Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
VOICE Summer Series: Civic Engagement Scholars Program
193 Plays11 months ago
SpeechMatters kicks off our VOICE Summer Series by exploring the impact of the Civic Engagement Scholars Program (CESP) — a course created and taught by UC Santa Barbara VOICE recipients Katya Armistead and Viviana Marsano. Guest host Melanie Ziment talks with them and their students Sofia Aliamus and Ashley Segat about civic engagement education and how the course is inspiring the next generation of citizens to be active participants in their communities.
Episode Resources:
- Civic Engagement Scholars Program — VOICE Initiative Report
- Undergraduate Student Advocacy in the University of California System: a Handbook by Emma Tolliver, UC National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement
- CHANGE! A Student Guide to Social Action by Scott Myers-Lipton
- Facing the Fracture: How to Navigate the Challenges of Living in a Divided Nation by Dr. Tania Israel
Recommended
Transcript
The Role of Free Speech in Democracy
00:00:03
Speaker
I think what we need to do is explain how our principles of free speech, free inquiry, will help serve the cause of justice.
00:00:12
Speaker
The First Amendment, the constitutional freedom of speech and freedom of conscience that is the bulwark of our democracy.
00:00:22
Speaker
There was a passion in what was being said, affirming this, what people consider it a sacred constitutional right, freedom of speech and freedom of association.
00:00:34
Speaker
From the UC National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement, this is Speech Matters, a podcast about expression, engagement, and democratic learning in higher education.
Introduction to the Special Series
00:00:45
Speaker
I'm Michelle Deutschman, the Center's Executive Director and your host.
00:00:49
Speaker
This summer, we're switching things up with a special series, and I'm handing the mic over to the Center's Communications and Program Associate, Melanie Zement.
00:00:58
Speaker
Melanie has a hand in everything we do at the Center, including producing this podcast and overseeing the Center's valuing open and inclusive conversation and engagement initiative, VOICE for short.
VOICE Initiative and Research Funding Challenges
00:01:11
Speaker
Through a competitive process, the Center awards up to $5,000 to UC students, staff, and faculty who are interested in conducting research or coordinating programs and activities that further the Center's mission.
00:01:24
Speaker
Since the program started in 2019, we've supported more than 100 projects.
00:01:30
Speaker
For the next few episodes, Melanie will be in conversation with voice participants who spent the past academic year completing innovative, thoughtful, and critical programs that enhance expression, engagement, and democratic learning.
00:01:44
Speaker
In these dark times, we hope these initiatives offer insight, inspiration, and even some hope.
Legal Battles Over Research Grant Cuts
00:01:50
Speaker
But before we dive in, let's turn to class notes, a look at what's making headlines.
00:01:57
Speaker
Federal judges across the country continue to hear and rule on numerous challenges to the Trump administration's actions targeting research funding in higher education.
00:02:07
Speaker
This past Friday, June 20th, a group of researchers from the University of California requested that U.S. District Judge Rita Lynn block the Trump administration
00:02:17
Speaker
from terminating already approved research grants and restore the grants that have already been canceled, per the president's executive orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, gender ideology, and alleged inefficient government spending.
00:02:31
Speaker
During Friday's hearing, Lynn noted that canceling grants because they touch on blacklisted topics is likely a violation of the First Amendment.
00:02:39
Speaker
Yesterday, Judge Lynn ruled in favor of the researchers.
00:02:43
Speaker
She held that the vehicle used for the funding cuts, form letters, was problematic, as was the rationale for why the cuts were necessary.
00:02:52
Speaker
Also last week, Federal Judge William Young ruled that some of the Trump administration's cuts to National Institutes of Health were void and illegal, reproaching the government for racial discrimination and prejudice against LGBTQ individuals.
00:03:07
Speaker
Judge Young questioned the government's motives for cutting hundreds of grants that focused on the health of women, LGBTQ people, and Black communities.
00:03:15
Speaker
Judge Young said that in his 40 years on the bench, he had, quote, never seen a record where racial discrimination was so palpable, unquote.
Free Assembly and Protests
00:03:23
Speaker
State courts were also hard at work last week.
00:03:26
Speaker
In a victory for academic speech and inquiry, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that HB 1775, a piece of legislation passed in 2021, does not apply to academic speech in higher education.
00:03:39
Speaker
The plaintiffs, represented by the ACLU, argued that the law unlawfully silenced students' and educators' speech through vague and overbroad terms and censored conversations on issues such as race and gender.
00:03:51
Speaker
The legislation also impacts K-12 schools, but that part of the litigation will continue.
00:03:57
Speaker
While the courts continue to be a bulwark for the First Amendment and other essential rights protected in our Constitution, this month, approximately 5 million people across all 50 states and over 2,000 cities and towns took to the streets and participated in the No Kings protest.
00:04:13
Speaker
Many say No Kings was one of the single largest protests in United States history.
00:04:18
Speaker
Whether singing, chanting, holding signs, or waving flags, Americans made their voices heard during a day that was largely peaceful, with only isolated confrontations.
00:04:28
Speaker
Los Angeles has been an exception, where the National Guard and Marines had been deployed earlier by the Trump administration in response to protests of worksite raids by federal immigration law enforcement agents.
