Dear SCU Community:

As we begin the month of November, it is a time of celebration from National Gratitude month, Native American Heritage month, First Generation Student Week (Nov 4 - 8), International Education Week (Nov 18 - 22), leading into the Thanksgiving period.  We encourage you to engage accordingly with these opportunities amid this busy time of the academic term.

Camino de los Muertos

Join us on Saturday, November 2nd for the 2nd Annual Camino de los Muertos event on the SCU campus from 5 - 9pm. This event is in collaboration with Bay Area’s Univision 14, the Mexican Consulate of San Jose and Santa Clara University. From the main entrance of the Mission Church,  to the SCDI courtyard, and extending towards the Hut, the SCU campus will be transformed into a community Dia de los Muertos festival. From altars/ofrendas, to food stalls, arts & crafts, vendors with  traditional merchandise, traditional dance performances including SCU’s Ballet Folklórico, mariachis and a catrina/catrine costume contest.  The event is free and open to the entire SCU and local community.

Election 2024 Election Day is fast approaching— Tuesday, November 5th. We encourage all eligible members of the SCU community to participate and engage in the upcoming elections taking place on the local, state and national levels. As we gear up for elections, we are cognizant of heightened anxiety and stress. A number of opportunities including a special Post-Election Conversation sponsored by the Provost and Mission & Ministry will be available next week both before and after the election to provide spaces to destress, to reflect as well as to engage with each other in dialogue. A calendar of events as well as resources is available.

 

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UNIT UPDATES

I. Inclusive Excellence Division

• We are honored to announce that SCU was recognized by Insight into Diversity as a Diversity Champion for 2024. This is the first time that SCU has received the prestigious Diversity Champion designation. This honor recognizes the growth, institution-wide support, and success of Santa Clara’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts—making it a role model for other institutions of higher learning. For the prior three years (2021, 2022, 2023), Santa Clara was awarded a Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award, recognizing universities that demonstrably pursue the creation of diverse and inclusive environments on campus. Diversity Champions represent the highest-scoring HEED schools.

• We want to encourage all members of the SCU community to engage with the Opus Prize events taking place the week of November 11th, with a special request to attend the Awards Ceremony on November 14th at 4pm in the Mayer Theatre.

II. LEAD Scholars Program

• First-gen Week is coming! Join us for events during the week of Nov. 4th to celebrate our first-generation college community. 
• 11/4: Celebrate First Gen! Highlight all First Gen Broncos (Staff, Faculty, and Students). Tag @sculeadscholars or use #FirstGenAtSCU
• 11/6: Leavey Business School First-gen Celebration from 4:30-5:30 PM, Leavey Terrace
• 11/6: OML X LEAD Election Reflection from 5:30-7:30 PM, DISC, SCDI
• 11/7: FLI Forward Conference from 2-6 PM, SCDI, last day to register is Nov. 1st
• 11/8: First-gen Week Table from 12-3 PM, Benson Center

• The Inclusive Excellence Division, Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the LEAD Scholars Program was happy to host the 2nd Annual UndocuCon on 10/18! Over 250 undocumented college students, and allies attend from throughout the Bay Area. This event is co-sponsored with the Region 4 Community Colleges. 
• The LEAD Scholars Program will host a conversation with Dr. Francisco Jimenez for new LEAD students as part of their LEAD introduction to college seminar on 11/7. 

III. Multicultural Center (MCC)

• MCC week will be held the week of November 4th.

IV. Office of Accessible Education (OAE)

• OAE would like to welcome its newest team member Cam Coulter, Digital Access Specialist, back to SCU! After graduating from SCU as an undergrad, Cam spent a year of service with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps working at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Baltimore, MD, before spending two years as a live-in assistant at L'Arche Heartland, a community of adults with and without developmental disabilities in the Kansas City metro area. Most recently, Cam has worked as a digital accessibility consultant, testing websites and apps to make sure they work well for people with disabilities and people who use assistive technologies like screen readers. Cam is a Certified Professional in Web Accessibility (CPWA) and in their new role, they are excited to work with students who use assistive tech and help improve campus-wide accessibility at SCU. They are also always happy to talk about ethical technology, speculative fiction, and intentional community.

V. Office of Equal Opportunity and Title IX

• The Executive Committee, on behalf of the Board of Trustees, unanimously approved the two new policies, including:
• Sex-Based Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation Policy
• Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation Policy (Other than Sex-Based)
• Both policies are approved with an August 1, 2024 effective date and can be accessed at: https://www.scu.edu/title-ix/policy/ 

VI. Office for Diversity and Inclusion (ODI)

• SCU will celebrate Veterans Day on Friday, November 8th with a special Veterans Luncheon from 11:30am - 1:30pm in Locatelli Student Activity Center. Opportunity to engage with SCU Student Veterans as well as members from the ROTC. Open to all members of the SCU community and we welcome all SCU faculty and staff that have served in the military as well as dependents.
• As part of Native American Heritage month, we are encouraging contributions to the Ohlone and Muwekma Ohlone Endowed Scholarship. This scholarship was unveiled in Fall 2022 and the first recipient started this Fall 2023. Help us continue to expand and grow this scholarship. Every dollar helps to make a huge difference.
• A number of Tenure Track positions for the 2025-2026 academic year have been posted. Please share information about these exciting openings with your colleagues and peers at other institutions. To learn more, please visit: https://www.scu.edu/hr/careers/ 

VII. Office for Multicultural Learning (OML)

• Demystifying Disability Book Distribution -  OML is distributing copies of “Demystifying Disability” by Emily Ladau. There will be a lunch discussion to accompany the book on Friday, November 15 from 12-1:30pm in Library Taping Room A. Register for your copy!

