What Does "Connect 4" Stand For?

This is the question that we get a LOT, so I thought it would be great to answer it here.

Connect 4 is a merger from two previous WashU groups, Campus Week of Dialogue and the Student Diversity Initiative. Led by Cambrie Nelson/Hanna Beck and Fernando Cutz (SDI), the two groups merged in Spring 2008 and chose the name Connect 4 based upon the tenants on which each stands. These are:

The name itself, "Connect 4," has caused some confusion amongst students after the group was first instituted as a SU recognized Category 1 group.  Many conceive it as a game enthusiast group, others- who may know its general mission- lack clarity to what the "4" stands for. Still, others hear it and know not what to really think.

In its current year, changing the name has been discussed and considered amongst members. However, in efforts to not be conflicted with the potential Diversity Affairs Council and our separate focus on engagement, interaction, awareness, and programming, Connect 4 decided that we will keep the name. We hold the four principles at the core of our mission, initiatives, and events, and the name is unique. One consideration for future leaders, however, is indeed how we can possibly modify the original four tenants to for directly express the aforementioned new focuses. But this is a post for a later date.

Currently, many in our group, including freshmen Camille Young and Grace Chao have committed themselves to help the group engage ways to better share our mission, our purpose, and our activities, and this is definitely a great step in allowing our campus to know all of the many things that Connect 4 members connect for.

More will come throughout the semester for some of the publicity campaigns that Connect 4 members lead.

Please stay updated, follow us, and provide comments as desired!

Support NSBE Week and its Collaboration with Controversy N Coffee

Here's the description from Facebook:


Come hear from 5 panelists on their views regarding the state of diversity among WashU faculty.


The Coordinating Council for Diversity Initiatives:


The CCDI, chaired by the Special Assistant to the Chancellor, has been charged to assist the University in the development of a strategic plan for enhancing diversity, provide recommendations for institutional practices, policies, and programs that foster diversity and equity, and promote institutional diversity initiatives campus-wide.


Panelists:
Anne Marie Knott: B-School
Consuelo Wilkins: Medical School
Cindy Grimm: Engineering School
Leah A. Merrifield: Special Asst. to Chancellor for Diversity Initiatives.
Luis Zayas: Brown School of Social Work

Minutes from the DAC Senate Meeting

Question and answer session

Why is the VP of programming, not vote

Apart of the structure of that was agreed upon

Why do we need this ?

We have groups like "senate"

In what capacity can you do more than senate

Senators graduate and loose interest in what they do

Need something more consistent

Need some thing to be sustained

Senate deals with more with various projects

Not trying to do "more" with senate

Working more with senate to work on what ever will fall in the realm of diverslity on campus

Student groups cannot really sustain excitement for diversity on campus

Student groups doing other thing

For this racial profiling example, how would the DAC react?

Ther is no single committee that works specifically with diversity

People want to do something in the community, but don't know the resources

Can direct students to other resources on campus

About the relationships

Senate is more policy oriented, the DAC

Hard for senate because it is individually project based

Clarify, how is the DAC different than Connect 4?

• Take a look at the spare slide!
• Dac is more policy oriented than programming
• Dac is student union body, pres and treas. Training
• Helps with overprogramming
• C4 is events focus,a nd programming focused
• DAC is more policy recommendation oriented
• Connect 4 is still anew organization
• Project based with individual members

Opinion of Roundtable

• Very successful
• Talking about how to further relay our end ideas/mission
• Really helpful perspectives

Thoughts on how Diversity training is not  a programming body?

Dac members would go to another members event

We would Privide the training, not plan the "event" (that will be planned by the student group)

Jill Carneghi

1. Great thing- institutionalizes ideals of what
2. 2
3. Why restrict yourself to no budget?
1. Might need that one day
2. Put your money where your mouth is and where your
3. Look at the OTHER spare slide
4. If a budget is needed, we could appeal under the executive budget/appeal
5. Annual operating budget would be 0 for the
6. In theory: why not have a line item budget

Could Connect 4 be considered a subsidiary comitte?

-dac coprogramming with other individual groups

Senate Discussion

• Very well presented
• Having a body which is able to communicate wtievery body on campus
• Concerns
• Is there conflictt with DAC providing resources.  Isn't that a VP Programming job
• Is it more than an advising body
• Vp programming- is for coordinating non overprogramming
• Vp programming will advise in the overprogrammming sense
• Dac is ultimately trying to facilitate programming amongst student groups

• Just because this isnt a programming boad doesn’t mean that they cannot do anything
• Can work with student groups
• Putting on non-budgetary programms
• Who will continue monitoring the email address for racial profiling incidences
• Does this legislation reflect what is presented  in the legislation
• Encourage more programming by other student groups
• Collaboration
• That’s why it is in student union

Advertising to the ENTIRE Wash U community

Concerns:

Downside: add more complexity to SU's complex organizational structure

Don’t see what the DAC will be doing  on a week to week basis

A lot of overlap with other organizations

Are there other ways of creating these goals OUTSIDE of the DAC

Purpose slide freaked her out, reads like programming group; should focus mission statement on policy

Ammendment proposed-committee that will address issues and coprogramming

Vote of the ammendment: raising of placards:

See NEW legislation: ammendment has been made

DAC gives a positie vibe

Motion to vote now:7 for voting, opposed:

Vailed

Back in discussion

Why isn't VP Programming doing this?