00:04:40
Speaker
The use of military personnel was challenged in court by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who called the deployment unnecessary and illegal.
00:04:48
Speaker
Attorneys from the Trump administration argued that the president's decision to deploy the National Guard was unreviewable by courts.
00:04:56
Speaker
In a 2-1 ruling, the federal judge panel for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the decision was reviewable by the judicial branch, but found that the president had a legitimate interest in protecting federal employees when he ordered the troops to Los Angeles.
00:05:11
Speaker
Whether you agree with the Ninth Circuit, with the administration's immigration policy, or with the message of the No Kings demonstration, the winner of this protest is our democracy.
Civic Engagement Scholars Program Overview
00:05:21
Speaker
Being able to safely and publicly assemble and to freely criticize our government as what has long distinguished the U.S. democracy.
00:05:29
Speaker
I hope we can all hold on to that in the days and months ahead.
00:05:33
Speaker
Now to our main show.
00:05:35
Speaker
We are kicking off the series by talking to two staff members at UCSB who designed and teach a course called the Civic Engagement Scholars Program, CESP for short.
00:05:46
Speaker
Take it away, Melanie.
00:05:48
Speaker
After producing two seasons of Speech Matters, I'm thrilled to have the chance to be on the other side of the mic for this special Speech Matters Summer Series.
Expanding the Definition of Civic Engagement
00:05:57
Speaker
I'm especially excited to shine a spotlight on the Center's voice initiative and to share some of the incredible work that it's made possible across the UC system.
00:06:08
Speaker
With that, I want to introduce today's guests.
00:06:11
Speaker
Katya Armistead has spent over 30 years serving the UC Santa Barbara community, go Gauchos, and has held almost every position on campus, serving as an undergraduate and graduate student, admissions administrative assistant, assistant director of admissions and manager of the visitor center,
00:06:30
Speaker
Assistant Dean of Student Activities and Student Life, Associate Dean and Director of the Office of Student Life, Dean of Student Life, and finally, Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Life and Belonging.
00:06:44
Speaker
This academic year, Katya announced that she's retiring, that we are pleased that she will stick around to teach this course.
00:06:52
Speaker
Viviana Marsano, another gaucho with a formidable acumen, serves as the Assistant Dean for Civic and Community Engagement at UC Santa Barbara.
00:07:01
Speaker
Born and raised in Argentina, Viviana moved to Santa Barbara to attend UCSB and to complete her PhD.
00:07:08
Speaker
Her focus is on development of students as involved and empathetic citizens as they participate in community initiatives at UC Santa Barbara.
00:07:16
Speaker
She previously worked at the UCSB Multicultural Center for 15 years and has been around campus for the past 40.
00:07:23
Speaker
Welcome to you both and thank you so much for taking an hour to speak with us during commencement season and a busy time on campus.
00:07:32
Speaker
So good to be here.
00:07:34
Speaker
Thank you.
00:07:35
Speaker
So, Kachi and Viviana have been part of the voice initiative since the 2020-2021 cohort.
00:07:41
Speaker
We're going to talk a lot about your project, but I just want to ask, to get us started, how you think about the framework for civic engagement.
00:07:50
Speaker
What is your definition?
00:07:53
Speaker
Our goal is to have our students think about civic engagement beyond just, oh, I voted.
00:08:02
Speaker
There's actually four components of civic engagement.
00:08:05
Speaker
It's the political engagement.
00:08:07
Speaker
Maybe it's running for office, supporting someone who's running for office, getting involved politically.
00:08:12
Speaker
It's in community engagement.
00:08:15
Speaker
It's, you know, philanthropy, getting involved in the nonprofit, volunteering, understanding what it means to give back, what service is.
00:08:24
Speaker
It's learning
Diverse Forms of Civic Involvement
00:08:25
Speaker
the skills of being able to have civic conversations, listening, listening,
00:08:30
Speaker
Listening to understand, not just arguing with someone, but seeing if you can have some empathy, understand where someone else is coming from.
00:08:40
Speaker
There's probably a reason why they have a different idea than you do in terms of an issue or a societal problem.
00:08:48
Speaker
And then finally, it is social justice.
00:08:51
Speaker
It's activism.
00:08:53
Speaker
It's protests.
00:08:54
Speaker
It's freedom of expression.
00:08:56
Speaker
It's making your voice heard.
00:08:58
Speaker
So we try to introduce our students to all of these areas so that they can then have that framework to decide what kind of projects they want to engage in.
00:09:10
Speaker
From what Katia said, you know, I feel that the students always think that being civically engaged is being that activist in the front of the march with the bullhorn, you know, and that's something that we tell them the first day of classes.
00:09:25
Speaker
You don't have to be that.
00:09:27
Speaker
And there are all these other ways to get involved.
00:09:31
Speaker
And I think part of our chore is like,
00:09:34
Speaker
demystify that, that if you are not in the front of the march, you are not civically engaged.
00:09:41
Speaker
Katya, can you tell us about your voice project, what it is, what inspired you and Viviana to create the program?
