Some Thoughts on Our Worksop

I have so many thoughts about our workshop.  It's hard to find a spot to start.  

I was surprised to see how many falculty members where there, and also a little saddened to see that there were not a lot of people from the support staff there.  I loved that there were people who work in admin there, but would have liked to have seen some custodial or grounds staff included too.  

In many ways, the absence of housekeepers and landscapers from the worksop highlighted one of the difficulties in starting a discussion of this nature on campus.  No matter how hard we work to be inclusive, there may always be a barrier between those in privileged positions, and those who are in positions of support.  I wonder how we can bridge that barrier.

I was very impressed with how open people were in the small breakout groups, and I always tend to like those better than big discussions anyway. I think that the biggest thing I took from my breakout groups was a sense of understanding a little better how others feel about their own class status on campus.

One of the few criticisms I have is that the workshop might have been a little too big for comfort in terms of the ammount of people there and the ability for everyone to be heard, but I think that's the sort of thing that can only become apparent through attempting to hold these events.  Overall, I thought it went well as a starting point, and I am very interested in seeing where all of this will lead.