Diversity and Inclusion Master Plan

and alleviate class concerns to the extent possible. Questions previously explored in Town hall meetings include: "What is it like to be a first-year student at SUNY College of Optometry?" "How have you spent your time during the past academic year?" "How can students, faculty, and administration work collaboratively to enhance the overall student experience?"

Student governance and student organizations

The VP for Student Affairs meets weekly with the President of Student Council to discuss issues and concerns expressed by students and proactively resolve them. Issues and concerns that cannot be directly solved by the VP of Student Affairs are add ed to President’s Council agenda for further discussion with SUNY Optometry’s leadership. LGBT+ Focus Group On August 22, 2016, a focus group was held to identify the perceived college climate as it pertains to the LGBTQ+ community. The focus group consisted of five optometry students, one PhD student, three staff members, and three administrators. All twelve identified as part of the LGBTQ+ community. During the round table conversation, two questions were asked. The first question was if the College was welcoming to all sexual orientations and gender identities. All attendees agreed that it was and referenced positive coming out conversations with peers and bosses, and efforts by the student body and administration to promote a positive climate (e.g. creating an LGBTQ+ club, marching together in Pride Parade). The second question was if anyone had ever heard of an experience at the College that was not welcoming to all sexual orientations and gender identities. Two of the staff members spoke up and said they were upset by conversations they had with a co-worker. The co-worker disagreed with “alternative” lifestyles and said he did not like how people who identified as LGBT Q+ always felt the need to be “so vocal and expressive with their sexuality.” The two staff members said they had had these conversations with the co-worker were before they had come out to him two to three years ago and that, since then, conversations have become more accepting and positive. One student said the housing survey for first-year optometry students was upsetting to another student. One of the questions on the survey asked “would you feel comfortable living with someone who identified as LGBTQ+? ” All first -years answer this question, and their responses are publically available. The student who was upset said a sizeable proportion of her classmates said answered “no, they would not feel comfortable living with someone who was LGBT+.” Not only this, but because the responses are publically available, she knew exactly who these individuals were. The upset student said the problem was not that the survey asked about being LGBT+, but that it only asked about this. As it turns out, the question was included in the survey to help the LGBT+ community. It was meant to help members identify and find others. As a direct result of the focus group and subsequent discussions, this question, in its current form, will not be included in future surveys.

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