Meeting Minutes

11/9 - Politics (After the Election)

• First lesbian senator - Tammy Baldwin
• 2 LGBTQ* in House of Representatives
• France's Cabinet approved gay marriage, waiting on final decision though
• 16 yrs ago, supporting gay rights would hurt a campaign, now it seems to be a reason that people voted for Obama
• Some Republican candidates: "Rape is a sign of god." Glad most of them did not win. 
• Demographics changing - targeting older white men is not good enough to win the election anymore (Republican strategy)
• New Hampshire has a transgender senator
• Colorado has a gay state senator
• CA has super majority in state level for Democrats 
• Porn stars in LA must wear condoms - passed :O

11/2 - Queer Representation in Politics

• Chance and Kevin had lunch with QRC and other leaders of queer groups
• Calendar with all queer events being created
• Workshop of intersectionality of various identities on 11/5 
• Wednesday 11/7 - Mental Health at QRC from 5-6:30pm
• 11/8 - Documentary reading 4-5:30pm
• Queer Men's Social 7:30-9:30pm
• Queer representation in politics
• pretty high government positions are filled by LGBTQQIA folk
• as long as you're openly out, your job is safe
• only care if you're not out - blackmailing material
• all states have had LGBTQQIA representatives
• however, no governor, senator, or president
• Wisconsin senator Tammy Baldwin running (lesbian)
• Replican gay man in San Diego running for a position - has decided not to make his sexuality an issue to run on
• Is this good or bad for the queer community? 
• Should queer issues be brought up more in politics?
• Is it better for elected positions to champion queer issues or be queer themselves?
• Ideally both
• Victory Fund - gives money to identifying runners if they are within 10% of winning a race

10/19 - How are your experiences at Mudd so far?

• Right before fall break, so how is everyone doing so far? 
• Any good movie suggestions?
• Surprise guest - Arturo, gay activist from Columbia, doing his PhD in the Claremont Colleges
• In big cities in Columbia, they have a lot more rights than America
• civil unions that are almost equivalent to marriage
• currently fighting for adoption rights
• Other areas are still extremely conservative though, especially rural areas 
• Trans* rights are a lot worse off 

Minutes 10/12

• Discussing funding of bringing S. Bergman to campus. Nobody has our account number apparently.
• Talking about wearing our Gay: Fine by Me Shirts to the Taylor Swift concert
• We have a new shipment of the shirt at OID
• Including smalls!
• We need to access OID over the weekend so people can pick them up?
• Send out a students-l email.
• What is the nature of activism?
• Would wearing our Gay: Fine by Me t-shirts be activism?
• Is it too passive to qualify?
• What is a clear example of activism?
• The Hey Hetero! campaign from 2 years ago, potentially?
• Got people thinking.
• Definitely provoked a response.
• In retrospect, considered somewhat successful, but could have gone better.
• Well-recieved by prospective students.
• Made some feel uncomfortable.
• Made a few feel threatened.
• Kevin McSwiggin: a friend had 500 posters of a renaissance statue in a bright, tight-fitting ski outfit.
• What are the goals of activism?
• Raising awareness
• Change opinions
• How does queer-friendliness relate to schools?
• The attitude of a school towards queer issues is not as well advertised as other aspects of a school.
• There are religious schools that require you to sign a contract saying you will not be gay.
• College brochures often do not advertise the level of acceptance of the school.
• Not in the Harvey Mudd brochures.
• Would we want it to be? Response seems in general to be yes.
• Do we want to talk to Admissions about this?
• Though some school guides have begun to do grade schools on acceptance.
• Compiled from student surveys.
• Darbi from Pitzer introduces herself
• is studying the lives of various queer people on the 5Cs
• Cameron talks about Inner Varsity
• Inner Varsity is organizing a group of people of different faith backgrounds, sexual orientations, gender identities
• goal is to discuss bible passages at Saturday at 1
• Discussing people's first impressions of Mudd
• Google's primary image of Mudd is of West
• People's first visits to campus were kind of underwhelming
• Miranda: "The dorms are like motels from 60's horror movies"
• Beginning of queer activism and queer community
• Chance explains the Stonewall riots

