March 16, 2011

To: Bruce Pitman, Dean of Students Mike Loehring, Director of Admissions Steve Neiheisel, Assistant Vice President, Enrollment Management

From: University of Idaho Juntura Committee Re: Vandal Friday- Assistant for Spanish speaking parents As you may know, Juntura is a committee whose function is to serve as policy advisors on issues related to diversity at the University of Idaho. We commend University leadership for their commitment to diversity on campus and hope to help foster a welcoming and accepting culture. In a recent Juntura meeting the faculty, students and staff that make up the committee discussed the lack of support for non-English speaking parents at past Vandal Fridays. Below please find a summary of our concerns and possible recommendations to alleviate this problem.

Concern: Lack of students able to translate for Spanish-speaking parents who attended Vandal Friday with their children last year. While it is our understanding that the CAMP staff were able to mobilize a small group of bilingual student volunteers, they were not able to assist a large enough number of parents in a timely manner. This may have lead to parents feeling isolated and is not consistent with the University’s commitment to developing a culture that is welcoming and accepting.

Recommendations: 1. Print Vandal Friday materials in Spanish as well as English. Access to written materials will reduce the need for translators and result in parents feeling more welcomed. 2. Organizers of Vandal Friday should work directly with multicultural student clubs, fraternities and sororities, and other offices such as CAMP to enlist student volunteers to assist with translation. Student translators may participate as part of their service to the campus community or for a small stipend that could be offered to each organization that sends representatives for a certain number of hours. 3. The University should take advantage of bilingual faculty and staff by inviting them to assist Spanish-speaking parents during Vandal Friday events.

We understand that it may be difficult to develop written materials in time for Vandal Friday events this year. With your support, however, it is our hope that a larger number of translators may be available to assist parents. Written materials can be developed in the future, starting with Vandal Friday, 2012. The members of Juntura are interested in knowing how we may help facilitate the implementation of the measures you see fit. Juntura would be most effective if it can take a public and proactive role on matters surrounding diversity policy at UI.

We appreciate your attention to our concerns and look forward to continuing discussion about how to improve the climate on campus. Please contact Jodi Johnson-Maynard ([email protected], 5-9245), 2011 Juntura Chair if you have any questions regarding this memo.