Scenarios

These are based on facilitator experiences in NAGT meetings and similar events. Each has a discussion question at the end to consider independently or as a facilitation team to build facilitation skills.

Denial, part 1:

Two facilitators are running a two-day workshop for a small geosciences department at a state university that qualifies as a minority serving institution because of its large proportion of Hispanic students, yet the staff and student body are almost exclusively white. The department's stated goal is to increase the number of students they attract to their department. However, in the workshop planning, the local host does not identify diversity, equity, and inclusion as a desired topic for the workshop. How do you incorporate discussions and activities that address the department's lack of diversity without alienating the participants by incorporating a topic that they didn't request and may not be ready for?

Denial, part 2:

Two facilitators are running a two-day workshop for a small geosciences department at a state university that qualifies as a minority serving institution because of its large proportion of Hispanic students, yet the staff and student body are almost exclusively white. The department's stated goal is to increase the number of students they attract to their department. The local host suggests that there should be a discussion of how to increase the diversity of the department's undergraduate and graduate students. In the workshop during the discussion, a senior faculty member says, "I don't believe in white privilege." What can/should we do as facilitators?

What-aboutism

A facilitator is running a two-hour workshop on implicit bias as part of a larger conference of geoscientists from different institutions and career stages. While discussing the low percentages of BIPOC geoscientists, a white, mid-career participant raises his hand to comment, "The geosciences aren't alone in having poor diversity. The NFL is predominantly Black." How do you respond so that the premise of the workshop isn't undermined?

Questioning Credentials

Your department offers a weekly seminar series with outside guest speakers. You, a tenured faculty member, invited a mid-career speaker who studies the participation rates of different demographic groups in the geosciences. One of your pre-tenure, white colleagues raises his hand early in the talk to question some of the data presented, even though usually the department waits until the end of talks to ask questions. The speaker answers and moves forward, but the colleague interrupts a second time. As the local host and a more senior member of the department, what are your obligations to the speaker and to your colleague? What responses honor those obligations?

Vulnerable Moment

In a one-day workshop with an environmental engineering department of about 30 participants who are predominantly white, the two co-facilitators are presenting on implicit bias. In the group discussion after, a BIPOC lecturer among the participants talks about emotional exhaustion of working at a historically white institution because of microaggressions she experiences. How do you thank her for sharing and encourage reflection by the group without putting her emotions in the spotlight even more?

Micro-aggression

At a week-long workshop for early career faculty, participants are peer-reviewing mock NSF proposals. In discussion, one participant implies that the proposer isn't qualified to do the work proposed because they are a woman. The facilitators are helping other groups and do not hear the exchange in the moment, but a bystander informs them after. Do you retroactively address the incident, and if so, what approach do you take?

Attention Grabbing

In a three-day workshop for graduate students and postdocs, a white male participant voluntarily chooses to participate in a session on writing a diversity statement. Within the first few minutes of the session, he vocally challenges the premise of diversity statements, arguing that they are discriminatory against white men. The facilitator tries to point out that he has other personal identity traits he could use in a diversity statement, but the participant becomes even more insistent that diversity statements are unjust. The rest of the participants are quiet while he becomes louder. Is there a way to keep him from undermining the session so that the rest can continue to benefit from it without souring his experience for the rest of the workshop?

Unequal Participation

At a week-long workshop for early career faculty, the co-facilitators debrief at the end of the first day. One of the facilitators notes that only a few participants are participating in group discussions, while none of the BIPOC participants have spoken up in the large group. How do you encourage more equitable participation without putting the BIPOC participants in vulnerable positions?

Problematic Facilitation

At a multi-day workshop for faculty from different institutions, the leaders facilitate a session where the leadership team has less expertise about the topic of the session. A few participants are upset regarding the session and note their concerns on the road check at the end of the day. However, not all the leaders see the road check results, including those who facilitated that session. The leaders start the next day with a reflection on the road check, but do not address the specific concerns about that session, leading to even greater frustration. What could have been done to avoid this situation? How should the leadership team address the growing frustration to keep it from derailing the workshop? How can this incident be turned into a teachable moment for the leaders and the participants?