Fall 2004 Minutes!
First Week
First off, I'd like to say that we decided on a meeting time for this
term. The new meeting time is:
WEDNESDAYS, 7:30pm in the GSC.
This is half an hour earlier than last year, so make sure you write
that on your hand or something.
Onto the "minutes"... (otherwise known as "roxanne's notes")
1. Intros! Seventeen people
attended this week's meeting, seven of them new. Welcome! Intros
included everyones favorite winged animal, in honor of our absent
co-president Leah.
2. Robin suggested we go over SAGA's goals as a group. SAGA provides some support for the GLBTQA
community, but its overall goal is to encourage activism within the
community and for related issues. SAGA works with issues at Carleton,
in Minnesota, and across the country - basically, whatever issues
people are interested in working on. Past projects have included:
marriage activism night, in which we provided materials for people to
make buttons, send letters to recently married GLBTQ couples in San
Francisco, send letters to representatives, sign petitions, make GLBTQA
related buttons, and get "married" (see pictures from that event here!
http://orgs.carleton.edu/saga/manpix.html); asking the CSA to sign a
letter saying they support the blood drive but not their policy
preventing 'men who have had sex with men since 1977'; lobbying at the
capitol, meeting with Northfield representatives about GLBTQ issues,
working with the college to create new policy on transgender housing,
as well as annual events such as hosting the Drag Ball and National
Coming Out Week dance. As always, SAGA is looking for new projects, so
if you have an idea, come to a meeting!
3. Treasurer for fall term!
As our treasurer for winter and spring terms is currently studying in
Madrid, SAGA will hold informal elections for the position of treasurer
at next week's meeting. Duties are pretty much what you'd expect, with
most of your responsibilities being requesting money from CSA when SAGA
needs it and getting checks to anyone that needs one. It's easy enough
to figure out, and we encourage anyone interested to apply. (It's a
great resume builder!)
4. Student Orgs Fair sign ups
SAGA will have a table at this Friday's student orgs fair, which will
be from 4:30-6:30 on the Bald Spot this Friday. We'll start setting up
at 3:45. We decided that one person will sit at the table (with its
one chair) and the others will mingle and get people to go to the
table. Duties:
Set up: Lawrence
Minging/sitting: Courtney, Michael, Sam, possibly Jenny.
5. International Drag King Extravaganza!
Roxanne announced some details about the International Drag King
Extravaganza (IDKE). IDKE will take place on the 14-17 of October in
Chicago. (October 14-17 is also parent's weekend and mid-term break).
It includes an academic conference, a drag showcase, drag workshops,
and lots of cool people. If you're interested please email morenov or
add your name to the list in the GSC. The list is filling up fast!
6. Potential outside campaigns
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) will be hosting a Campaign Academy from
September 24-26 in Minneapolis. They're provide free training in
exchange for a commitment to work on an upcoming HRC campaign.
Interested people should email a resume to bo.shuff@hrc.org.
GenderPAC will be hosting a "Grassroots Conference Call" on September
25, featuring John Cameron Mitchell (of Hedwig and the Angry Inch) and
Riki Wilchins (executive director of GenderPAC). The call is designed
for participants to learn more about gender rights and connect with
other gender leaders across the country. If anyone is interested in
making this happen, please let me or Courtney (speignec) know, and we
can get you some information ASAP.
7. GenderPAC update
Dustin has been in fairly frequent contact with Kristen from GenderPAC
this summer and provided a general update on our connection with
GenderPAC, GenderROOTS/YOUTH. Basically, we want to work with
GenderPAC (a national organization whose aim is to end gender
discrimination across the country) to get ideas for projects and help
them out too.
8. Ideas for the fall
Friday Tie-Day: Robin said she found last year's Friday Tie-Day,
started by the residents of WA House, to be a subtle, effective way of
raising gender awareness.
Genderfuck Day: Courtney brought up the idea of a genderfuck day, a
heavily advertised not-so-subtle day in which students should fuck with
their gender presentation all day. Ryan agreed to help organize this
project, as long as some other people agree to help.
SWA Contacts: Ryan suggested that SWA info also be included in co-ed
bathrooms, and Katie (our SWA contact) said she'd be willing to help
include some transgender issues in the SWA stalls. She also mentioned
that the majority of the questions in her "It's Not All About Sex"
discussion group had to do with the transgender character, which could
indicate a general campus interest in the topic.
Provocative signs: Our off-campus treasurer wrote to suggest that we
post signs around campus with strong provocative messages about gender
in order to get people to think about their own for a little bit.
9. Queers and Allies Kickball Team!
New member Em wants to start a Q&A IM kickball team! An interest
meeting will be held this Monday at 7pm in the GSC, so please attend if
you're interested in joining this totally awesome pastime. If you have
any questions or cannot attend the meeting, please contact harrise.
10. Update on transgender housing policy
At the end of last year we touched on this topic, discussing the
possibility of working with the Learning & Teaching Center to
introduce more awareness and education about transgender issues to the
faculty and staff. So far this is happening, according to Dustin, with
the first step of Kaaren Williamsen being added to a panel that will
take place this September. The overall goal will to be have specific
programs on the topic, which will hopefully be slowly introduced to the
faculty and staff.
Other topics in this discussion included:
- Feedback that the current policy of a "case by case basis" still
didn't result in an ideal housing situation for one student
- What do people want? Other schools have gender blind housing
policies, but this might be too much to ask of Carleton right now
- A genderblind floor? A genderblind house? Rooms in Q&A house?
