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Fall Syllabus 2011

Orienting Our Work

Week 1 – September 6

The first class will provide an opportunity for us, individually and as a seminar, to orient ourselves to the work we will be doing together this year.  That work proceeds on the assumption that the prevailing frameworks for addressing inequality are insufficient for the task and must be rethought.   It also assumes that the institutions with responsibility for addressing inequality and advancing robust democracy are themselves in need of transformation.  Finally, the seminar assumes that the roles required to do this work are themselves transformational in nature, and require a narrative of change at the individual, group, institutional, and societal level.

With that in mind, the assigned readings are intended to (1) ground our work in a compelling statement of the equity challenges (the Truehaft and Madlin policy paper), an introduction to the idea of transformative leadership for social justice (which is a key role we will be exploring)(the Ganz chapter), (3) introduce the need for leadership on issues of diversity/equity/inclusion/opportunity (the Cantor paper), (4) establish a baseline of our own understanding of the issues, challenges and goals for our work in Diversity and Innovation, and (5) provide an overview to our work.

Please begin the assignment by completing the survey.  Then read the Truehaft and Madlin policy paper, asking the question of how education fits in to the overarching challenges of inequality and the opportunities to promote greater equity.  Then, read the Ganz chapter on leading change carefully.  In class, we will be developing our narratives of “self,” us,” and “now” as they apply to our work in the seminar.  Also, Ganz’s narrative approach to community organizing has tremendous resonance for institutional change as well as community change.  Then, think about these ideas in the context of the Cantor piece, which applies these ideas in the context of higher education,  and also introduces one of the potential sites for our field research—Syracuse’s Scholarship in Action.  Finally, review the on-line syllabus and ask yourself which classes you would be most interested in facilitating.  You will be signing up for 2 classes to facilitate during the first class session.

•    Complete survey
•    Sarah Treuhaft and David Madland, Properity 2050: Is Equity the Superior Growth Model?
•    Ganz, Leading Change: Leadership, Organization, and Social Movements
•    Cantor, Why Diversity Still Needs a Champion
•    Seminar Overview
•    Fall Syllabus

Building the Architecture of Inclusion

Week 2 – September 13

The Architecture of Inclusion Framework

This week we will explore the “Architecture of Inclusion” framework--a multi-level, systems approach to addressing structural inequality and advancing an affirmative vision of full participation and institutional citizenship.  The readings first introduce the idea of frames, which have been defined as “organizing principles that are socially shared and persistent over time, that work symbolically to meaningfully structure the social world.”   Frames structure how we understand problems and therefore how we go about attempting to change them.  The readings then present the Architecture of Inclusion as a framework that informs the Diversity and Innovation seminar and many of the projects of the Center for Institutional and Social Change.   That framework redefines the problem and the goal of inequality as one that operates at the individual, group, organizational, network, and ecosystem level, and then discusses key mechanisms and strategies for mobilizing multi-level change. The class will provide an opportunity to engage critically with the Architecture of Inclusion framework, its core strategies and roles for advancing institutional and social change, and its relationship to the role of law.

•    FrameWorks Institute, Framing Public Issues
•    Susan Sturm, Reframing the Equality Agenda
•    Susan Sturm, Building the Architecture of Inclusion in Higher Education

Assessing Legal Frames for Addressing Structural Inequality

Week 3, September 20

This class consider the frames employed in legal doctrine for addressing issues of equality, and critically assess the adequacy of those frames for addressing structural inequality and advancing inclusion.  We will examine the implicit and explicit frames shaping the way the Supreme Court defines inequality for purposes of legal intervention, and the implications of this frame for law’s role in addressing structural inequality.  The first piece explores the frames shaping the law’s approach to inequality.