Minutes 9/28 and 10/4

9/28 - Coming out and family/friends

• Greg Rae, alumnus, board member, and one of the founders of PRISM, and his partner Tyrus joined us for the meeting. Some things we talked to him about:
• PRISM (People Respecting Individuals' Sexualities at Mudd, now just Prism) was founded  because the only big queer groups on the 5Cs before were the QRC and QQS (Queer and Questioning Students). QQS was primarily for people already out as queer or questioning, so some were unable to join. Also, Mudders were taking over this organization, so they needed their own club.
• Middle School Dance is on 9/29 at 10pm in Edmund's Ballroom
• QRC run event, good DJ, nonalcoholic (but you don't have to be sober to attend)
• Rohitashwa brought the play "Just in Love" to our attention
• If people are interested, we can plan an event
• Occurs regularly on Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays (I think - double check me on that!)
• Topic of the week: Coming out and family/friends
• Easier telling parents than grandparents often, but depends on the people of course
• Should we consider how people will take it before telling people?
• Most people said yes, that it would not be beneficial in some cases to bring it up.
• Does age make a difference?
• Somewhat. Again, depends upon the actual people
• Friends? Facebook?
• More people should put things on Facebook, it's helpful. Also misleading, however.
• Lots of times people don't give a big deal reaction, even when you want one
• Sometimes better to be out in some places, but not in others

10/4 - Queer Culture and Art

• Funding request about bringing a S. Bear Bergman, a transgender author, to the 5Cs
• Wiki description: "S. Bear Bergman ... is a transgender author, poet, playwright, and theater artist. Bergman identifies as neither male nor female and prefers pronouns 'ze' and 'hir.' "
• Will be a lecture/performance about the Origin of Transgender and Chanukah
• Held by a variety of groups, including QRC and Claremont Hillel
• It will be taking the place of the regular Shabbat Dinner held by Claremont Hillel 
• Event will be taking place sometime between National Transgender Day and Chanukah
• There is interest from members of Prism! Yay! 
• Requesting $100 for transportation, etc. 
• Request granted! Need someone to front the money. 
• National Coming Out Day
• Traditionally, we hold a panel of students, faculty,  and staff that range from people who themselves identify as queer to parents/family/friends of someone who is queer. 
• Talk to Angelica about doing something
• We should try to do something this year. Try for a panel otherwise we can do a general discussion open to students, faculty, and staff
• Try to rent out the Aviation room or another room during lunch
• This meeting's topic: Queer Culture in Art (other than media)
• Is queer art everything a queer person creates? Does it need to be queer themed?
• Erica Moen, author of webcomic Dar! (www.darcomic.org) writes about her sexuality and how its changing. 
• Lambda Literary Awards (celebrating LGBT literature) allow queer authors to win, even if not queer content
• Some people talked about how drawing heterosexual people as a queer person feels more "queer" because it's something they don't identify with.
• Popular items being interpreted or performed by queer people = queer art? 
• Drag shows = queer art, even though they're for entertainment purposes only? 
• Resolution - none of the present Prism members are going to be art majors. :P
• Running out of topics for the meetings! Suggest more!

Meeting Minutes - 9/14

9/14 - Depiction of Queer Characters in Media

• A survey will be sent out soon regarding preferred meeting times
• Movie tonight at 8pm! Fantastic Mr. Fox in Galileo! Snacks will be provided!
• Any other movie ideas for the future?
• Media + Queer characters:
• True Blood, Desperate Housewives, Glee, Modern Family, Torchwood, Greek, Dance Academy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Teen Wolf
• Glee is very fixed on dichotomy of gay or straight, no in between
• Often, gay characters are flamboyantly so. This may be to make it obvious without outright saying their sexual orientation
• Greek has a non flamboyant gay character; Teen Wolf does a good job as well
• Degrassi has a person who is transgender
• Online: which tumblrs you follow labels you as queer
• On Starcraft, a transgender MTF was defended and supported
• Books: not many big publishers that output stories with queer characters
• Sometimes gay/lesbian characters, but nothing else
• Sci-fi also has gender swapping characters
• Is it better to have queer characters that are depicted stereotypically or not have any at all?
• Sometimes, the queer community gets angry when they are not depicted stereotypically 
• Hard to have this due to complicated scripts, etc.
• Is incorporating the fact that the character is queer into the story necessary?
• E.g. Dumbledore was mentioned after the series was written, almost. 
• People accused J.K. Rowling of making it an afterthought
• People also wondered why she had to bring it up if it wasn't relevant to the story
• Automatically assume that the queer character is then associated with the protagonist 
• A lot of the time, the fact that the character is queer is the main focus of their plot line. 