00:09:49
Speaker
Yeah, well, thanks for asking.
00:09:50
Speaker
Actually, Viviana and I, which is really funny because we work very closely together, were asked separately by Maeve Devoy, who worked in our CAPS center,
00:10:03
Speaker
And she worked in that center and she asked both Viviana and I if we would be interested in co-sponsoring an application to voice or to receive a voice.
00:10:13
Speaker
grant to start a civic engagement class.
00:10:17
Speaker
So that was the first concept.
00:10:20
Speaker
And it's about fostering ideals of active citizenship among our undergraduates, engaging the next generation of leaders on issues that are important to our campus and to the surrounding communities of Isla Vista, Goleta, and Santa Barbara.
00:10:37
Speaker
And it's about creating alliances with leaders and organizations and all those communities and providing students an opportunity to develop their leadership and organizational skills to affect measurable, positive change.
00:10:52
Speaker
So she brought us together.
00:10:54
Speaker
We started brainstorming this year long class, which makes it really unique.
00:10:59
Speaker
And they'd have to complete all three quarters with the final quarter culminating in a project.
00:11:06
Speaker
informed by everything that they learned fall quarter when we do constructive dialogue, leadership development, bring in tons of speakers about what is civic engagement from government to volunteerism to activism.
00:11:20
Speaker
And yeah, so we started in
Program Evolution Post-Pandemic
00:11:23
Speaker
2021.
00:11:23
Speaker
Maeve ended up leaving the university before we even finished the first class, but Vivian and I dove in headfirst and have had a great time leading this class since.
00:11:34
Speaker
Viviana, can you talk about how the CEFP program has changed over the past number of years and how you've grown as you continue teaching the course?
00:11:48
Speaker
Great.
00:11:49
Speaker
First of all, I'm very excited about being here with you.
00:11:53
Speaker
You know, like I feel when we get together, we cannot stop talking to each other.
00:11:59
Speaker
So it's
00:12:00
Speaker
It's so phenomenal and I want to highlight the work that your center is doing.
00:12:06
Speaker
I couldn't imagine a better fit for our class than this one.
00:12:11
Speaker
So one thing that I want to add to what Katia mentioned about the class is that another thing that the students have to do for the class, we have four experiential activities.
00:12:22
Speaker
in the quarter, the first quarter, those experiential activities include attending a county supervisors meeting, a school board meeting, city council, Cider Golita, Santa Barbara, a lot of things that expose them to what civic life is and what it is to participate as a citizen.
00:12:47
Speaker
One thing that is very dear to me is the idea that
00:12:52
Speaker
You have to start getting involved locally first.
00:12:56
Speaker
I feel that when you get involved locally, then you can actually see the results are more tangible.
00:13:03
Speaker
You see that you went, did public comment, you got something passed, you know, a legislation passed and then that actually pumps you up.
00:13:13
Speaker
to go to the state and national level.
00:13:15
Speaker
So that's why Katia and I feel that this is really, really important.
00:13:19
Speaker
And the students have to write a page or two.
00:13:22
Speaker
I mean, they have to write a little essay for each of them.
00:13:26
Speaker
And it's really interesting to see the things that they observe, the things that probably are different from them.
00:13:34
Speaker
They say, oh, everybody's very civil and everybody's hurt, you know?
00:13:38
Speaker
Things like that.
00:13:40
Speaker
And they learn a lot.
00:13:41
Speaker
To see their growth, just doing that is phenomenal.
00:13:44
Speaker
So back to your question about how I think it has changed over the years.
00:13:50
Speaker
I was trying to think about it.
00:13:53
Speaker
And Katia, I don't know if you remember, we started right after the pandemic.
00:13:59
Speaker
So we got a cohort that were, for the first time they were on campus, they created
00:14:08
Speaker
They didn't know the community.
00:14:10
Speaker
You know, for some of them, it was the first year being back.
00:14:14
Speaker
So when it came to decide on the projects and the community that they wanted to influence, it was hard for them because they were not that familiar with the community.
00:14:25
Speaker
But even then, we got some good examples, you know, that we can talk about later when we talk about the project.
00:14:32
Speaker
So that's a little bit different.
00:14:35
Speaker
I would say looking at this year, the amount of commitment of these students, the amount of the impact that their projects have made and will make because some of them want to continue with the projects even when they are not in the class anymore.
00:14:52
Speaker
So I do think that the commitment, the knowledge, the involvement of the students has really, really increased exponentially since the first year.
00:15:05
Speaker
I know we've kind of talked about the projects generally, but I want to get into some of the specifics because these students have really found ways to
Student Projects and Community Impact
00:15:14
Speaker
impact their communities and connect their own passions to the work that they've done through this course.
00:15:20
Speaker
And so I know we're going to get a chance to speak with a couple of the students about their project and highlight that, but I wanted to ask you both to maybe share a couple projects that you feel like have had a huge impact coming out of this class.
00:15:35
Speaker
Yeah, I think you're going to talk with Ashley from the group that created World News for Dummies.
00:15:43
Speaker
So she'll be able to highlight some of their amazing work.
00:15:47
Speaker
Okay, hi, my name is Ashley Sega.