• The Role of Journalists in Documenting Israel and Palestine - Join the OML for a reflective discussion on The Role of Journalists in Documenting Israel and Palestine in a safe and brave space. Explore the unique challenges journalists face in covering their stories, and engage in a thoughtful conversation about the ethics, risks, and impact of their work in shaping public understanding.

• Legacy of the Mission: Moving Tour and Discussion - What is the relationship between SCU and the Santa Clara Mission? Anthropology professor Lee Panich will lead a tour of campus and discuss the impacts of colonialism on Native people. After the tour, attendees can share their thoughts on the legacy of the mission. 
  • Monday, November 18 from 5-6:30pm
  • 5pm: Tour begins at the Abby Sobrato Mall fountain (near Varsi Hall and Admissions)
  • 5:45pm: Difficult Dialogue discussion in O’Connor 209
• DEI Training and Workshops - Are there topics related to identity, culture, and inclusion that your SCU unit could further explore? What aspects of LGBTQ+ identity are unfamiliar but relevant to your work? What exactly is racial justice and equity? OML/RRC staff lead DEI workshops, training and other development opportunities for the SCU community. Email OML@scu.edu to schedule a consultation!

VIII. Office of the Ombuds

• The University Ombuds is a confidential, informal, independent and impartial communication resource for faculty and staff. The Ombuds provides a confidential, no-obligation, space to discuss conflict and other communication challenges, unpack issues, identify goals, and explore options to address concerns. The ombuds provides assistance with a variety of tools such as communication coaching to navigate interpersonal relations; mediation between parties in need of dialogue; group facilitation for exploring and deliberating on challenges that need focus; and customized community building circles for teams to enhance workplace climate and communication.
• If you would a confidential, no-obligation consultation with the Ombuds, contact the Office of the Ombuds at ombuds@scu.edu ;dgalan@scu.edu; 408-551-3542

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DEI RESOURCES FROM THE LIBRARY

The library is celebrating Native American Heritage Month with a book display. The display highlights authors and stories from Native American backgrounds. Special thanks to the members of the Native/Indigenous ERG for their book selections and for providing ideas for the display. 

*To access the SCU library resources off-campus you must login with SCU username and password. 

eBook Recommendations:

We are the land : A History of Native California

Description: We Are the Land is the first and most comprehensive text of its kind, centering the long history of California around the lives and legacies of the Indigenous people who shaped it. Beginning with the ethnogenesis of California Indians, We Are the Land recounts the centrality of the Native presence from before European colonization through statehood-paying particularly close attention to the persistence and activism of California Indians in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

The Beadworkers: Stories

Description: A woman teaches her niece to make a pair of beaded earrings while ruminating on a fractured relationship. An eleven-year-old girl narrates the unfolding of the Fish Wars in the 1960s as her family is propelled to its front lines. In 1890, as tensions escalate at Wounded Knee, two young men at college--one French and the other Lakota--each contemplate a death in the family. In the final, haunting piece, a Nez Perce-Cayuse family is torn apart as they debate the fate of ancestral remains in a moving revision of the Greek tragedy Antigone. Formally inventive and filled with vibrant characters, The Beadworkers draws on Indigenous aesthetics and forms to offer a powerful, sustaining vision of Native life.

Braiding Sweetgrass : Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

Description: In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on “a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise” (Elizabeth Gilbert). Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.

Streaming Media Recommendations: 

Kanopy A streaming video service containing thousands of videos from leading producers around the world, including PBS, BBC, California Newsreel, A&E, and more. 

Native American Studies Films Available  

Native American Heritage Month videos available 

Music Online: American MusicThis streaming music database provides over 1 million tracks reflecting the music of all American ethnic groups and regions, from the Revolutionary War to the present.

Blue Tribe - Deep Spirit  

Remember to Chat with a Librarian Librarians are available 24/7!

*Collaborate with the POP Committee on an upcoming library display for a heritage month or theme. Please fill out the form. 

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CAMPUS DIVERSITY CALENDAR

The Inclusive Excellence Division is committed to expanding awareness of the different diversity-related programming taking place on-campus. For those that use the Live-Whale Calendar, you can use the “diversity” tag to ensure that events will appear on the Diversity calendar on the Inclusive Excellence website. You can also send your program information to inclusiveexcellence@scu.edu.