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I have thought long and hard about what I would do as Co-Chair of Community Council to develop a platform that centers the needs of students, staff, and faculty. These ideas come from current discussions in Community Council by students, staff, and faculty, and my own ideas. I also understand the limits of Community Council's power, so I plan to use my status as Co-Chair to advocate and tackle issues not within the Council's purview. My platform is as follows:
Community Council Awareness
Campus Policies
Student Life
Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion
Staff and Faculty Experiences
Community Council Awareness
- Educate students on what is Community Council
- Use Community Council as a platform to educate people on college policies and their changes through more than emails, including utilizing the Community Council Instagram and establishing a newsletter
- Expand Community Council membership to students, faculty, and staff from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey & Language Schools
- Encourage students, staff, and faculty with historically marginalized identities to join Community Council
Campus Policies
- Collaborate to understand how decisions are made by administration and what groups are consulted in making these decisions
- Include historically underrepresented groups in said consultations
- Emphasizing the use of Community Council as an advisory body for administrative decisions that impact students, staff, and/or faculty
Student Life
- Work to improve our policies and academic culture to improve student mental health
- Increase student minimum wage
- Advocate for increased mental health resources, especially for students with a history disordered eating, those who have experienced trauma, and BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ students
- Continue the work of current Co-Chair of Community Council Myles Maxie and SGA President Roni Lezama to get student leaders compensated for their work and emotional labor on behalf of the College
- Engage with activist groups and cultural organizations, including the Middlebury Intercultural Leaders Coalition (MILC), to listen to and further their goals and needs
- Work with the SGA President and all members of the SGA to support them in their goals
- Connect with Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) Monterey and Language School students to learn what changes they would like to see implemented
Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion
- Engage faculty and staff with anti-bias and trauma enforced pedagogy training
- Advocate for mandatory, in-person Green Dot and JusTalks trainings during First-year orientation
- Work with the Advisory Group on Disability, Access, and Inclusion (AGDAI) and the Disability Resource Center (DRC) to use information found in AGDAI’s current accessibility audit to create permanent systems of access for people with disabilities
- Hold administration accountable to the 5-year DEI plan and look for ways to move beyond it
- Continue to promote new Title IX policies
- Advocate for more gender-inclusive bathrooms on campus
- Work with the Land Acknowledgement Steering Committee to advance initiatives honoring indigenous culture and lands on all our campuses
Staff and Faculty Experiences
- Collaborate with Staff Council to advocate for staff needs, especially surrounding wages and benefits
- Finding ways to address staff and faculty burnout and develop systems of care to support them
- Connect with Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) Monterey and Language School staff and faculty to learn what changes they would like to see implemented