•    Susan Sturm, Equality and Inequality: Legal Aspects. International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2001.
•    Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003)
•    Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, 127 S. Ct. 2738 (2007)
•    Ricci v. DeStefano, 129 S. Ct. 2658 (2009)

Reframing the Problem and the Goal

Week 4, September 27

This class provides a context for: (1) exploring normative frameworks to orient the work of addressing structural inequality and creating contexts that advance a more just society, (Sturm et al, Nussbaum, Fraser, Young, Guinier and Torres, and powell) institutions that enable critically assessing conventional approaches to diversity and discrimination as a goal or aspiration for the project of transforming higher education, (2) considering alternative conceptions of law and its role in advancing these visions, and (3) applying these ideas in the context of Bryonn Bains' Lyricsfromlockdown performance at Miller Theater on Saturday night at Miller Theater at 7pm.

As you do the readings, please (1) build on our critical analysis (diversity or discrimination as a framework for defining and assessing projects aimed at transforming higher education institutions, (2) consider the adequacy and viability of the alternative framework of full participation and institutional citizenship (building on realizing capabilities), as well as the miner's canary and targeted universalism concepts, and (3) think about the relationships between  the alternative frameworks and the diversity and discrimination frameworks presented in the legal doctrine, (4) see how these frameworks play out in the context of reimagining criminal justice institutions and policy, inspired by Bryonn's work.  Also, be prepared to have a brainstorming conversation with Bryonn about how he might work with our class and with a project group to build our knowledge, community, and impact.  I am including a few MP3s of Bryonn's work.  Also, if you are unable to attend his performance, you can hear him interviewed on the radio at 7:30 am on Thursday, September 22 as part of the Art in the Apple Series on WBAI 99.5FM's Wake Up Call.

Introduction to Field Research

Week 5, October 4

This session will provide an introduction to the field research work we will be conducting in the seminar.  We will discuss the value of field research, the approach of an engaged field researcher, and the process defining a problem and focus for your field research.  We will then have a conversation about some of the possible field research projects, drawing on the participation of students who conducted field research last year and Center staff who are involved in the projects going forward.  Please read "Defining Your Research Project and Questions" before you begin the readings.  That memo should also guide your reflections for the coming week.  Following the class session, we will have individual meetings to discuss the development of your field research projects.  After those meetings, you will draft your research framing memo.

Micro-level Dynamics of Inclusion and Exclusion and their Remediation

Week 6, October 11

This session will explore the micro-level dynamics that contribute to marginalization, under-participation, stigmatization, and exclusion, as well as strategies for intervening at the individual level to enable full participation and engagement.  These micro-level dynamics move beyond first generation intentional exclusion.  They are also heavily influenced by the environments within which these interactions take place.  The class will give an opportunity to explore the dynamics in context, as well as the openings for addressing the dynamics of evaluation and attribution bias, stereotyping, stigmatization, and exclusion from informal opportunity networks.

Our work is focused on understanding stereotype threat so we can identify mechanisms of multi-level change that increase the experience of full participation.  How does stereotype threat fit into the idea of full participation and institutional citizenship?  What do you think about the impact of context, including organizational context and access to networks, on the experience of belonging?   Also, think about the interventions offered to reduce stereotype in Chapter 9, and in the "Calculus and Community" and Pathways to Possibility reports.  What would it take to have these interventions practiced regularly in a context where race and other categories of marginalization continue to structure social experience?

  • Claude Steele, Whistling Vivaldi, Read the whole book (available at Book Culture and Columbia bookstore), with special attention to Chapters1-4 and 9, pages 1-84 and 152-190

Political Autobiographies and Establishing a Community of Practice

Week 7, October 18, Pot luck dinner at Susan Sturm’s apartment

Students write, exchange, and discuss political autobiographies and overview of field research goals and ideas.

