Virtual Social Justice Workshop for the OAR Customer Service Team
On June 18th, the Customer Service Team and the undergraduate student Admissions Representatives attended a virtual Social Justice Workshop hosted by Sam Becker through the Multicultural Student Center. These Social Justice Workshops typically explore issues of power, privilege, and oppression, as well as identity and group dynamics, microaggressions, and how to create inclusive campus communities.
The Customer Service Team’s workshop focused specifically on social identity and microaggressions and provided the team with a space to consider these topics in their team dynamics, individual perspectives, work role, and in current events. Using hands-on and group activities in Blackboard, these topics were further broken down, encouraging the team to explore, discuss, and learn more about implicit bias, creating inclusive spaces, and responding to microaggressions. Finally, the team was broken into smaller groups and challenged with a variety of scenarios that may occur within their team or in their roles, which includes addressing questions, concerns, and requests for prospective students and their families and the general public. Each group discussed how they could respond to a complex, sometimes uncomfortable situation, and then the entire team came together again to share their scenarios, reactions, and discussion outcomes. Overall, the Social Justice Workshop provided a safe space to explore complex topics around social justice, verified with the team that discomfort is okay and even expected in these discussions, and aimed to incorporate a growth mindset approach. The Customer Service Team continues to incorporate social justice education through the use of guest speakers at team meetings, discussions around current events that impact our work, and the UW–Madison Leadership Framework.