Hellooooo friends!
Since the school year has wrapped up, it’s important for y’all to know what our wonderful DEI committee has been up to! It’s been an interesting process and bumpy road being that this is a new realm for the club, but we want to assure you that changes are being made and that we’re working really hard to lay some amazing foundations for future DEI initiatives. Below is an explanation of what we’ve done this year (just this semester!?!). Until we’re able to put this information out permanently in the reporting tab of the website, please use this announcement as a place to find these resources in the future!
POLICY
We have made changes to the sexual misconduct policy to be a process that is more sensitive to survivors & allows them to have more say in the reporting and disciplinary process. Additionally, we MADE an anti-discrimination/general harassment policy so that the club now has a formal way of dealing with these issues.
Sexual Misconduct Policy:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/194oD31Lvs2L2x3V8_iCkR5_9HtKsiO2591L63SjoAzA/edit?usp=sharing
Anti-Discrimination & Harassment Policy:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l1zpYdabDbe7rbXTpIFC6CKXO4FaoIY-qtfzhX0aA8E/edit?usp=sharing
REPORTING
As part of reforming the already established policy, we included anonymous equity reporting forms to handle harassment issues that allow members to have a more accessible means of reporting misconduct. This form is included in the policies, and can also be found here:
https://forms.gle/wb1eFdMUPW7VEDWz8
Additionally, a general equity response form has been created for club members to offer suggestions for DEI initiatives or policy changes. Feel free to add yours here!:
https://forms.gle/AGNgJ2PwWQwth6XN7
AFFINITY TRIPS
I want to say a big thank you to those of you who have led affinity trips!! It’s super important that we create spaces in the outdoors for marginalized groups, and I’m loving the LGBTQ-friendly atmosphere we are cultivating!! For those of you who want to lead affinity trips, here is the formal description that will be added to the trip leader manual once we can get it updated on the website:
“Affinity trips are considered to be any trip that is specifically for a group that is marginalized within the outdoors, or outdoors club (ex. Women, LGBTQ, BIPOC, etc.). This can be any type of trip that you would post as a regular outdoors club trip, such as mountain biking, hiking, paddling, etc. In order to lead an affinity trip you MUST be a member of the group you are leading the trip for. Each affinity trip also, like service trips, counts as 2 trips—which means if you lead two affinity trips, or one affinity trip and two regular trips, you can get your dues reimbursed.
If you are leading an LGBTQ affinity trip, you MUST note in your description that anyone who wants to join, but feels uncomfortable signing up on the website (where the person’s name can be seen by non-LGBTQ club members), can reach out to you directly to indicate their interest & put themselves on the waitlist.”
ADDITIONAL INITIATIVES & FUTURE
While these are great starting points, our committee is determined to continue to make changes that will make the club a more inclusive and welcoming space. This includes processing census data, creating more policy, publicizing the ability to waive dues, better representation in the officer core, club outreach to other clubs/orgs, and so so SO much more. If you’re planning to renew your dues and come back next semester, please consider joining us and our pursuits! Our group is small & would love the extra hands to get more stuff done. We’ll definitely be reaching out for more DEI support at the start of next semester & would love to have your application land in our hands.
Peace, love, and all the feral-ness,
Melu (your new DEI Chair!!) & the officers <3
p.s. thanks to everyone who filled out the census! We are working on processing all the information and reaching out to people who were interested/had ideas for initiatives/gave us feedback that we want to follow up on.