The SIPS DEI Council is open to anyone in the SIPS community who would like to participate in building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community in our school through monthly online meetings and working groups on various topics. New voices, viewpoints and energy are always welcome. For more information and Zoom link for our next meeting, email: sips-dicouncil@cornell.edu. Visit the SIPS Diversity, inclusion, & accessibility webpage.
Inclusivity in Extension Programming
What follows is from the Cornell AgriTech DEI Bulletin. Many thanks to our colleagues Anna Katharine Mansfield and Amara Dunn-Silver, Cornell AgriTech DEI Council co-chairs, who are taking such a strong lead with their DEI efforts. They write, “Like any group, DEI practitioners use jargon as a shortcut to convey specific meanings that may be unclear or confusing to anyone unfamiliar with the terms. As part of our DEI Bulletin series, we are exploring some key terms, concepts and practices that are important to DEI.” If there’s a topic you’d like them to explore, contact Anna Katharine or Amara, or you can submit a suggestion anonymously.
At Cornell AgriTech, most if not all of us are involved in extension at some point during the year – from planning, hosting, and providing support for on-campus extension events, to giving presentations at extension meetings organized by others. Inclusive extension programming aligns with Cornell’s values, and it also increases the reach and impact of our extension efforts.
Whether you are running your own event, or speaking at someone else’s meeting, here are some suggestions to create more inclusive extension spaces. Try some out at your next event.
Increasing inclusivity in extension:
Use a microphone. No matter how loud your “extension voice” is, there will be people in your audience who cannot hear you well, and they will likely not speak up when you ask. Using a microphone makes it easier for everyone to understand you, including people with hearing loss, and those whose first language is different from yours. If you are organizing the event, provide microphones to speakers and insist they use them. Portable microphones and speakers for use at field meetings can be purchased relatively inexpensively. (SIPS has several you can borrow. Email Catalina Enright cle46@cornell.edu to sign out.)
Consider your introduction. Especially if your gender identity confers privilege (e.g., you are cisgender), consider including your pronouns on your nametag, your title slide, or in your verbal introduction of yourself. By doing this, you are normalizing sharing gender identities, rather than assuming them.
Be clear about which name you need. If you are hosting an event that requires registration, it’s common to ask for an attendee’s name. Do you need a legal name that matches an official document (e.g., to receive DEC pesticide applicator credits), or do you need a preferred name so that you can mark attendees off a list? Communicating clearly about which type of name you need can reduce stress for transgender or non-binary attendees and will also be appreciated by anyone who prefers to go by a nickname or shortened form of their name.
Reconsider your registration fee. If you are planning and hosting an event, will you charge a registration fee? There are plenty of good reasons to do this. For example, it encourages people to value and attend the event since they paid for it, or can cover a meal expense not allowed on a grant. Will this registration fee present a barrier to some people who might otherwise attend? There are a variety of potential solutions, including asking for sponsorships to reduce meeting costs, or offering a sliding scale or “pay what you can” range of registration fees, rather than a single fixed fee. A variety of event organizers have found that such a system results in an equal and sometimes greater registration revenue than a fixed fee.
Prioritize financial accessibility. When we are asked to speak at someone else’s extension event, we are used to asking logistical questions like where, when, and for how long. Have you ever asked the organizer about the financial accessibility of their event? Do they have a plan to support attendance regardless of financial resources? If you have limited time to commit to extension events – as many of us do – you might use the answer to this question to help you decide whether to accept the invitation. Just by asking the question, you are signaling to the organizer the importance of financial accessibility to extension events
Make sure your event can be found. Have you ever been invited somewhere and not given clear instructions on how to find the room or building? You might have felt frustrated, nervous, or like you weren’t supposed to be there. Simple things like signs directing people where to park, or an explanation in the confirmation email about how to get from the Jordan Hall parking lot to the auditorium on the second floor communicates to your attendees that you want them at your event, whether or not they have visited our campus before. (Ithaca area locations can be equally intimidating to find for those not familiar with campus and nearby research farms.) This is also a great opportunity to point out entrances that do or don’t require stairs.
Welcome attendees. Of course you are excited that people are attending your extension event because you have important information to share with them. Do they know you are glad they are there? Assign someone to welcome attendees. If there is a registration table and the people staffing it do not have too many other tasks to complete, this could happen at registration. Or, station someone by the entrance whose sole job is to greet attendees with a warm smile and direct them to their next stop, whether it is a registration table, a table of resources, or the seating/standing area for the event.
Do you use other practices to make your extension events more inclusive? We’d love to hear about them so we can all keep growing!
At AgriTech, we grow things, including the diversity of our extension audiences and the reach of our programming.