Diversity in unclear

This is NOT just about PROGRAMMING

Dac is there for students who will want to start initiatives

More hesitant because it is so simiilar to connect 4

It should be better thought out and do more

Point of clarification

Senate can amend the legislation at any ppoint

There is a lot of oversight between the legislative bodies

How can we (international grad students) program with undergraduates?

Great to have an authority figure to go to

Programming takes a lot of energy

Not having that as a priority will allow that council to focus on reaching out to other graduate students

STL community wants to reach out to Washington University studsents

Will  be able to connect the STL entities, as well as Wash U community

Having a roll call vote on the vote to vote (confusing right)- failed

Actual vote to vote- 13 for, 10 opposed

Abstain 2

Failed

MOVE BACK TO DISCUSSION

Opinions  on dac making its own constitution

Not important to have weekly meetings

Interest in other groups

Cs 40 supports this and want too use this a s a resource (Pat)

Membership question: point of clarification: must have attended one previous meeting

Motion to ammend: change f.1- voting members present instead of entire voting membership (friendly ammendment)

Alex: Concern: too large to have a budget

Rather see the vp  programming appoint a diversity initiatives chair before establishing the DAC

Alof of change

Analogous to the green commitees

Takes time to have this organization to grow

Not hard to twak along the way

Should really pass this,and make sure it passes in tresury

We can tweak this and make this better

DAC is not a passive resource

Question: not enough for the DAC to do

e.g. WU/fused does constant things, even though there is nothing required for big programming each week

Is the dac active or passive?

Interesting point

Argument: fema: only really need for natural disaster and catastrophe, only needed when a catastrophe to happen

Important to have an established structure to step

Have to be planning and working with everyone

Point of clarification c.1-  cabinet can be defined by the constitution (size can change)

Senate was once apart of treasury, and it was brought up (would  senate have anything to do

Need is there!

Don't have a body

Need a figure head

Merits its own organization and inititiave

Vp of programming wouldn't relally focus on diversity and these needs ona daily basis

Helpful to have another group focused solely on this issue

Mike Saksvick

Paralysis by analysis

Need to stop talking about the braod stuff

Constitution wil l work out the details

Vote on the motion: legislation to create diversity affairs council:

Roll call vote 22:2:1

Non-voters: Alex Cooper and Pat Kelley

Treasury will be seeing this next week 

It Affects YOU

The DAC affects you.

It affects your student government.

It affects you student group. 

If passed in SU Senate and Treasury, the Diversity Affairs Council (DAC) will serve as a crucial landmark within the student body and greater WashU community. It will ground a larger, stronger, more concerted commitment to student diversity affairs on campus, and as a body within SU, it will provide 

centralized communication and coordination for involved student groups,
cohesive and streamlined training and workshops for leaders and individuals,
advocacy for the address and resolution of pertinent policy-based issues within the community,
... and a lot more.

The legislation for the implementation of the DAC within Student Union will occur tomorrow at 9pm in Simon 112. 

It is of crucial importance that a representative from your student group attends this meeting, for IT WILL INDEED AFFECT YOUR GROUP.

So come. Learn about the DAC. Voice your support. MAKE THIS HAPPEN.

For more info regarding the DAC, please visit http://connect4wu.blogspot.com/2010/01/regarding-diversity-affairs-on-campus.html

and view our video survey of students at WU http://thecatalysts.ning.com/video/what-does-it-mean

Thank you.

Leaders of Connect 4, WUFUSED, and Student Union

Student Survey about the State of "Diversity" on Campus

Last night we hosted a roundtable event called "The State of 'Diversity' at WU" in efforts to assess students' current perception of both the term and how the cause is played out on campus as well as promote/garner support for the upcoming Diversity Affairs Council legislation that we are striving to institute within our student government. For the event, we performed a video survey of students to garner different perspectives prior to the event. Below is the first video compilation of some of the feedback.




This video can also be viewed at http://thecatalysts.ning.com/video/connect-4-video-survey-01 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkVHg981S7c&feature=player_embedded

StudLife Article about Connect 4, Op-Ed by Fernando Cutz

View this article at http://www.studlife.com/forum/2010/02/05/connect-4-provides-support-for-diversity-initiatives/

In response to an incident of Anti-Semitism that had occurred against my freshman year roommate and in response to four other events of hate, discrimination and prejudice that had occurred on our campus in the span of a few months, I founded the Student Diversity Initiative early in the fall of 2007. We soon went on to merge with Campus Week of Dialogue, a group that had been around on our campus for over a decade, and collectively we became known as Connect 4.

Connect 4 proved to have a strong purpose and need at our school. As we like to say, we are the only “non-cultural, cultural group” around. Instead of celebrating one specific culture or heritage, we strive to celebrate them all. Instead of focusing on what divides us, we strive to focus on what brings us together. Our programming has been hugely successful on campus and has taught students to better embrace and celebrate diversity, dialogue, understanding and change within our community.