00:15:49
Speaker
I'm a third year poli-sci major at UCSB.
00:15:53
Speaker
So, World News for Dummies is a large project and we have eight topics that we go over.
00:15:58
Speaker
It's national politics, international relations, human rights and activism, health and wellness, economics and business, society and culture, technology and innovation, and oh my gosh, what is the eighth one?
00:16:13
Speaker
We have eight.
00:16:14
Speaker
We have a lot of topics that we cover everything.
00:16:17
Speaker
And we divide the work amongst our editors and we basically just dive deep into concepts that people don't understand.
00:16:24
Speaker
And we're trying to approach news in a non-polarizing way.
00:16:27
Speaker
And so we're well aware that we have a lot of media happening and people consume media in different ways.
00:16:33
Speaker
But what we see is that whether you're on the left or on the right, there tends to be a villainized from the left media from the right side and a radicalized version of things from the right when they're perceiving the left.
00:16:46
Speaker
And so
00:16:47
Speaker
none of those things are beneficial and no matter what side of the political spectrum you're in or that you associate with, you can use our platform because that's not what we're trying to do.
00:16:57
Speaker
We're not trying to have those messages in World News Freedom.
00:17:00
Speaker
We basically just break down ideas and institutions.
00:17:04
Speaker
For each of our topics, we have terms and thematic concepts.
00:17:08
Speaker
Us as editors have basically compiled the list and we've defined with reputable sources
00:17:14
Speaker
Terms that you need to know about national politics.
00:17:16
Speaker
So you should know what the legislative branch is, what the executive branch is, what the president is.
00:17:21
Speaker
But then a concept, for example, would be checks and balances.
00:17:25
Speaker
So it's like, what is the actual role of the legislative branch?
00:17:28
Speaker
How does the legislative or the judicial branch and executive branch change?
00:17:32
Speaker
each other and like understanding the roles of the president and things of that sort.
00:17:36
Speaker
That way you're actually able to have that preliminary knowledge.
00:17:38
Speaker
So when you're consuming media, you actually come from a more informed perspective and you're actually able to understand what's happening.
00:17:45
Speaker
And that goes into all different.
00:17:47
Speaker
Oh, the last one is environmental environment sustainability.
00:17:51
Speaker
So it's
00:17:52
Speaker
It just came to my head.
00:17:53
Speaker
If you come across something in the news that you're not sure of, you're actually able to go back to that dictionary and see if we have it defined.
00:18:00
Speaker
And if not, we have a Google form that you're able to fill out and we'll define it for you.
00:18:04
Speaker
That way you're not going down those unhealthy like rabbit holes that give you a bunch of different answers, a bunch of different perspectives.
00:18:10
Speaker
We're just going to give you the most unbiased and factual information for you to use.
00:18:15
Speaker
Mental health has been something that has consistently been an area that our students have
00:18:22
Speaker
dove into over the years.
00:18:24
Speaker
I had one student who she was an international student from China and she really wanted to create a comprehensive resource for international students to have programming, to get help, to learn more about mental health.
00:18:42
Speaker
And
00:18:43
Speaker
She was able to give her project over to our health and wellness folks, professionals, and they've actually used it a little bit and incorporated in some of their projects.
00:18:54
Speaker
The next year after that, I had an Asian American student who used some of that concept to actually connected with that student.
00:19:04
Speaker
And she was a resident assistant and incorporated some of those concepts and created a whole program
00:19:12
Speaker
for her floor in the residential hall.
00:19:15
Speaker
So it's been really fun to see the different ways that they learn about the concept of civic engagement and really trying to make a difference in thinking about individuals' lives.
00:19:27
Speaker
And I think those are a couple of really good examples.
00:19:31
Speaker
That's really what we want.
00:19:32
Speaker
We want them to think about what they care about and then where they can make a difference in that area.
00:19:38
Speaker
One project that a student did our first year, when I said the students were not that familiar with Isla Vista, he worked in a houseless center in Ivy, Father Hodgie's House of Hope.
00:19:55
Speaker
And so he actually rounded up some students, some friends of his, and they created
Challenges in Civic Engagement Education
00:20:02
Speaker
a series they did
00:20:03
Speaker
a clothing drives, we did some socials with them.
00:20:09
Speaker
They also created, we had somebody, a former staff that came and talked to them about career, how to try to find a job, you know, now that they were more settled.
00:20:21
Speaker
And I know that that project continued after the class.
00:20:26
Speaker
This year, I can think a couple of them.
00:20:29
Speaker
Oh, one project that has followed that continuation that Katya mentioned.
00:20:34
Speaker
Last year, we had a student whose sister had died of a fentanyl overdose.
00:20:41
Speaker
And she and her mother were very, very active in a campaign.
00:20:45
Speaker
And at that time, they are from LA.
00:20:49
Speaker
So in LA, their congressperson was trying to work on a bill to consider
00:20:54
Speaker
selling fentanyl, an issue of Homeland Security.
00:20:58
Speaker
So, and this student was also in a sorority, very involved with fraternities and sorority life.