Meeting Minutes - 9/7

9/7 - What is it like being queer at Mudd?

• Prism - part support group, hold events, discussions every week this year
• Send people to the Out to Innovate Conference, Western Regional LGBTQQIAA Conference
• At Mudd, we have a very welcoming environment
• Varsity sports don't have much experience with queer students, but they're still welcoming 
• In fact, people are almost enthusiastically accepted
• Walker Wall painted rainbow colors during "Gaypril"
• Office of Institutional Diversity (OID) is a great resource - go talk to Dean Sumi!
• Holding an event for National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11th
• Erin O'Brien, an intercollegiate professor for Asian American studies, is teaching a class at Mudd this year called Queering Asian America
• She's also out and is a great resource for students
• QQAMP (Queer, Questioning, & Ally Mentor Program) is another resource that's completely confidential and lots of fun
• Apply to be a mentee or mentor online!
• People who are genderqueer are also well accepted, even in the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship group
• QRC (Queer Resource Center) - has a library, meetings 
• Open house on September 24th - Prism should walk down together
• On 6th Street near Frary Dining Hall
• Mudd is one of the more accepting schools, though none of the 5Cs are really hostile
• Family (at Scripps) is the largest queer group outside of the QRC
• Mudd students are more empathetic because we think about things more, also we don't like confrontation/conflict
• Also a lot of queer faculty members - Prof. Bernoff, Prof. Dyson, Prof. Yong, Dean Guy
• What does Prism do on a day to day basis?
• This year, we're going to have discussions every week, especially to get more information and break us out of the "Mudd bubble"
• We plan events occasionally
• Have fun/chill, and build community
• Prism shirts are available! And if you have an idea, submit it to Chance/Kevin!
• More Gay? Fine by me! shirts are being ordered!
• Also tell the prezzies about speaker ideas!
• A survey will be sent out with preferred meeting times

Meeting Minutes - Lots of them!

4/26

• Orientation - Chance will talk to Christian (one of the directors)
• PuzzleHunt or something different?
• Queer issues during orientation -> Men's/Women's issues
• Also talk to Dean Guy
• Was the ASP dinner advertised? 
• Was in the program
• At the same time as other dinners
• Day of Silence picnic also had a low showing
• Numbers are dwindling in PRISM
• Have an equal number of discussions, LGBT stuff, fun stuff
• Things like Girl Talk/Guy Talk at the QRC
• Weekly discussion topics - serious/fun/ridiculous
• Send them out earlier so people can come prepared
• Google Doc for funding requests
• Presence at Club Fair next year
• Ally training again would be good
• We need to advertise other events like that
• First discussion for next year - Being LGBT at Mudd/5Cs
• Contact admissions about advertising being a welcoming/accepting campus

4/19

• Get ice and charcoal
• Get coolers from the LAC
• Budget meeting on Sunday
• Angelica made a sign to put up near the picnic
• Make a Thank You card for Amy

4/12

• $50 to Queer Ballroom Social
• $100 to CMC's group hosting a Day of Silence party
• Approved
• Officers -> Chance Crompton and Kevin Hale are presidents, Sarah Scheffler is treasurer
• "Gay! Fine by me!" shirts on Sunday
• Dorms about BBQ - Chance and August will take care of it
• Menu - DOS funded
• Facebook event
• Placards have been made, will send out an email for tabling 
• Orientation dinner is Sunday at 6pm!
• Photocopies can be done at the library
• Email to prism-l about unloading cars and using freezers

