Celebrating Pride Month

June is PRIDE month and universities, organizations, and technology companies and leaders are celebrating. Learning more and then celebrating the history of the struggle for full human rights and the achievements of the LGBTQIA+ community is one way all of us can take steps towards becoming more inclusive.

WIT list members might find these resources helpful, starting with a small sampling from SUNY and some from technology:

• SUNY Pride
• Pride Month 2023
• Upcoming Programs at Brockport
• FIT and SUNY Celebrate Pride Month
• How Tech Companies Are Celebrating Pride Month 2023
• 24 Fun Pride Month Ideas for the Office in 2023
• LGBTQ Organizations

Please feel free to share your favorite resources or PRIDE activities with this group!

All the best,

Holly

WIT Weekly Wisdom: A message for SUNY WIT list subscribers on the topics of Connecting, Learning, Stretching, Teaching, Reaching, and Balancing. If you have suggestions for future WIT Weekly Wisdom messages, feel free to contact SUNY WIT Program Administrator Holly Heller-Ross at hellerhb@plattsburgh.edu.

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April Awareness: Combatting TF GBV on Campus and Beyond

Hello all,

April, and starting to warm up in my area (although today it is only 34 degrees Fahrenheit!). Well, maple syrup is worth it!

April is also Sexual Assault Awareness Month (https://www.nsvrc.org/saam), and that is the focus of this week's wisdom.

This week's message helps us learn something specific about Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TF GBV). Since we are working with technology, we are in a position to be alert to this type of violence, and perhaps will have the opportunity to reduce or act to prevent this on our campuses.

"Technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TF GBV) is any act that is committed, assisted, aggravated or amplified by the use of information communication technologies or other digital tools which results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological, social, political or economic harm or other infringements of rights and freedoms. These are forms of violence that are directed against women because they are women and/or that affect women disproportionately." https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/faqs/tech-facilitated-gender-based-violence

On my campus, our VP for DEI Allison Heard led an activity with students and staff to "Teal the Quad" and color one of our campus spaces teal—the color of Sexual Assault Awareness. I'd love to hear what others are doing to raise awareness, so feel free to post to the list!!

All the best,
Holly

Original Publish Date: September 28, 2022

Getting ready for October's focus on Cybersecurity- consider why and how we can make sure our libraries are protected from cyber incursions and unintended disclosures: 

"The right to privacy – the right to read, consider, and develop ideas and beliefs free from observation or unwanted surveillance by the government or others – is the bedrock foundation for intellectual freedom. Privacy is essential to free inquiry in the library because it enables library users to select, access, and consider information and ideas without fear of embarrassment, judgment, punishment, or ostracism."

Did you know that New York State Law (NY CPLR - 4509) prohibits providing patron library records to anyone but the patron or by court order? Many libraries acknowledge this in their policies- such as this one from Suffolk Community College  

Folks who work with end users and system-level technology in SUNY all have a role in keeping library records confidential and appropriately used only for necessary educational or administrative purposes.  Here's a very short read that might inspire us to converse with library and traditional IT on this topic.

6 Ways You Can Safeguard Patrons' Privacy at Your Library

WIT Weekly Wisdom: A  message for SUNY WIT list subscribers on the topics of Connecting, Learning, Stretching, Teaching, Reaching, and Balancing. 
Have a suggestion for a WIT Weekly Wisdom message? Contact SUNY WIT Executive Director Holly Heller-Ross @ hellerhb@plattsburgh.edu

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Pay Inequality

Original Post: February 22, 2022 

 This information comes from Karen Caitlin, author of Better Allies and a terrific regular newsletter you can also subscribe to. 

"September 21 is Black Women’s Equal Pay Day here in the U.S. — the day Black women must work into 2022 to catch up with what white, non-Hispanic men earned in 2021. In even more depressing news, it’s more than a month later than last year (August 3, 2021), which means the pay gap has become worse. While I hope organizations everywhere are doing compensation reviews by gender and race and fixing inequities, this may not be happening. 

In the Harvard Business Review’s How to Identify — and Fix — Pay Inequality at Your Company, author Amii Barnard-Bahn wrote that in a survey of the 922 largest public U.S. companies, only 22% reported performing a salary audit between 2016 and 2020. So, check on your organization’s plans regarding a pay equity review. Ask about it at an all-staff meeting or send a message to your head of HR to let them know this topic is important to you.  I love this final message from Barnard-Bahn: “There is no way to feel more included than to be paid equal to the person sitting next to me.” 

 That’s all for this week. I wish you strength and safety as we all move forward. 

 — Karen Catlin (she/her), Author of Better Allies®" 

WIT Wednesday Wisdom: A message for SUNY WIT list subscribers on the topics of Connecting, Learning, Stretching, Teaching, Reaching, and Balancing. Have a suggestion for a WIT Wednesday Wisdom message? Contact SUNY WIT Executive Director Holly Heller-Ross @ hellerhb@plattsburgh.edu SUNY WIT List is powered by SUNY ITEC