00:21:06
Speaker
So she created a campaign, an educational campaign, telling them about the problems of fentanyl, the use of Narcan, how you can administer it, and then campaigning to collect signatures for those bills, right?
00:21:22
Speaker
Funny enough, one of the bills passed before she finished the project, but there are new bills.
00:21:28
Speaker
Right after that, there was a bill that students were circulating to ask them to make it mandatory for rest halls in universities to educate their residents about how to use NARCAN.
00:21:42
Speaker
You know, so everything is really connected.
00:21:44
Speaker
So this year, we had other two students who were also in sororities,
00:21:50
Speaker
who picked up that project, you know?
00:21:53
Speaker
And so they did the educational part.
00:21:55
Speaker
Another issue that you all know that it's a huge issue in Santa Barbara and all of California and the state is housing, right?
00:22:05
Speaker
And we know that in Isla Vista, there is such a dense, dense, dense area.
00:22:12
Speaker
It's half a square mile and it's one of the most
00:22:16
Speaker
dense areas in California at least.
00:22:21
Speaker
And also the fact that the students sometimes get abused by the property providers and, you know, like repairs, they do not get their deposits, you know, returned or whatever.
00:22:38
Speaker
And she was very interested in working on that.
00:22:41
Speaker
And funny enough,
00:22:43
Speaker
The Bloom Center, also at UCSB for the study of poverty, started a project in IB about this.
00:22:53
Speaker
So two of our students chose a topic and they worked with them.
00:22:58
Speaker
So Sophia, actually, that you are probably going to interview,
00:23:03
Speaker
took that project and she was in charge of making some documentaries about the, you know, like the experience of those students.
Fostering Understanding Amid Polarization
00:23:13
Speaker
Okay, my name is Sofia Aliamis and I am a rising senior at UC Santa Barbara studying political science.
00:23:20
Speaker
Going into my third year at Santa Barbara, all my friends were going to study abroad, like every last one of them was going to go study abroad.
00:23:27
Speaker
And so I was kind of alone in my house, alone in my community.
00:23:32
Speaker
And I figured what better way than to just force myself to get involved.
00:23:37
Speaker
And so I saw this class.
00:23:41
Speaker
I think I got an email about the class through my student email and I signed up for it.
00:23:46
Speaker
When I started the course, I really had no involvement in my school and my community whatsoever.
00:23:52
Speaker
I knew that there were things in the school and with my community that I was unhappy with, unsatisfied with.
00:23:57
Speaker
But never enough to really get me involved or get me interested in making a change personally.
00:24:04
Speaker
And then I joined this class and we get these speakers from all different aspects of the community, from local government, like I mentioned, professors, authors.
00:24:14
Speaker
And they kind of just made me realize that as a student, as I was just 20 years old, that I can make a difference, which I didn't really understand.
00:24:24
Speaker
see that being a possible outcome of me being one out of 20,000 students at UCSB.
00:24:30
Speaker
I got involved with the UCSB Blum Center, which focuses on social inequality and poverty, is how I found the housing committee, which I've been collecting data and research on housing insecurity in Isla Vista, inappropriate landlord communications and contracts and
00:24:54
Speaker
really listening to the student body and the residents of I love this to just see what they're upset with and what I can do to change that.
00:25:02
Speaker
So I think long story short, the biggest thing I learned was that my voice actually can make a difference and my actions can make a difference.
00:25:12
Speaker
And I would encourage others to realize that potential within themselves as well.
00:25:17
Speaker
It feels like you're kind of just an aunt, you know, and you're, if you go to a big public school,
00:25:22
Speaker
It just kind of feels like you're just walking around, you know, and you can't make much of a difference, but you really can if you just try.
00:25:29
Speaker
A little bit off topic of the whole, you know, housing thing, but what we learned in class was how to engage in productive conversations with people you disagree with.
00:25:40
Speaker
That means being a mediator and realizing when the conversation hits a dead end and it's really just not going to go anywhere, how to agree to disagree, how to engage that.
00:25:51
Speaker
if someone isn't budging how to, you know, just end the conversation respectfully.
00:25:56
Speaker
What the biggest takeaway I've had is, you know, I can be hardheaded when it comes to my political views and opinions.
00:26:04
Speaker
And I think what our nation does not need more of is disagreement and volatile disagreement.
00:26:12
Speaker
And so what Katya and Viviana, I think I've fostered within our class is how to go out into the world and be active
00:26:20
Speaker
citizens, but in a way that we're encouraging healthy debate, healthy conversation, informed, educated conversation.
00:26:30
Speaker
And I think that's just so much more important now than ever.
00:26:34
Speaker
It's okay to disagree with people.
00:26:36
Speaker
It's okay to have different opinions.
00:26:38
Speaker
And me bringing that out into the world, even though it's just me, makes me feel like I'm making a difference when there's so much crumbling down.
00:26:46
Speaker
It feels like there's so much coming down around us.
00:26:48
Speaker
If I know that within my small community,
00:26:51
Speaker
I can foster a more stable environment of, you know, people agreeing to disagree or having different opinions, but we can still be friends and we can still have, you know, fun conversations.
00:27:01
Speaker
We can just talk about something else.