4/5

• Wear "Gay? Fine by me!" t-shirts on Sunday
• Orientation stuff - meet with directors
• Queer Balroom Social tonight
• BBQ Menu - plan at next week's meeting!
• Amy and Cameron will go shopping on the 18th
• Need places to store food
• Ask dorms for equipment - barbecues and speakers
• ASP dinner is in the program, need a 1 sentence blurb about dinner/PRISM
• Ask Prof. Bernoff and Dean Guy to join
• Informal gathering, maybe have intros from members/officers
• Officers? Anyone interested?
• ASHMC budgeting coming up soon
• Modify the charter? 
• Revise blurb in the Student Handbook
• Talk to Dean Guy
• Posters - have OID put them up, etc. 
• Orientation - who can come back early?
• Tabling for Day of Silence - table Tuesday through Thursday

3/29

• Sarah talked to the people in charge of ASP and everything is set - dinner is in the Aviation Room
• POSTERS! - define being an ally:
• "What does being an ally mean to you?"
• CUC and DOS can do the printing
• Google Doc for tabling
• Email to students, faculty, and staff
• Try to get at least a dozen peopole
• Ask OID for camera!
• Kyle works at the QRC to incorporate outside groups
• He will come to PRISM once a month to see if things are going well and see what the QRC can do for us
• Suggestions to him:
• More events closer to Mudd
• Event calendars and emails
• Biology Rhodes scholar speaking at QRC about being queer in science
• Walker Wall painting on Sunday - Bouncy House!
• Gaypril facebook event, calendar posted around campus
• Queer Geek Social - April 28th
• $50 bucks to Queer Ballroom Social for streamers, photocopies, food, and water.
• In the SCC next to Doms Lounge
• Tabling for Day of Silence with placards
• Picnic lunch in front of the Hoch

Minutes - Meeting 3/22/12

• Queer Ballroom Social - trying to get it moved still
• Either April 4th or 7th, but it won't be in Edmunds Ballroom
• The Gaypril calendar will be sent out soon
• Do we want to do a poster campaign again?
• Angelica will help fund the event
• Could do something like the Genderpending campaign done three years ago
• Want to include pictures of Mudders with quotes of people, maybe
• Theme?
• There's a general attitude that we have nothing left to talk about on this subject because people are so accepting, but we don't think this is true. Let's challenge this and come up with things that aren't talked about much!
• Next week - discuss this, come up with quotes to put up that bring up this point
• Dean Spade (law professor at Univ. of Washington) was contacted by August. He is busy this year, but he can come talk in Claremont next semester
• November 29th?
• Let's find out the cost first, talk to Angelica, and maybe ask for a larger budget next year?
• Faculty dinners - still pending
• Chance talked to Angelica about how people invited to talk at the 5Cs are not usually aware of our environment, or they're aimed at the wrong audience
• Maybe talk to other clubs about getting more informed/important speakers
• Meeting of all queer group leaders at the 5Cs once a month
• Also have students review events after they occur

Meeting 3/8/12

• Queer Ballroom Social currently scheduled for April 13th at 7:00 PM
• Same day as Funball
• Liz will try to see if it can be changed to April 14th
• Our Breaking the Silence BBQ is on the 5C calendar for Gaypril
• Sarah has not heard about ASP yet...
• How should we spend the extra money we have?
• Perhaps it can be used for better dinner with profs, as currently it has been suggested that we have dinner at the profs' houses to be more cost efficient. 
• Happy Spring Break!!!

Minutes - Meeting 3/1/12

• Cameron talked to Dean Jakes - we have money for dinner with faculty
• Cameron will email profs and confirm with them
• World News: 
• Gay sex in India was passed a few months ago, and recently, the government promised they will stand by the judicial decision
• Obama said health insurance should cover contraception
• Lost in court, 51-48
• Maryland legalized gay marriage
• 33 events are planned for Gaypril - a calendar will be sent out
• Should we paint our wall? - decided not to, since painting Walker wall is already a huge event
• ASP - admissions said they would email Sarah during the first few weeks of March
• Dinner will most likely be possible
• Need to talk to dorms and the Hoch about using extra grills for BBQ
• Day of Silence (and BBQ) is on 4/20
• Also holding a silent picnic outside all of the dining halls during lunch
• Amy and DOS will front the money for the BBQ
• Side note: rules of the internet are long and weird.

