from LGBT resource centers; affecting staffing and programming
2. Student Agenda: Haven’t been able to meet frequently enough to address the issues; would like to have more frequent meetings (monthly conference calls – first sat of month; November 6 @ 5pm)
3. Goals of next conference call:
   1. Compile list of ally programs & QPOC programs
   2. Send to Jeff Lagasca by November 6
   3. Discuss what works and what doesn’t work
   4. Nancy can compile and post on the UCLGBTIA website
4. Have a student section of the website
5. Contact campuses that were not represented today to include them in the conference calls
6. Trans health benefits – students want to advocate on this issue, but don’t know how to

LGBT Studies

1. Establishing Queer/Gender/Sexuality Requirement at UCSB – first want to come to a consensus of how to proceed
2. Establishing queer studies programs (minors or majors) – publicize suggested strategies of how to get them at each campus.
3. Nancy: George Haggerty’s advice:
   1. Use existing courses
   2. No new money to create initially

Mentorship program

1. UCI & UCLA peer mentorship
2. UCSB mentorship program through Counseling & Career Services
3. UCSD peer support program advised by staff member (in Res Life)
4. Davis starting peer educator program this year by LGBTRC
5. No program at UCR
6. Berkeley has alumni mentorship program, run through GALA (Gay & Lesbian Alumni Association)

QPOC Recruitment & Retention

1. Q-Camp at UCSD – run through LGBTRC; 47 students, over _ are students of color; sends out one-page ad to all incoming students; tables at every orientation event over summer; advertise during welcome week (week before classes)
2. High school conference at UCSD – organized by students (partially funded by Student Outreach) and coordinated with high school GSAs
3. UCR – return of API discussion group (Downe Time)
4. UCR – Que Onda Queers Latin@ groups, DOWNEtime API group
5. UC Davis – API Queers
6. UC Davis – La Familia
7. UCSB – QPOC Intern in LGBT Resource Center
8. Womyn of Color Conference @ UCSB April 8-10
9. USSA QPOC Summit January 15-17 around QPOC organizing on college campuses; Columbus, OH

3:05pm Restrooms

1. Emily moves to present Safe & Accessible Restrooms Resolution to the General Assembly in February, seconded by Jeff Lagasca
2. Nancy will put a link to the resolution on the conference website
3. Jeff will present the resolution to the other students on the conference call on November 6
4. Include resolution into the program of the Western Regional Conference – share with others what we are doing

3:13pm Conference Suggestion: presentation at the conference of each campus’s accomplishments over the past year. Suggestion to include a slide show of images from each campus during General Assembly, instead of verbal or written reports.

3:15pm Summer Directors Meeting - Nancy Tubbs reported back

1. Directors attended from UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, UC Riverside, UC San Francisco, Cal Poly SLO, Stanford
2. Staffing & budgeting issues
3. Creative fundraising and alumni development
4. Sharing of common issues and how we have addressed them
5. Lunch with UCSB Housing office – tour of Rainbow House
6. Discussion with UCSB Housing regarding transgender housing issues
7. Transgender video project

3:20pm Funding: Discussion of funding issues and ways to get funding

1. Registration-fee funded offices
2. Student lock-in fees – student body votes to increase their fees for a specific program (UCSB)

Upcoming Meetings

1. Winter SCOM @ UC Davis; Friday, February 18; 5-7pm
2. General Assembly Meeting Saturday, February 19; Noon-1pm
3. Spring 2005 SCOM @ UCLA (try not conflict with UCSA meeting) in April?
4. Fall 2005 SCOM – Santa Cruz (or UCOP?) possibly first weekend in November?

3:55pm Leadership Development in UCLGBTIA

1. Encourage a model of student involvement from local to global issues
2. High turnover is a reality
3. How can we better market meetings to students?
4. Flyer at Conference… Top Ten Reasons to come to the May SCOM? (“cute & perky”)

4:02pm Shaun Travers moves to adjourn, Sean La Perruque seconds. Meeting adjourned.

Minutes submitted by Kyle Richards.