Notes on the First General Body Meeting After August 11th and 12th, 2017

Notes on the First General Body Meeting After August 11th and 12th, 2017

Admissions Response, University Response, and Minority Voices Panel

Brendan Nigro, Chair of the Guides Service at the time of the white supremacist rallies in Charlottesville, distributed these notes on the first general body meeting to take place after these incidents to all members. The close of the notes includes a personal message from Brendan.

08/27/2017

Session I: Admissions Response- Dean Greg Roberts, Office of Undergraduate Admission
- Right now, admissions deans are mentioning recent events in Charlottesville at the beginning of info sessions briefly and opening up for questions. They have yet to receive many questions.
- Potentially worried about prospects of recruiting students of color. Don't want regression based on a less diverse applicant pool.
- Only one student from incoming class decided not to come to UVA, to Dean Roberts' knowledge.

Session II: University Response- Nicole Eramo (VPSA) and Bryanna Miller (BOV)
- Check out this website: http://response.virginia.edu
- There are great FAQ's on the site that guides should read to be well-versed in University's response.
- The University has invested in an audit of their security measures and communication strategies from leading firms across the country.
- Bryanna Miller will sit on the Dean's Working Group for potential policy changes moving forward.
- Imminent focus seems to be on safety concerns, but hopeful other cultural concerns will be addressed moving forward.

Session III: Minority Voices Panel- Edem Akwayena, Attiya Latif, Wes Gobar
- Remember your role as bastions of our University's history: its treasures and its ugliness.
- Aim of advocacy organizations on Grounds, led by BSA, is to apply pressure to administration to evoke change. Read BSA's demands if you have not already!
- It is the responsibility of us as Guides to contextualize and not individualize the white supremacist rallies in Charlottesville. Yes, these rallies could have happened somewhere else. Yes, many of these people were from out of town. But, the narrative of "This is Not Us" not only comes off as defensive, but also isn't entirely true. Charlottesville has a deeply troubled history with race-based oppression and legacies of that persist to this day. You should speak to your own level of comfort on this but make sure visitors know that these events surely aren't exclusive to Charlottesville, but that this is an imperfect place.
- Establishing to incoming students of color that their very presence at UVA is a triumph. Celebrate that, engage with that!

Session IV: Tour Tips from Quindes and More- Nick Shafik, Care Shoaibi, Adib Choudhury, and Lucy Fitzgerald
- If you don't know, say you don't know!
- Honesty is the best policy! It is good to talk about how these events made you feel personally. Tourists will resonate with that.
- Don't overestimate knowledge of visitors -- Why Charlottesville? What happened? Do not feel obligated to give them the 3,000 word CNN report on all the developments but ensure they know the basics.
- Bring it up directly! DO NOT wait for questions, it will be the elephant in the room.
- Emphasize student response, potentially through medium of secret societies (i.e. 7 banner, Convocation letters from 21's, Shadows, and 7's, or IMP/Z letter promising funds to re-contextualize Jefferson statue)
- Don't speak on behalf of entire minority communities, especially if you do not identify as that a member of that minority community.
- Maybe avoid language of "Events of August 11th and 12th" -- strange and vague. Address directly so visitors know what you are saying!
- Learn all that you can. You have a responsibility to know as much as you can as an ambassador for UVA. This will be iceberg knowledge (i.e. No need to whip it out on every tour, but important that it is there), but important nevertheless.
- Frame to prospective students that they can come to UVA and be part of the solution in making this a more diverse and welcoming place!
- Realize the gravity of your role. Your work can help to establish our UVA community as one that unequivocally denies the ideology of white supremacy today and that we embrace diversity here!


I sent this to the Decaturs last week but I think it remains relevant today:

If you are afraid of what visitors might say or be feeling right now, your feelings are valid. If you are afraid what you say will not ease their anxieties or quell their fears, your feelings are valid. If you feel like you cannot possibly represent this community positively at this moment, those feelings are valid too.

But please remember: You trained for 10 weeks to give tours. 30 hours of class, 10 hours of big guiding, 6 hours of super tours, 3 hours of squad tours, 314 pages of reading, and even more hours in preparation and practice on tours. We do not have that extensive training so that people know just the facts and figures. We could do that in a week. You have been equipped with the skills to handle situations such as these. Speak diplomatically and with adequate sensitivity, but speak with honesty. That will go a long way.