Calling Out, Calling In
Comfort, Discomfort & Ground Rules
In an earlier work, Sensoy & DiAngelo offer the following Guidelines for maximizing your learning:
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1. "Strive for intellectual humility."
2. "Recognize the difference between opinions and informed knowledge."
3. "Let go of personal anecdotal evidence and look at broader societal patterns."
4. "Notice your own defensive reactions and attempt to use these reactions as entry points for gaining deeper self-knowledge."
5. "Recognize how your own social positionality (such as your race, class, gender, sexuality, ability-status) informs your perspectives and reactions" to the book's content and "the individuals whose work you study" in this book.
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Source: Sensoy, Özlem., and Robin J. DiAngelo. Is Everyone Really Equal? : An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education / Özlem Sensoy and Robin DiAngelo.Teachers College Press, 2011.
LC191 S38 2011
RACE ON CAMPUS:
Debunking Myths with Data
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Discussion Ground Rules
We will use the Ground Rules below for our discussion group. Each session will be a facilitated discussion of selected chapters, led by a member of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee. Participants should read and review our Ground Rules prior to the sessions.
Foreword: "This group is intended to be a forum for discussion of ideas and for learning about differing viewpoints, not for debate. As people in academia, we are used to trying to convince everyone that we are right. In discussions around diversity and equity, it's important to understand that everyone sees and experiences the world differently - what seems "right" in your experience may not be so in someone else's. Everyone is asked to consider different perspectives, for the purpose of sensitivity, learning, and growth. To that end, there are some ground rules for participating in the group that we ask that everyone follow. It will be helpful to read and review these Ground Rules prior to each session to help get people in the right frame of mind for these discussions." (1)
We will modify these as a group to meet DEI needs.
(1) Forward and Ground Rules from Ground Rules and Tools : Facilitating Productive Discussions (UCAR); also from the ISU Principles of Community, Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (UMichigan), Library Juice Academy, and Is Everyone Really Equal. These Ground Rules are not static and continue to be refined over time particularly as we seek to decenter expectations of "comfort" and silence as strategies for non-engagement.