Each student is responsible for preparing a "political autobiography" that describes his or her “political project” as an individual seminar member, as a member of a group within the seminar, as a field researcher exploring diversity and innovation in a particular context, and as a professional in the future.  “Political” is being used here not in the ideological sense, but rather to concern your “theory of action”—what matters to you and why.  The political autobiography is an opportunity to reflect on the burning questions that recur as central to your sense of meaning and identity, and to explore how those burning questions connect to the issues you hope to address through your work in the world both long term and through your field research in Diversity and Innovation.  The essay could be used to help think through your interest in a particular field research project.  Or, it could just be used to help you think through your how all the strands of your life come together to shape your approach as a lawyer (or psychologist or activist or leader) and your interest in higher education, diversity, innovation and social justice.  This essay can be a persuasive and linearly argued piece of expository writing; it can be a poem; it can be a narrative, it can be spoken word.  But it must reflect a “critical” perspective that situates or critiques you as an individual in your position prior to arriving at Columbia, within your current community, and then within the larger society.   Bryonn Bain is working with us to shape and share our political autobiographies as a living theater of community and action.  Please be sure to clearly indicate if you do NOT want your political autobiography to be shared with the facilitators or the class.  Otherwise, you should post your political autobiography on the Course Website, which is a protected site accessible only to members of the class.  To help inform our project, there will be an assigned reading, to be posted on Tuesday.

 

Institutional and Cultural Dynamics and their Remediation

Week 8, October 25

This session will explore the crucial dimension of organizational dynamics and culture.  We will explore what culture is, how it operates to advance or impede participation, and the leverage points for transforming organizational culture.  We will use the law school as laboratory for our exploration of culture and its transformation.

Edgar Schein, “Defining Organizational Culture.” Organizational Culture and Leadership. Jossey-Bass, 1996. Pp. 16-27

Williams, Berger & McClendon, Toward a Model of Inclusive Excellence and Change in Postsecondary Institutions

Sturm and Guinier: The Law School Matrix: Reforming Legal Education in a Culture of Competition and Conformity

Ely and Thomas, Cultural Diversity at Work: The Effects of Diversity Perspectives on Work Group Processes and Outcomes

Linkages, Partnerships and Networks

Week 9, November 1

This class will explore the crucial role of networks, partnerships and relationships both as a determinant of "full participation" and as an intervention strategy for increasing engagement and mobility and for scaling change.  It is important to understand how networks form, how they are shaped by social and organizational design, and how they might be leveraged to increase engagement and diffuse change.   The Tilly reading links network analysis to issues of enduring inequality.  The Kilduff and Tsia chapters provide an overview of network theory.  The Unanticipated Gains chapters embed network analysis in the context of organizations, and show how networks affect everyday life and are shaped by connections to organizations.  The Lawyers of the Right article shows the role of networks in the influence among conservative lawyers, and the Sturm piece elaborates on the mechanism of institutional intermediaries as a way to leverage networks.

Charles Tilly, Identifies, Boundaries & Social Ties, pp.71-90, 104-07

Martin Kilduff and Wenpin Tsia, Social Networks and Organizations, Intro, pp. 1-8, Chapter 2, Chapter 3

Unanticipated Gains: Origins of Network Inequality in Everyday Life, Chapters 1, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, & Chapter 8

Anthony Paik, Ann Southworth, and John P. Heinz.  Lawyers of the Right: Networks and Organization.

Sturm, The Role of Boundary Spanning Intermediaries

Developing Your Research Questions and Conceptual Framework

Week 10, November 8

This week we will focus on defining your projects, situating them within a conceptual framework, and beginning to formulate research questions to focus your field research projects.  You also do your human subjects research training.   Any researchers affiliated with the University must complete human subjects training and receive certification to conduct research involving human subjects.  You are to complete human subjects training before class next week, and email me when you have been certified. This process will take about 2 hours.  You also have to fill out a conflict of interest form, also on Rascal.  The assignment below includes instructions for how to access and complete that on line training.  You should also click on the Conflict of Interest tab in Rascal and fill out that form on line as well.  This will take about 2 hours.

Once you have finished the human subjects research training, then you will read some methodological readings designed to get you into the mindset of an engaged researcher and to use the frameworks and theories we have developed in the seminar as a springboard for developing a conceptual framework for your field research project.   First, read the Van de Ven, which places our work within the engaged research approach.  Then take a look at Yin and Creswell, which provide you with the idea of developing a research project, conceptual framework and research questions.   The Marshall and Rossman reading provides another take on conceptual framework and research question development, for those who would find one useful.

