A favorite quote from literature I teach is Kingston's reference to the need to expand our thinking to embrace paradoxes, to accept contrary but coexisting concepts, without fleeing to the seeming safety of oversimplified binaries. Defining the core principles of the JEDI Institute necessarily involves engaging in such intellectual challenges.

I left the January 10 JEDI Institute winter meeting thinking about the diversity paradox, how new concepts and innovations tend to come from the interplay of ideas across diverse areas but move forward only when the organization comes to a common understanding and agreement about those innovations.

Or about how genetic diversity is valuable—it gives species better odds at survival since it enables populations to adapt to changing environments—but simultaneously can introduce discomfort due to the human tendency to gravitate toward common languages, common appearances, common behaviors and the like.

But there is no doubt that the 31 participants in the JEDI winter meeting stand firm in their commitment to diversity, acknowledging and celebrating our similarities and differences; equity, believing in and practicing situational fairness to give each person the best opportunities to succeed; and inclusion, creating an environment in which everyone feels a sense of belonging.

No matter the political perspectives of everyone who’s been involved with our JEDI Institute—and, yes, that includes progressives, liberals, fierce independents and conservatives—we’re hard pressed to find individuals who can reasonably argue against the values of situational fairness, belongingness and celebrating our similarities and differences. After all, these values undergird the very purpose and function of the work we do at a community college.

Ultimately, as Chief Diversity Officer Christina Vargas said at the start of the meeting, it’s about our commitment to one another, employees and students alike, and about directing additional support to the students who need it most. Vice President for Student Affairs Patty Munsch agreed: “As we continue to move in uncertain times, we rely on our cadre of dedicated faculty and staff to provide every opportunity possible for our students to succeed.”

“We are not giving up on this work,” Christina declared, and as shown below our four presenters certainly made that commitment clear.

ASAP success

ASAP project director Gerome Bell introduced the SUNY Advancing Success in Associate Pathways (ASAP) program at SCCC. Supported financially by the SUNY Transformation Fund and based on the CUNY ASAP model, the program aims to produce equitable outcomes for students through both targeted advisement and removing some of the financial barriers for student participants.

This includes providing students $200 toward the cost of attendance, $150 toward the bookstore and a $50 monthly stipend. In addition, the Brightway Fund for student parents offers additional support for childcare and any emergency needs, such as medical or transportation costs.

Currently, half of the enrolled ASAP students identify as Hispanic and most are female; the majority are traditional college age students, but also adult learners are in the group. So far their results are solid! We have had two cohorts, Gerome reported. For the spring 2024 Cohort 1, $8,660.71 has been allocated, and the 160 students have a 91% persistence rate, an average 3.11 GPA and an average 13.67 credits earned. The fall 2024 Cohort 2 consists of 108 students who are off to a strong start as well.

“I’m proud to say,” Gerome added, “that our cohort has the highest average GPA among the 12 SUNY community colleges in the current SUNY replication project.”

Syllabus resources for students

Dan Kerr, adjunct assistant professor of accounting, participated in our JEDI Institute last summer. “Most impactful for me,” Dan indicated, “was the Achieving the Dream Finish Line game. So many of the situations expressed during that activity are very common among my students, especially the ones that move them backward on the game board.”

Dan doesn’t want any of his students moving backward. “I decided to learn more about the resources SCCC has for students to support them and created a one-page summary to include on my syllabus,” he explained. The challenge for Dan was getting everything on a single page, summarizing the resources and deciding which ones were most critical—including a few community resources. The process of writing and revising this syllabus page enabled Dan to get to know colleagues in a variety of positions better as well.

During class, Dan noted, “I review the resources and I tell students that I am a proud member of the college’s JEDI Institute. I want them to know that I care enough to help them find the resources they need.” Dan plans to continue revising his syllabus page of student resources as he continues to get feedback from students. After all, Dan said, “feedback is a gift.”

Math: It’s about showing the work

Marta Szpak, assistant professor and coordinator of the Math Learning Center at Eastern, knows that math can provoke anxiety for many students who tend to come to college underprepared in the fundamentals. It is critical to help them master the basics, though, so they can build upon that foundation.

