Information Updates
Vision Strategy Team Letter:
Dear Campus Community,
Greetings from the BC Vision Strategy Team. We are 18 individuals from faculty, student, classified and administrative constituent groups. Over the last three months we have engaged in interviews with members of our campus community. We have immersed ourselves in difficult conversations and study about identities and the vast differences in communication styles which can make or break communication between individuals or groups of individuals. We have thought very carefully about where we as a college exist compared to the vision scroll which was crafted from campus input and shown on Opening Day in September 2008:
https://go.mybcc.net/president/community/Pages/default.aspx
It is clear from our research that, despite the efforts by the college to date, there continues to be a great deal of negative experiences and feelings impacting the college climate. Our task has been to better understand the issues affecting the current climate and to identify steps that would lead us in a more positive direction, one more closely resembling the vision of our college at its best as shown in the vision scroll. We would like to let you know about our work and invite you to share your thinking with us.
The willingness to be inclusive and to embrace and value difference may seem as if it should just occur naturally. However, the reality is that we do not instinctively know how to appreciate differences, the gifts and needs of others or to intuitively be inclusive, or to deeply understand another’s pain or loss of dignity. Some of us may have difficulty understanding the painful, emotional experiences of others and other people may have a hard time letting go of strong emotions and moving forward. With 18 people on our team, it took a good deal of time to find our synergy, to understand each other and get into our language groove to move our assignment along. In the campus community at large, the required commitment of time and energy is going to be greater and the issues more challenging, but with your participation, the impact will be much more meaningful.
The work we have done so far, and will continue to do, is to develop a plan for campus climate change. We will have no “quick fixes” to offer, this is certain. We are all at different levels of transformation and understanding. We do not simply arrive at cultural competency after the completion of a workshop or a few rounds of conversation. The –isms are far too complex to absorb their embedded reach and how they affect all cultures. It takes time, patience, and relationship-building to truly understand, value, and practice cultural competency, which is absolutely critical to becoming an inclusive community and must be our mutual commitment to each other if we are to create such a space.
True transformation will occur more slowly than we would like, but we must remain engaged in this process with as much collaborative effort as we can muster. So far we have initiated this collaborative engagement by soliciting community feedback on the Vision scroll at the ASG BBQ, during Identities Week, and College Issues day where we asked the following questions: What parts of this vision are most important to you in creating the best climate at BC for you to learn and work? What can we do together to build such a climate that we cannot do separately? For those areas of the vision that you feel are most important to you what examples if any already exist at Bellevue College? We will continue to engage with the community at upcoming events including Living Treasures and the end of year celebration. We will share news and more information about our work while inviting your continued participation via the Building Community at Bellevue College website, the newsletter from the office of Equity & Pluralism, and through other means as well.
We are excited about expanding our engagement with you, our colleagues, and sharing ideas and strategies for building and strengthening community. We can’t accomplish any lasting transformation by working in isolation; we can only reach that goal together. We are ready to begin… will you join us?
Signed,
The BC Vision Strategy Team
Vision |
BC Climate Change Process
Principles behind the process:
1. The process must be based on data collected from and validated by the larger community.
2. Strategies for change must arise from a microcosm of the community itself.
3. Practical approaches to change should be grounded in theories and models.
4. Strategies must align with the Values, Mission and Vision of the College.
5. Strategies must provide a path from the Current reality to the Vision.
6. The process must be transparent so that people are involved and have access
to the information created through the process.
Step 1
Identify Desired Outcomes for Process and Lay out Process for
Community
Desired Outcomes
• Identify the current climate of BCC and the impact of past events
• Create a Vision of the ideal climate for BCC that:
- Produces a positive learning environment for all students, staff, and faculty
- Encourages members of the campus community to connect collaboratively across all difference, including race, gender, age, sexual orientation, physi-
cal disabilities, religious beliefs, class, ideas, interests and other cultural
differences
Step 2
Campus Wide Informational Briefings
Share the proposed process with the community and get feedback / input
• Five community-wide sessions were held inviting feedback on the process
• The process was modified based on the feedback
Step 3
Data Collection
Conduct interviews / focus groups to gain perspective on the current climate and the desired vision
• 135 BCC members representing a cross section of all groups were involved in
1:1 interviews or focus groups.