Replicating the Program Across Campuses
00:27:02
Speaker
Just realizing that you can make a small scale difference.
00:27:05
Speaker
And if everybody makes a small scale difference, then it becomes large scale.
00:27:09
Speaker
Funny enough, a lot of these projects, the students, I think I mentioned at the beginning, have decided to continue with these projects.
00:27:19
Speaker
even if they are not in the class anymore.
00:27:22
Speaker
And so, Katya and I are thinking about encouraging them to create registered campus orgs with them so they can have access to funding and things like that, and these become institutionalized groups.
00:27:38
Speaker
That's a mouthful, sorry, but yeah.
00:27:41
Speaker
No, no, I could sit and listen to you both talk about this project that your students are working on all day.
00:27:47
Speaker
It is really just a needed dose of encouragement during this time.
00:27:52
Speaker
But I also want to just note that what I'm hearing you both talk about is just
00:27:56
Speaker
this amazing ability for larger impact and just this network that you've been able to grow through the course and just how many issues and areas impacting the community that your students and you both have been able to do work on and impact.
00:28:12
Speaker
And I wonder if you have been able to just quantify or understand better the impact that the program has been able to have, not just on the students taking the course, but through them to the communities they're working in.
00:28:26
Speaker
We usually have about 20 students a year.
00:28:29
Speaker
But in terms of
00:28:32
Speaker
I'll give an example.
00:28:34
Speaker
I had someone we elicit from them, who would you like to hear from?
00:28:39
Speaker
We have our regular speakers.
00:28:41
Speaker
We're very intentional.
00:28:42
Speaker
Viviana and I are very involved in the nonprofit world here in Santa Barbara County.
00:28:48
Speaker
And so we have a lot of contacts.
00:28:50
Speaker
And one student a couple of years, maybe it was last year, asked, they wanted to learn a little bit more about immigration.
00:28:57
Speaker
How timely.
00:28:59
Speaker
She didn't know how timely that is.
00:29:01
Speaker
And so I invited a woman who's a UCSB grad.
00:29:04
Speaker
She has her master's from UCSB, and she is executive director of the Immigrant Legal Defense Center.
00:29:11
Speaker
And there was a student who's like, that's who I want to work with.
00:29:14
Speaker
You know, I want to work in that organization.
00:29:17
Speaker
And so because I have a relationship, I was able to make that introduction after she had done the presentation in class.
00:29:26
Speaker
And she created their newsletter.
00:29:29
Speaker
She created a fundraising event.
00:29:31
Speaker
She created their donor database.
00:29:34
Speaker
She heard the infrastructure that she helped that organization create because they are so shorthanded.
00:29:41
Speaker
is long lasting and so timely because we couldn't have predict the chaos around immigration that's happening right now.
00:29:51
Speaker
The focus of this particular organization is on minors and unaccompanied minors.
00:29:57
Speaker
And they do such critical work.
00:30:01
Speaker
And I went to the event that she created and the staff and the executive director were hugging.
00:30:08
Speaker
They were like,
00:30:08
Speaker
thank you so much for sending her to us.
00:30:11
Speaker
They didn't know what to do with her.
00:30:13
Speaker
They're like, yeah, she can come intern, but we don't really have a structure.
00:30:17
Speaker
And she's like, I will help create structures and systems.
00:30:20
Speaker
When you ask about the lasting change, what that student brought to that organization and going to that event and meeting the donors and seeing the money that they were raising at this event, my heart burst.
00:30:34
Speaker
It was
00:30:35
Speaker
So incredible because she created systems that are going to last for a very long time for that organization.
00:30:40
Speaker
It was, and it's so timely.
00:30:43
Speaker
That's what made me think of another example about the impact.
00:30:47
Speaker
You know, we have an organization called COS here, which is the Central Coast United Alliance for a Sustainable Economy.
00:30:57
Speaker
They do work with farm workers.
00:31:00
Speaker
They do work with housing,
00:31:02
Speaker
They do work with immigration.
00:31:06
Speaker
And last year, three of our students worked with them.
00:31:09
Speaker
One of the projects was the impact of pesticides near the schools in Santa Maria, in the north of Santa Barbara.
00:31:19
Speaker
Also the impact of pesticides on pregnant women.
00:31:24
Speaker
So the amount of possibilities and the impact that they created, one of our students is a Spanish speaker.
00:31:31
Speaker
So she was the one talking on the phone with the farm workers and informing them.
00:31:38
Speaker
So it's creating an impact one person at a time, really.
00:31:43
Speaker
I want to turn to talking about the current moment.
00:31:46
Speaker
We kind of mentioned that it's a tumultuous time and there's been significant increases in polarization in our arch
00:31:53
Speaker
society during the five years that you've been working on this course and just changes in general to the political climate, you know, new presidential administration, for one.
00:32:06
Speaker
And I wondered how this has had an effect on how your students think about civic engagement and also how you talk about engagement and activism in the classroom.
00:32:18
Speaker
You know, I want to go back a little bit, you know, civic engagement is a
00:32:23
Speaker
fairly new fields within higher education, right?