“After the pandemic forced us into distance learning,” Marta explained, “I was at first terrified about how to reach students online,” but she developed a two-pronged approach to give students multiple ways to succeed. First, she uses an OER Lumen textbook, which as she demonstrated via screenshare, presents mathematical problems to students, shows with a red or green checkmark whether their answer is correct or incorrect and, if they responded incorrectly, the program serves up another, slightly different version of that problem.

Second, Marta leans heavily on having students show their work. “I have a tablet and stylus both at home and in the office,” she explained, “and I use those to hand write notes on students’ submissions” before saving it electronically and uploading her feedback into Brightspace.

Because a great deal of research shows that having students write things out by hand can improve comprehension and retention of the material, Marta teaches students how to hand write their math homework, take a picture of it and then upload it to Brightspace. She provides instruction on how to use their phone to scan their work and makes them practice doing so.

“It’s so important to have students do a practice submission first to ensure they know how to do this, before posting any graded work,” she said. “But by giving students a chance to show their work, I can give them points rather than just indicate whether their answer is right or wrong.” Marta is also able to see where a student might make an error as they work through the problem and uses her own handwritten annotations to indicate as much. She said, “Partial credit matters a lot to students; they earn better grades because I give partial credit. Also I give them a lot of feedback to make sure they see that they are getting there, which is encouraging for them.”

Finally, Marta makes weekly use of the discussion board in her online math classes, asking students to post comments ranging from personal interests to feedback about particular assignments. Marta’s students tell her they appreciate the chance to chat with their online classmates, with one recently indicating, “I’m interacting more with classmates in this online class than I do in my on-campus classes.”

Centering the student voice

Professor of English Filiz Turhan noted that, like math, English allows us to really address what is equity and justice in the classroom. Having participated in the JEDI Institute in 2023, Filiz has modified her class time and assignments following more of a reader-response approach. “Students have this idea that academic writing should be informal and impersonal, so we need to question that,” she asserted. “I highlight the importance of a personal analysis of a text but with a public audience.”

This not only aligns with a JEDI approach but also with an anti-AI mindset. Because the AI voice is generic, centralized and flattened, Filiz said, “it’s helpful to teach students the importance of centralizing your voice, not the voice of the machine, especially since their voices come from very particular angles and perhaps from the margins.”

Emphasizing the personal voice for a public audience, Filiz explains to students that real writers do this all the time, especially in contemporary works that bring in personal experience embedded in historical and political perspectives. This is why students should not want to use AI tools. “I also share a bit of my personal story because I’m first-generation American and a first-generation college student. A little bit goes a long way,” she noted, “but they appreciate it since they know I’m regularly publishing scholarly work.”

Other JEDI gestures for Filiz include using sample student essays in all of her classes since high schools continue to discourage students from using their “I” voice as well as integrating options for quieter students to write their ideas through annotations, markups and notetaking if uncomfortable verbalizing their ideas during class. “I show them in multiple ways that I value process, not just product. And that includes asking them ‘how is the class working for you?’ because it helps me get to know them better but also I gain their feedback.”

Room for paradoxes

As shown in the image at the top of this article, a favorite quote from literature I teach is Maxine Hong Kingston’s reference to the need to expand our thinking to embrace paradoxes, to accept contrary but coexisting concepts, without fleeing to the seeming safety of oversimplified binaries. Defining the core principles of the JEDI Institute necessarily involves engaging in such intellectual challenges.

When people attack DEI work, often it is because they misinterpret the definitions of diversity, equity and inclusion or misunderstand what we are actually doing in the JEDI Institute. Colleagues who say aloud that they “do not believe in DEI” will say in the next breath that of course they believe in the concepts of situational fairness and helping their students feel like they belong at SCCC and that they don’t discriminate against individual students based on various identity markers.

It reminds me of when students in my HUM116: Gender and the Humanities class will loudly and proudly declare that while they do believe in the equality of all genders, they absolutely insist that they are “not a feminist!” I am actually glad when a student says such things in class, though, because at least it invites a conversation about definitions and the politicization of certain words and terms.

That’s the conversation we enjoyed on January 10 and that’s the conversation we will continue in this summer’s JEDI Institute. Contact Christina Vargas or contact me if you would like to learn more about making your mind large, as the universe is large, so that there is room for paradoxes.