Attendees: Helen Faith, Jodie Kuba, Dewayne Barnes, Leo Vogel, Jenna Greenwood, Christy Jones

WASFAA Ethnic Diversity Action Committee Conference Call Meeting Minutes November 12, 2015 2 p.m. PDT (877-216-1555, Passcode 404573) Attendees: Helen Faith, Jodie Kuba, Dewayne Barnes, Leo Vogel, Jenna Greenwood, Christy Jones

1. Update on committee membership  Rachel Martinez is no longer in financial aid, so she’s no longer part of the committee.

2. Scholarship  MLI awards offered & accepted o Offered to top two applicants: Anavely Rodriguez and Peteru Lam Yuen. o Anavely Rodriguez accepted. o Peteru Lam Yuen declined due to overall cost, but plans to attend a future conference. . Suggestion to roll over the offer to the conference scholarship for this applicant—will bring this suggestion to the EC for consideration. o Offered to third applicant, Monica Rodriguez. She accepted.

3. Membership application question on ethnicity  Can/should we “force” an answer to this question on the membership application? o Should have to answer, but need to leave a “decline to answer” button.  Should we add a “more than one ethnicity/race” option? o Yes, it has to be there.  Should we leave the “other” category? o Probably need to leave it—if there’s an option to fill in a blank that would be the best-case scenario, but if there isn’t such an option, we still need an “other.”  Helen will present our recommendations to WASFAA EC next week.

1 4. Follow up on action items from last meeting  What WASFAA state associations are doing: any Washington updates? o Washington does have an Ethnic Awareness Committee. They provide awareness of diversity issues to financial aid staff and students, and they also provide a scholarship from the association to a student to be used at the postsecondary institution of their choice.  Survey progress o Per discussion, we would like to give all WASFAA members the opportunity to respond to the survey, regardless of how they self-identify in terms of ethnicity. o Will ask EC to approve questions below at the Executive Council meeting next week and will then send out the survey (or coordinate with general membership survey, depending on EC’s decision). o Questions: . What are members’ experiences with diversity at work? . What can WASFAA do to support the success of students and staff from minority groups? . What are financial aid offices doing to support underrepresented students and staff? . What state-specific diversity issues that WASFAA should be aware of? . What other feedback on diversity issues would members like to share with WASFAA’s leadership?  Questions to include on future scholarship applications o To add a question or not? . If we add a question, here are two possibilities:  “What can WASFAA do to support and promote success for racial/ethnic minority students and/or financial aid administrators?”  “If you could implement one policy that would be aimed at helping underrepresented/underprivileged student populations. what would it be and why?” . Strong applications from this latest round suggests that perhaps we don’t need to add anything—the applicants took it upon themselves to address issues pertinent to them. o Decision point—for now, leave the process as-is. If one of our goals is to increase the applications for EDAC scholarships, then we need to be careful about overburdening the process. We received strong applications for MLI, suggesting that there isn’t a need to add to the existing application. This may be a reflection of those interested in MLI; they are more likely to be further along in their financial aid career and demonstrate an interest in developing leadership skills. Those who go to the effort to write something thoughtful are more likely to be selected to receive a scholarship.

5. Session for WASFAA Annual Conference  Jenna and Christy were discussing a session to present at OASFAA. This is 2+ months before WASFAA, so we could reuse the same basic content and some of the same presenters for WASFAA.  Per Dewayne, WASFAA’s call for session proposals for the conference will come out soon, and will be open through February 1st. This gives us plenty of time to check in during our monthly calls and submit a session proposal before the deadline.

6. Ongoing to-do list  Provide an article for each WASFAA newsletter o Submitted fall article on Umpqua tragedy and recovery o Still need bios from Christy and Robbie o Dewayne: Congrats on the promotion! Bio will be updated to include your new title.  Produce a promotional publication about EDAC and scholarships o If it works in terms of timing, suggest waiting until we have sent a survey and reviewed the results so that our brochure best meets respondents’ needs o If not, we’ll just put one together in fairly short order. Helen will provide text and Leo will take care of the layout. Jodie will proofread.

7. Other discussion items  Per previous discussions, EDAC will have to write a proposal to WASFAA EC to change the name and purpose of EDAC to be more inclusive and recognize forms of diversity beyond just ethnicity and race. Helen will write a draft this as soon as possible—not sure if I can do so before the EC meeting, but will make an effort. Committee feedback and input is needed. Dewayne will provide information on how California made similar changes recently.

3 o Also review and suggest revisions to the existing policies & procedures in the P&P . P&P needs revisions to EDAC section anyway because it currently lists many tasks that EDAC has not performed in recent memory, if at all o Would also need to change references to EDAC in the bylaws o Need to consider role of elected Ethnic Diversity Representative-at-Large—should there be a broadening of the office itself? If not, should this individual still be the automatic chair of the committee? . Group consensus: the elected office needs to change to more broadly define diversity, and the elected officer should continue to head up the diversity action committee. o The proposed changes impact both P&P and bylaws. . P&P issues need to be approved by the EC. . Bylaws issues need to be presented to the membership and voted on. Helen will need to find out whether this would be by e-ballot or in person at the next business meeting at the conclusion of the conference.