Minutes - Meeting 2/16/12

• Sarah talked to admissions about the dinner during ASP
• They said it was a good idea but haven't gotten back to us yet
• Sarah said to have back up plans in mind
• New Jersey has a bill to allow gay marriage! And Washington passed it last week! 
• Club budget - ~$575 dollars left, of which we want to reserve ~$400 for the barbecue
• Crushes didn't use up as much money as we expected, as people paid about $60 for extra
• Dean Spade is in Ontario for a transgender conference, so we should try to get him to come to the 5Cs
• August will send us information about him and essays he's written. He's apparently extremely articulate :)
• Dinner with faculty still happening? Do we have funding? - Cameron will talk with Dean Jakes 
• Lisa Cau, Scripps Family member is still doing Queer Bible Studies, anyone is welcome to join
• random aside - simple harmonic sexuality!

Minutes - Meeting 2/9/12

• Intros: if you could send a crush to anyone, who would it be?
• Lauren will work on buying Crushes over the weekend, and people will hand them out Monday
• Admitted Students Program - Sarah talked to admissions who gave her an email address, but they haven't responded yet
• Lowell may be the end contact, so talk to him
• Orientation: Lauren's brilliant idea is to have ice cream during the pool party! 
• No one is going to Western Regional :( 
• Queer People of Color Conference during Caesar Chavez weekend (March 31st-ish)
• Lowell and August are going
• Around $25 or $50, but if you need help funding, Angelica/OID will probably pitch in
• Paul (CCBDC Head) wants to do a queer ballroom event to kick off Gaypril
• QRC is hosting candidates to hire - meet them at lunch in Mallott Commons downstairs. Also, Adriana will be asking for feedback.
• Things to talk about - JC Penney protest, Washington State, Prop 8 Ruling

Meeting 2/2/12

• Intros - fave class of the new semester?
• We are currently waiting on 1 event to tell us how to pay them. We have the name for another, but the information needs to be transmitted to Lauren.
• New CMC event: Crush for your crush
• Promote gender neutral crushes by sending a Crush soda to your crush!
• They're doing it as a fundraiser, we should do it for free!
• Table at the Hoch from 2/6 - 2/10
• Get requests first, then we'll buy the soda.
• First soda will be for free, then $1 for subsequent sodas
• Poster - Lauren and Natasha
• Tabling - Spreadsheet will be sent out with times on it.
• Sign off people's names on the roster list
• Talk to admissions about Admitted Students Dinner - Sarah said she would do it!
• Orientation - what to do this year?
• Ice cream? 
• Need to figure out next year's budget. Maybe ask for more money?
• We went over the PRISM charter - it was last updated in 2006, yet it looked fine to us.
• Other 5C groups: Rainbow People Collaboration, FAMILY
• Western Regional Conference - no one from Mudd is going yet. The final list will soon be sent to Adriana, so let someone know if you want to go.
• What is the status on adding trans coverage to student health insurance?
• Make a petition and involve the 5Cs as well. 
• Funding request - Documentary of Tales of the Waria
• Asking for $100, but we're going to be over budget.

Meeting 1/26/12

• Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon bases!
• Funding proposal that we missed last semester - for event happening today, will ignore.
• Voted to give $75 to Emmett Radler for Rocco Katastrophe and Harvey Katz performance
• Wednesday, March 7, 8PM
• Do something for prefrosh weekend!
• Host an awkward dinner thing but make it the super awesome best dinner!
• Barbecue: working on way for us to not front money for food
• Oh hey, Day of Silence is Friday, 4/20
• Prefrosh weekend is.... oh wait, don't actually know. Sarah will find out!
• Chance volunteers to float $100 for the "Everyone Is Gay" event (Cameron will get details)
• Liz, Gwen, Meredith, CCDBC: organizing queer ballroom social, not going to budget anything for that now (more info soon?!?)
  
• Western Regional Conference: last weekend of February. Tell Cameron to tell Adriana ASAP if you want to go.