00:32:29
Speaker
And in 2012, 2013, the American Association of Colleges and Universities did a report called the Crucible Moment, in which they talk about what's happening, polarization among different groups.
00:32:46
Speaker
At that time, which I think has changed, it was the lack of participation in politics and even voting
00:32:53
Speaker
in young people between the age of 18 and 29, which I think has changed quite a bit, it has increased.
00:33:00
Speaker
And so they created a document asking that colleges and universities also have to address that.
00:33:08
Speaker
And they gave a list of, you know, like the concepts that we should actually emphasize, the skills that we want to
00:33:17
Speaker
developing students.
00:33:19
Speaker
And I think that in a way, civic discourse is part of that, right?
00:33:25
Speaker
So we incorporate constructive dialogue in the class.
00:33:30
Speaker
The students, we don't have enough time as much as we would like to, but once we give them the role play, they always want more.
00:33:38
Speaker
At the beginning, they are like, okay, I'm a little bit confused.
00:33:42
Speaker
Also, we have to think
00:33:44
Speaker
that a lot of the times our students, and when you are in colleges and universities, a lot of people have very similar thoughts, you know?
00:33:54
Speaker
So sometimes it's a little bit more difficult to create that dialogue and giving them the skills to actually have two very opposing views, but we pick some topics.
00:34:07
Speaker
So for me, this has had a great effect in the students and the fact that they want to do more exercises like that is very telling.
00:34:19
Speaker
So, Katya and I are planning on spicing it up a little bit, that section of the class, you know?
00:34:27
Speaker
How can we create more fake conflict so that they get the skills done?
00:34:32
Speaker
For sure.
00:34:34
Speaker
Just hearing you talk about these stories and talk about these moments in the classroom, teaching dialogue, and this is with only 20 students a year and there's only two of you, it makes me think about what we could do with more and how this could grow or potentially exist on other campuses and in other communities and just the exponential impact that that would be able to create.
00:34:57
Speaker
So I wanted to talk about just how you might
00:35:01
Speaker
think about replicating this program or how you might encourage others to do something similar or something different on their own campus.
00:35:09
Speaker
Just any thoughts you would have to share to those listening who might take encouragement from this conversation and think about doing something similar.
00:35:18
Speaker
Well,
00:35:18
Speaker
The great fortune of us having the voice grant, we have been able to purchase the books for our students.
00:35:27
Speaker
So that's not a financial burden.
00:35:29
Speaker
And we could use more books because we weren't requiring them to buy all these books and we could do that.
00:35:34
Speaker
But also it afforded us the opportunity or the ability to continue our growth and learning in this area.
00:35:42
Speaker
And we attended a workshop in Michigan called, well, it was provided by Scott Myers Lipton, who's created this whole social action curriculum.
00:35:57
Speaker
He was a professor at San Jose State University.
00:36:01
Speaker
And he was all about this civic engagement, but about social change and bringing a class together to work on a project.
00:36:09
Speaker
Now, it was more focused.
00:36:10
Speaker
The whole class did a particular project.
00:36:13
Speaker
I think one of their most successful campaigns was...
00:36:18
Speaker
What was it, Viviana?
00:36:20
Speaker
It was the minimum wage for some workers in San Jose.
00:36:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:26
Speaker
So if you looked it up, you'll see that students really furthered that conversation and actually got tremendous movement because they really uplift this to lawmakers and really got that conversation.
00:36:39
Speaker
And we've had a whole wave of minimum wage rising in California, thanks to their good work.
00:36:44
Speaker
And so he put curriculum together in terms of
00:36:48
Speaker
how to actually make these movements happen.
00:36:51
Speaker
And so Viviana and I went to his workshop that was held at the University of Michigan.
00:36:57
Speaker
And he makes it very affordable.
00:36:58
Speaker
I think the most expensive thing was
00:37:00
Speaker
us flying there, but the voice grant afforded us that option or that opportunity.
00:37:06
Speaker
And so we introduced pieces of that curriculum in our class.
00:37:12
Speaker
And, you know, it really focuses on their critical thinking skills, understanding how systems work, structures work, how to solve problems, overcome challenges, social responsibility, leadership skills.
00:37:24
Speaker
So, and it starts from first just thinking of an issue.
00:37:28
Speaker
and moves into issue identification and then moves to, okay, so something might really bug you, but start asking other people, does it bug you?
00:37:38
Speaker
Do you think there could be something that should be changed?
00:37:41
Speaker
And understand if there really is an issue that you could get garner support and traction on.
00:37:48
Speaker
So it really helps walk students through how to do this, how to make a difference.
00:37:53
Speaker
And it's been, it's really strengthened, I think, our teaching and moving students along.
00:37:59
Speaker
So when you're talking, you're asking us about how could you replicate that?
00:38:02
Speaker
I'd say this is foundational as well.
00:38:04
Speaker
And he has like twice a year in different parts of the country, these two day seminar workshops.
00:38:12
Speaker
We've shared our curricula, our syllabus with others, and we could continue to do that.
00:38:18
Speaker
I would imagine that every campus would do it slightly different based on their culture, and that's cool, and we're happy to share what's worked for us.
