November 11, 1995 Minutes

UC Irvine

1. Domestic Partner Benefits

Bob Gentry informed the group that some of the SCOM's recommendations on the UCOP's May DP Benefits report had been incorporated into the September UCOP report. Al raised the point that the UC General Counsel and academic representatives were present at the last meeting with outgoing President Peltason. Aaron from UC Student Association told the group that UCSA will bring up DP benefits at their next meeting with the vice president at the end of November. He stated that UCOP has been raising financial concerns as a reason for moving slowly on providing DP benefits in student housing. Aaron requested UCLGBA support on UCSA's work toward student DP housing benefits.

Rich Beatty raised the question of which UC campuses offer DP insurance benefits for students. UC-SF does, although student partners must pay for their insurance there. UC-Davis offers benefits to residents and interns.

Al Aubin stated that the SCOM should thank UCOP for its report, and should offer to assist UCOP by making recommendations for the implementation of DP benefits, rather than getting caught up in minutiae of the latest report. He concluded that SCOM should take these steps as quickly as possible, and within 60 days at longest.

Bob Gentry summarized the discussion by offering two suggestions:
1. that UCLGBA SCOM co-chairs summarize campus input on the latest report for UCOP and;
2. that UCLGBA arrange a meeting for UCOP, UCLGBA, UCSA, the UC Staff Assembly and the leadership of the UC Academic Council. This meeting would present a united front on the DP issue so that DP benefits are not portrayed as yet another special interest agenda item. This approach has the additional benefit of allowing President Atkinson to state that he has met with leaders of the University community when he announces his policy on DP benefits. Jonathan Winters added that he supported Bob Gentry's proposal, but that he saw value in each campus taking its own position on DP benefits within its own administration.

The motion to carry out Bob's proposal was seconded and carried. The SCOM will generate a letter to UCOP soon to begin the process of coordinating this meeting.

2. Election of New Co-Chair

Jonathan was unanimously elected Co-Chair to serve with Sarah Archibald.

3. Conference

Jonathan Winters circulated an interest survey to elicit input on the planning of the next UCLGBA conference, to be held at UC-Berkeley in February 1996. This conference might not be as grand in scale as the last conference (at UC-Santa Barbara), especially as UC-Berkeley's Chancellor's Advisory Group, which Jonathan had hoped might support the conference financially, has yet to meet.

4. Proper Scope and Content of UCLGBA E-mail List Server

After extensive discussion of the proper use of the UCLGBA e-mail list server, the group decided to post guidelines on the proper use of the list server once per quarter and put the burden of posting appropriately on individual users, rather than on a list serve moderator.

5. Increasing Involvement with the UCLGBA, Especially of People of Color

Several issues that might tend to limit involvement in the UCLGBA were identified:
1. the UCLGBA has focused on DP benefits recently, which tend to interest staff more than students or faculty;
2. the groups which send representatives to the UCLGBA tend to be staff, rather than student or faculty based;
3. the omission of 'transgender' in the organization's name tends to put off transgender individuals who might otherwise be interested in participating;
4. the UCLGBA has not to date taken on active role in soliciting leadership from people of color;
5. the UCLGBA administrative structure is not well known and tends not to be accessible to non-members on individual campuses;
6. meetings inevitably are a long distance from some campuses, given the size of California.

6. Campus Climate Report

Sarah mentioned that UCSD has produced a campus climate report and that she should provide copies for interested campuses. She mentioned further that a small donation to defray the cost of the report would be appreciated. Charles added that he had produced a similar report for UCLA and that he would e-mail copies to anyone interested.

7. Inclusion of 'Transgender' in UCLGBA's Title

Shirley, Talia and Dex, transgender individuals from UCLA, presented their reasons for adding the term 'transgender' to the UCLGBA's title. Briefly put, these reasons were:
1. transgender individuals often do not feel comfortable approaching offices, groups, programs and services which feature only 'gay, lesbian and bisexual' in their names;
2. transgender men and women often face extreme discrimination and difficulties on campus;
3. anti-discrimination laws often do not protect transgender men and women, even if they do protect LGB people;
4. transgender issues are becoming more and more prominent at UCLA and at many other campuses.

Shirley added that including the term in the name would not be enough, stating that the UCLGBA and member campuses must work actively to be mindful of transgender issues.

The group concluded that it would:
1. recommend to the general assembly that the name be changed and
2. that it would take steps to educate each campus on transgender issues before a vote took place.

Shirley and Charles agreed to forward educational materials to each campus.

8. Pooling/Sharing of Information on LGBT Services/Programs

The group agreed to compile and share information on support for LGBT services and programs on each campus. To be included in this report are data on: space allocated to LGBT concerns; staffing for LGBT support (including pay level, classification and reporting relationships; level of in-kind support; level of funding for Chancellor's Advisory Committee, on-campus and off-campus sources of LGBT funding, and availability and distribution of LGBT information brochures. John Dixon will collect and format this information if he receives reports from individual campuses by early December.

9. Affirmative Action

The SCOM agreed to sign a letter of support for Affirmative Action in the UC system in general and the hunger strikers at UC-Irvine and UC-Davis in particular. Please see other SCOM documentation for exact text of this letter as modified by the SCOM. Charles added that action to support the goals of Affirmative Action would be appropriate at this point. Al mentioned the possibility of creating programming on Affirmative Action with people of color groups and Women's Resources Centers on each campus.

10. Distribution of Minutes

The group agreed to distribute minutes electronically after each meeting for review. These minutes will be approved at the following SCOM meeting.

11. Orientation to UC Issues

After some discussion on the complexity of the UC administrative system, especially on the part of new SCOM attendees, Al agreed to bring an organizational chart of UC administrative structures to the next SCOM meeting.

12. Problem Solving at UCLGBA SCOM Meetings

The group discussed the possibility of using a portion (perhaps 30 minutes) of each SCOM meeting to problem solve issues facing each campus. This would help share expertise among the campuses, and would encourage open and frank discussion of the issues facing LGBT members of each campus. The group agreed to ask each campus to put one or two of the issues with which it is currently struggling into written form before each SCOM meeting; one or two of these problems will be selected for group discussion.

13. Campus Reports for SCOM Meetings

Each campus is reminded that it should submit written reports on its activities for SCOM meetings. Use of this written format will leave more time on the agenda for discussing issues of general interest. These reports should include mention of an issue not previously addressed with regularity by the SCOM; information on campus safety, assaults and harassment.

14. Curricular Issues

Chris Browning suggested that adding discussion of curricular issues to the agenda would spark faculty interest in the UCLGBA. John Dixon agreed to send a copy of UC-Davis's report on curricular issues to any interested campuses.

15. Faculty Mentorship

Pat Walsh agreed to bring details of UC-Irvine's faculty mentorship program, which has been highly successful, to the next SCOM meeting.

16. Next SCOM Meeting

UCLA agreed to coordinate the next SCOM meeting, to be held during the UCLGBA conference at UC-Berkeley in February. Charles will be in touch with each campus to solicit reports and agenda items as the conference approaches.