On Monday, Feb. 10, the first day of Wright State University's leadership week, a discussion was held about inclusive leadership. The title was "Creating Space: Inclusive Leadership for a Stronger Pack," and it delved into topics about diversity, equity and inclusion. Most importantly, it talked about how to create an inclusive community as a leader.
The space created
Held in the Student Involvement and Leadership Center, this lecture was all about how leaders of student organizations and WSU professionals can create a more accepting space for students to join and call home.
Emily Yantis-Houser is the assistant director of the LGBTQA+ center at WSU. She is also a professor of women, gender and sexuality studies, as well as the advisor for WSU's all-inclusive club, Abilities.
"When I was thinking about activities, I was thinking about building community. How do we build community? How do we use our leadership positions? How do we use our organizations, or whatever we're part of, whatever groups we're part of, to build communities? So that is a lot of what we're going to do today, is kind of start from the beginning and start thinking about what kinds of things mean, like what words, what kind of practices, what kind of people help us think about community," Yantis-Houser said.
To help answer this, Yantis-Houser provided papers to all in attendance, called "The ABCs of Community," with a list of all the letters of the alphabet for attendees to write words they associated with community down, starting with each letter. Afterwards, she asked everyone to share.
Marc DeWitt is the assistant director of the Bolinga center. He attended Yantis-Houser's lecture and added a lot of key insights to the discussion, bringing his important and unique perspectives to the talk.
"Definitely healing. I also put grievance. I think those naturally arise in the community and families. But also, grace. Grace has to exist in any community," DeWitt said.
The others in attendance shared the words they had come up with, too. Words like bonding and love were common, but the answers ranged. Yantis-Houser shared that this activity was to get attendees brainstorming about their values in community and to break the ice a bit. This was an effective way to get everyone open and sharing before the lecture went on and dived deeper.
Topics of conversation
Yantis-Houser read from a list of several statements about community and asked each attendee to state whether they agreed with them or not and why. The statements ranged from being about community responsibility to individual identity within a group.
All those in attendance seemed to hold similar values regarding diversity, because the opinions lined up for the most part. Attendees agreed that diversity is important within a community, and that not all members should be the same.
"Communities or groups can become homogenous and so part of bringing that up is the importance of keeping that in mind, that not everyone is the same," Yantis-Houser summarized.
Amnah Shatat is an organizational leadership major at WSU who attended the conversation and engaged heavily with the discussion.
"You didn't need to like somebody, but you should have respect and know the rules and follow it," Shatat said.
Many of those in attendance began to share personal stories and experiences. Anecdotes from families and other communities were discussed, which were impactful to the conversation as a whole. Yantis-Houser asked people to think of a time and place where they felt that they truly belonged, which led a lot of people to share deeply personal things about their favorite communities.
Key takeaways
From the stories that attendees shared and the points that Yantis-Houser made in her guided discussion, it became clear to all those in attendance why diversity in groups and communities is so important.
"You grow more from learning people. Most of your study abroad or master experiences are based on you, learning from immersion and something that's different from you," DeWitt said.
In addition, important points were made about intersectionality, and how it is essential for leaders to support all members and be aware of how their identities intersect with one another.
"Thinking about ways to support individual identity as well as group or community identity, and, yeah, because you're all correct, that is like, that is what gives us growth and strength, and like, learning from differences and understanding differences, that is what builds a stronger community," Yantis-Houser said.
Inclusivity, and DEI as a whole, is essential to building a strong and lasting community. While this specific conversation had a date and time, the topics that were discussed are open to talk about any time. It is important that people discuss their values, needs and preferences with their community, and that communities are diverse and safe spaces for members.