00:38:27
Speaker
And I think that coupled with knowing that there's an actual book, there's actual curriculum around social action, and then the concepts that we have created, I am confident other campuses could do this.
00:38:41
Speaker
I would also like to mention, you know, Katia talked about that curriculum, but also Emma Tolliver, right, who received this grant.
00:38:54
Speaker
And then she has been a guest speaker in our class where she developed this like handbook, I would say, about, which I think it's very connected with what Katia said.
00:39:07
Speaker
And she has this document where it tells the students how to write a press release, how to influence, how to change opinions.
00:39:17
Speaker
And the students see it and they are like, wow.
00:39:20
Speaker
So I think we don't have enough hours in the class to do these things in a deeper level.
00:39:28
Speaker
Also in terms of growing this, I think we have grown the program within UCSB without even knowing it.
00:39:37
Speaker
I think earlier today, we mentioned we have worked with the Bloom Center, we have worked with the Immigrant Legal Defense Center, with the Isla Vista Community Services District.
00:39:50
Speaker
And so I feel that's the way we create the Ripple Effect, right?
00:39:56
Speaker
Thank you so much, both of you for this time.
00:39:58
Speaker
It's been so amazing to get to learn about the class and the work the students are doing.
00:40:03
Speaker
And I just want to close out.
00:40:04
Speaker
We always end with talking about something that our listeners can do.
00:40:10
Speaker
And, you know, after listening,
00:40:13
Speaker
What kind of action might they be able to take?
00:40:16
Speaker
And I know that there are different modalities and different assignments that you give your students in your class that we wondered if you might be able to share an assignment from the course that you might be able to give to our listeners about learning about this topic or doing something that impacts their own community.
00:40:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:40:37
Speaker
Well, I think Viviana mentioned how we had the students, because everything's recorded and on Zoom, to go to city council meetings, school board meetings.
00:40:48
Speaker
their local city government, just anything.
00:40:53
Speaker
Our students would always like, oh my gosh, I had no idea the different issues that they're talking about, the complexity.
00:41:02
Speaker
So I really challenge folks to attend some meetings.
00:41:06
Speaker
You don't have to participate.
00:41:07
Speaker
You could just listen.
00:41:08
Speaker
Think about what's happening in your local community and school boards and city government.
00:41:14
Speaker
is just an excellent way to do that.
00:41:16
Speaker
I started this class with Viviana.
00:41:20
Speaker
We brought in school board members, city council members.
00:41:24
Speaker
We are county supervisor.
00:41:28
Speaker
Little did I know, and I just thought, oh gosh, I would never be an elected official.
00:41:33
Speaker
And I was asked to run for our county school board.
00:41:37
Speaker
And I was like, oh my gosh, I have to like practice what I preach.
00:41:41
Speaker
And now I've been elected.
00:41:43
Speaker
I'm an elected official.
00:41:44
Speaker
I am on our Santa Barbara County School Board.
00:41:47
Speaker
And I don't think I would have done it had I not done this class.
00:41:50
Speaker
Because now I've been, I personally have been exposed to all these elected local politicians.
00:41:57
Speaker
It's not as scary as I thought it would be.
00:41:59
Speaker
I learned a lot from them because I've heard them present every year.
00:42:03
Speaker
And they encouraged me to do it and I did it.
00:42:05
Speaker
So yeah, get involved.
00:42:09
Speaker
I would echo what Katia said and I think I gave you the examples of Isla Vista.
00:42:14
Speaker
Do you know the IVCSD, Community Services District in IV has a board of directors and they have a position for a student.
00:42:23
Speaker
The Isla Vista Recreation and Park District also has a board of directors where students can be part, you know,
00:42:31
Speaker
So it's just for anywhere where you are in the nation, you can find those opportunities locally and try to engage your students.
00:42:43
Speaker
Ask a group of students to go and do public comment at one of these meetings, you know.
00:42:50
Speaker
There are so many things you can do in a community.
00:42:53
Speaker
Even just distribute food at a food distribution.
00:42:59
Speaker
It's just
00:43:00
Speaker
I have noticed that the students in this class got exposed to one thing and some of them are writing to us and saying, oh my gosh, this class has changed my life.
00:43:11
Speaker
It only takes to expose somebody once or twice and get that spark going.
Conclusion and Future Topics
00:43:19
Speaker
Well, thank you both.
00:43:20
Speaker
You've definitely put the spark in my day.
00:43:23
Speaker
And I always say this is the biggest regret of my Gautau career, not having had the opportunity to take your course when I was a student.
00:43:30
Speaker
But I'm so grateful to get to hear about all the work you've both been doing.
00:43:35
Speaker
I'm grateful to you both for putting in so much work and effort into this course and for spending an hour talking with us about it.
00:43:42
Speaker
Thank you both so much.
00:43:43
Speaker
Thank you.
00:43:44
Speaker
Thank you.
00:43:46
Speaker
We will continue our summer voice series next month when we talk with voice recipients Giovanni Itzel and Brianna Guadalupe Figueroa-Perez, a graduate and undergraduate student respectively at UC Irvine about their project, Rewriting Migration Stories at UC.
00:44:05
Speaker
Talk to you next month.