Recently, however, we have seen that programming alone is not enough. With the Mother’s Bar incident, the discussions of racial profiling on campus and the dialogue dealing with WU/FUSED and socio-economic diversity issues all having been prominent this past semester, we have come to realize that policy aspects are equally important to truly addressing issues of diversity and discrimination at Wash. U. The University administration, understandably, tends to work with Student Union, not specific student groups, on issues of policy that affect the student body. That is why I plan to strongly advocate for the creation of the Diversity Affairs Council (DAC) within Student Union.

Compared to our sister schools, Washington University’s student government is one of the very few that doesn’t have a diversity position within it. It is imperative that we change this. The DAC would be responsible for working with the many student groups and with SU to have policy-level input on all kinds of issues of diversity. It would advise both SU Execs and Senate and would use SU’s legitimacy and infrastructure to facilitate dialogue and co-programming between the many diversity groups on our campus and between the appropriate diversity-oriented members of the University administration.

Connect 4 will continue to exist as a student group and will continue with its mission. But the DAC is an essential addition to the structure of SU that will allow diversity to be furthered on our campus, and issues of hate, discrimination and prejudice to be dealt with more effectively in the future. I strongly support the formation of the DAC and encourage you to express your support for it at an upcoming Senate meeting as well!

Fernando Cutz
Senior Class President, Class of 2010

ROUNDTABLE| The State of DIVERSITY on Campus

Regarding Diversity Affairs at WashU

Important proposal for addressing student diversity affairs upcoming on campus. Please read and pass along to your peers and constituents. 

For years and semesters, members of our student community have have voiced a desire and need for an official and legitimate student-led entity that can provide:

• centralization of student-led communication, resources, and support for multicultural and diversity-related affairs,
• a rapid- action based source to aid in the address of bias-based incidents as they occur (think: ethnic profiling, Right Side of History, etc),
• a legitimized and collective voice for the student body when advocating greater desires of "diversity" to SU and the appropriate members of the University administration,
• more direct facilitation and accountability for collaboration and co-programming between cultural groups,
• increased provision and centralization of diversity training and workshops for student groups and individuals,
• and more.

Since returning this semester, many of us have worked with various members of the community to conceive a proposal to Student Union for the legislation of a Diversity Affairs Council (DAC) that will strive to address these and other interests. With a defined structure and much closer ties to SU, the DAC would represent the creation of an explicit diversity element within Student Union oriented towards helping a wide array of groups and individuals— including cultural, religious, LGBTQIA and social justice—reach common goals.


It would hope to provide policy recommendations to the Student Union Senate and support them into action as incidents occur on campus.  It would help coordinate diversity training on campus, connect new groups and initiatives (like WU/FUSED or Culture Shock) with campus leaders, and host a monthly Roundtable as meeting grounds for its constituents. The Chair of the DAC would be appointed by the SU President, and then would appoint a Cabinet to provide direction for the council, and it is with great hopes that with your support, members of the student body will have thorough representation within the DAC and unite towards enhancing and activating what the term "diversity" means on our campus. 


WE NEED YOUR HELP AND SUPPORT TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN.

SU Senate recently set the legislative consideration and voting for this initiative for February 10. As work on this legislation proposal is relatively new, communication of it to the wider student body has been limited. But we want you to join us in showing Student Union student support for the DAC

INPUT is needed.
On Monday and/or Tuesday of this upcoming week, we will be launching a "State of Diversity" campaign to garner a vast array of student perspectives on what is perceived to have become just a "buzz word" on campus.  We will be videotaping random and self-selected students in the DUC Commons sharing how they regard the current state of the term "diversity" on our campus. These will be shared all week in prep for the Senate legislation. 

DIALOGUE is needed.
With the new developments of the DAC concept, we will be hosting a Roundtable on Thursday February 4 at 7:30pm in DUC 234 about the "State of 'Diversity'" on campus whereby we will analyze and discuss the issues that have been prevalent over the past year and pitch why the DAC could serve as a foundational solution for such issues. We need honest and raw dialogue about this, so please bring diverse and strong opinions. 

SUPPORT is needed.
The DAC legislation is currently set for February 10 in SU Senate. Please support this effort by attending this meeting, bringing your peers, and voicing your opinions about the DAC legislation.

For any questions, concerns, or suggestions, or to get involved, please contact Connect 4 at connect4.wustl@gmail.com. 

C4 Execs

Leave your comments below:

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: WU'S ETHIC OF SERVICE AWARD

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: WU'S ETHIC OF SERVICE AWARD 

Do you know someone who inspires compassion and action in others? 
Someone who is selfless and dedicated to serving the community? 
Someone who exudes passion for a social, cultural, or economic issue in St. Louis? 

Or perhaps someone who aspires to all these things? 

Honor this person by submitting a nomination for 
WU's Gerry and Bob Virgil Ethic of Service Award. 

Any member of the WU community, past or current, 
who resides in and serves the St. Louis community is eligible to receive the award. 

Learn more and submit nominations at: 
www.ethicofservice.wustl.edu 
Deadline: February 5, 2010 at 5:00pm