• This cross section included employees from Administration, Exempt, Classified and Faculty (both full and part time)
• Representation in interviews / focus groups included all races, both genders,
gays/lesbians, people with disabilities, different religions, various cultures.
• Any group other than the above could request a special session if so desired.
Step 4
Data Analysis
Analyze data and create two scrolls – one describing the Current Climate and one describing the Ideal Climate
Step 5
Validate Data
Consultants presented the scrolls at the opening day session, September 2008. After each presentation individuals were asked to rate on a scale of 1-5 (one being not at all and 5 being to a strong degree) the extent to which the scroll resonated with them. There were about 300 responses recorded with the following scores:
• The Vision received a rating of 4.2 out of 5
• The Current Reality received a rating of 3.9 out of 5
Individuals were then divided into teams of 5 or 6 and had an opportunity to talk about their perceptions of the scrolls. They were asked the following questions:
1. Does this analysis resonate with your experience at BCC?
2. Is anything significant missing?
3. What, if anything, would your group add to the vision?
Step 6
Review Data from Small Groups
• Review general comments from opening day session and confirm validation of
the larger group.
• Post data scrolls and comments on internal BCC Web page.
Step 7
Design Community Process to Engage Community in Change
• Consultants develop a path to engage the community in moving from the
Current Reality to the Ideal Climate.
• Steps are laid out in a Process Map
Step 8
Community Wide Process Briefing
• Four community sessions were held to describe the process going forward
• Participants talked in small groups and answered these questions:
1. What did you hear?
2. What is positive about this process?
3. What concerns you about this process?
4. What would alleviate those concerns?
5. Would you actively support this process with your participation?
6. What do you think are the essential criteria for participation on the
Strategy Team
Step 9
Modify Process
Changes were made to the process based on feedback from the Briefing Session.
Step 10
Create Strategy Team
A strategy team made up of BCC members was created as the primary group to develop strategies for getting from the current reality to the Vision. The goal was to create as diverse team as possible, taking into account the multiple constituencies in the college community. The team would be made up of equal numbers of Admin., Exempt, Classified, and Faculty who met the following criteria:
1. Passionate about inclusion of all people in opportunities available at BCC.
2. Open minded – collaborate well with others across traditional boundaries.
3. Positive outlook about creating a meaningful strategy for BCC around inclusion.
4. Able to see multiple side of issues and commit to best options for the good
of the whole.
5. Sees this work as an ongoing process of personal growth- willing to take
risks themselves and to forgive self and others when either makes missteps.
6. Willing to put in extra time above and beyond their current schedule, in-
cluding a two-day team building retreat.
Nominations were made by peers and vetted by a small team representing each group (Faculty, Admin. Exempt, Classified)
Consideration was given to the overall composition of the group ensuring that representatives from all stakeholder groups were included.
The team has 18 members.
Step 11
Build Team – Provide Mission
The strategy team was charged with the following:
• To develop a set of recommendations for achieving the Vision
• Team members will:
- Generate steps toward achieving the Vision
- Engage the wide college community
- Present final recommendation
To achieve this, the following activities were part of building the team:
- Creating understanding of individual differences through personality
assessments
- Developing agreements for working together to become a learning
community
- Building a knowledge base through exposure to readings, theories, models
and experiential exercise that would support the team to chart a course for
change
Step 12
Community Wide Engagement
• Write a letter of engagement
• Identify naturally occurring venues to engage wider community
• Use feedback from these venues to craft strategies
Step 13
Present Recommendations
• To Presidents’ staff
• To the BCC Community
Download Office of Equity and Pluralsim Events & Activities (Word Format)
This page was last revised on September 22, 2010