Scattered genderblind rooms in the dorms
- Working with ResLife to work out a reasonable agreement on effort,
realizing that we cannot move forward without their support
- Ask Steve Wisener from ResLife to discuss what he learned at a
related conference he attended this summer
- Robin will contact other colleges that have worked with genderblind
housing in the past, as well as other schools that have worked with
similar policies.
1. Intros
1.5 JENNY
has agreed to bring snacks for the 3rd week meeting! Hooray
Jenny. You get a prize: your very own GSC pen. Collect at this week's meeting, 7:30pm Wednesday
in the GSC.
2. New
Treasurer for the term!
Sinda Nichols, class of
'05, has agreed to be treasurer for fall term. Thanks
Sinda!
3. Friday tie-day
Continuing off a WA House
(?) tradition, SAGA folks have decided to become involved in Friday Tie
Day. Be gender different: wear a tie on Fridays. Even if you would normally wear a tie, it's still a
great way to further gender yourself. WA House
has a collection of ties if you need one. Also,
SAGA discussed the possibility of buying cheap ties when we see them at
garage sales, to start our own collection.
4. Genderfcuk
day:
We further discussed the
idea of genderfcuk day, which included how to promote it (genderfcuk? Genderf**k?), and what it will entail. Em
and Ryan came up with a few ideas, including potentially covering all
bathroom signs so that they say co-ed/unisex/genderless, putting up
informative table tents, including an evening event (movie? speaker?
dialog panel?), when it will take place (potentially as a part of
National Coming Out Week?), and putting slips of paper in mailboxes.
5. Meeting
with ResLife update:
Naja met with Steve
Wisener on Friday and will (hopefully) provide another update at this
week's meeting.
6. Tabling:
When to table? We discussed potentially having bursts of tabling
when relevant issues come up, such as election information and the
blood drive. Rachel mentioned the possibility
of tabling with other groups to combine information.
7. Blood
drive
The blood drive is this
Tuesday and Wednesday, September 28 and 29. SAGA
will tenatively table AFTER the blood drive with a petition to raise
awareness about the Red Cross' policy (approximately) that bars
donation from men who have had sex with men since the '70s - or have
had sex with men who have sex with men since the '70s. Again,
this will take place only AFTER the blood drive so as not to discourage
people from donating. We recognize that this is
a very important service that should not be discouraged.
8. National
Coming Out Week dance
SAGA and CIAO are working
with the NCOW committee to organize this year's NCOW dance. Lucy, Courtney, and Jenny agreed to help with
organizing. Lucy sent an email to CIAO asking
for more volunteers. Jon agreed to be a mingler
(one that attends other parties for the sole purpose of getting people
to go to ours) for the event. Most importantly,
everyone needs to SHOW UP for the dance to ensure its success.
9. Meeting
with PFLAG?
The meeting has already
passed, but SAGA will potentially meet with Tim Vick of the geo
department to go to Northfield PFLAG meetings and work with the
citizens of Northfield.
10. Gender
housing policies at other schools
Robin spoke with someone
at Wesleyan, who said that their current genderblind policy has turned
out to be somewhat of a mess. A few freshman
didn't understand what "genderblind housing" meant and were unhappily
housed with other genders, and they've all been reassigned since then. Some were given singles, and the school is unsure
what they're going to do in the future. She
also noted that the policy was initiated by a student group that went
through the student senate, which was comprised of students, faculty,
and students. Therefore, it seems like
something we could make an effort toward at Carleton.
Third Week Minutes!
1. Thank Ryan for snacks! Bread,
Nutella, and Swiss Cheese. Mmm.
2. Intros. 10 people present, even though the email list wasn’t
working.
3. Red Cross
Update
Tabled from 10-2. People stopped
by, but Sayles was kind of dead. Got around 30 signatures. A few
people asked real questions, which was nice.
4. Deb Davis
We received our co-sponsor share
(thank you CSA). For the discussion afterward, we went over potential
things to do. Katie volunteered to donate a couple hundred notecards
to the event. We decided to have around five volunteer facilitators
(Courtney, Ryan, Roxanne, Max) who will help keep discussion going and
generally make people more comfortable. We also decided to ask Alt.
Bev. for food (cheese, crackers, vegetables, cookies, juice), Sinda
volunteered to help with getting food. This is for the Monday, October
11 event that will begin at 8pm in Boliou 104. The reception will
follow in the GSC. Katie also let us know that the SWAs will be
attending the lecture, and have invited the dorms to come as well as
part of the SWA program.
5. NCOW dance
sponsoring?
We don’t have much of a budget
right now, so we could potentially sponsor around $50 to help with
decorations. Once again, come, and come EARLY! Setup begins at eight.
6. Tabling
during NCO week
We’ll table with opportunities
for people to draw their coming out stories (for any identity) and what
they like about being a part of the community. This is potentially on
Tuesday and Wednesday, but we need to reserve the tables first. We’ll
also check on the availability of the big bulletin boards in upper
Sayles to post the bricks and pictures.
7. Genderfcuk
delegations
Max suggested a drag show as part
of the evening events, along with the skit, music, movies? To be
potentially held in the Cave on Tuesday, 26 October. It’s also Q&A
house movie night, so we could ask to coordinate and potentially show
the movie in the Cave (Some Like it Hot? The Birdcage? Cage Aux
Foilles?)
Committees: posters, trifolds.
Roxanne will make a poster, and translate it into trifold format.
Katie will help with distribution. Ryan will email Hudlin Wagner
about possibly covering the bathroom signs for a day.
8. Sinda volunteered for snacks
next week!
ß go
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