Please write your reflection pieces as you are doing the methodology reading.  Ask yourself the question: What is the action arena I am trying to understand?  Why is that question important to me, to the action arena I am studying, and to the larger field?  How do I want my study to contribute to my own learning, to the site I am working with, and tot the field?  What are the theories that seem most relevant to my study and why?

Human Subjects Instruction Sheet

Andrew Ven de Ven, Engaged Scholarship in a Professional School

Yin, Robert K., Case Study Research Design and Methods (p.21-26) & (p.28-33)

Creswell, John W., Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design, Ch. 6

Marshall, Catherine and Rossman, Gretchen B., Designing Qualitative Research, Ch. 3 (optional)

Developing Conceptual Frameworks, Research Questions, Structured Abstracts, and Literature Reviews

Week 11 - November 15

For this coming week, we will build our toolkit of research resources and strategies, as a way to ground your field research projects.  We will look further at the idea of a conceptual framework for your projects, and give you an opportunity to explore together what your conceptual frameworks might be.  I am including some readings about a conceptual framework to inform that process.

We will also define and make sure you understand how to develop a literature review, and there are several articles assigned to orient that part of our discussion.  I will also introduce you to Endnotes and CMaps.  If you want to take a look at these tools before next Tuesday, you can download Endnotes for free by clicking on the following link:


http://cuit.columbia.edu/endnote

You can download CMap—a concept mapping tool for free by clicking on the following link:

http://cmap.ihmc.us/

I am assigning a few readings on literature reviews, structured abstracts, and developing a conceptual framework.  I am also providing a few examples of literature reviews from my work and that of prior Diversity and Innovation students.

Marshall and Rossman, The What of the Study

Why We Need a Structured Abstract in Education Research

UNC Literature Review Overview

Susan Sturm, Program Narrative, CI Network Study

Justin Steil, Integrative Memo

Shana Khader, Background Memo

For this week’s reflection, I would like you to address the following:

  • What is the most up to date version of your “elevator speech” (from the Creswell reading):              
    • The purpose of this research is to ________ (understand? describe? develop? discover?) the ________ (central phenomenon being studied) for __________ (the participants, group, or organization) at _________ (research site).  At this stage in the research, the _________ (central phenomenon being studied) will be generally defined as ________________ (provide a general definition).
    • What ideas, theories, bodies of literature from our work thus far are likely to inform the kinds of questions you ask?  Read the materials on a conceptual framework.  Look through the syllabus and the materials we have read, in relation to the concepts we are developing.  Ask which of these ideas and theories bear on the arena you seek to study and the kinds of mechanisms and practices you seek to understand.  Then write a paragraph identifying potentially relevant theories and their relationship to your question.
    • Write a paragraph response to the following questions:  What are the kinds of literature are relevant to your project?  What topics and areas of research are likely to be relevant to your project?  What Center resources and prior work would you like to obtain for your project? What kinds of information are you likely to find on line about your research site?  What are the sources and searches you should be doing as the foundation for your project?
    • Take a stab at articulating the research questions that you think you want to investigate.

 

Beginning the practice of research

Week 12, November 22

For this week’s class, you will begin the research process, applying the ideas and tools we introduced in the previous classes.  We will be meeting individually and in your emerging groups to begin the process of focusing your research projects and building on the knowledge base developed by the Center about your projects.     For our meetings, please post as your reflection piece:

(1)    Your current project description (if you are comfortable with your previous articulation you can repost that.  You can also use this occasion to rework your description if your thinking has evolved.

(2)    The current version of your research questions, and

(3)    The concepts that you plan to draw on in developing your projects (building on our work in class last week)

For this week, I would also like you to do a google search related to your project and to begin reading and processing the background information available on your projects.  At our meetings, we will discuss the materials that we will be making available to you about your projects, which will include primary source material about your project sites as well as secondary sources that build on the resources available on the Center's endnote library.

 

Lawyers and Transformative Leadership: finding the spaces and strategies for change

Week 13, November 29--Guest Participant: Richard Gray

For this class, we will explore what transformative leadership looks like, how it engages with power, and the role of lawyers in enabling change.  We will begin with a dialogue about how lawyers participate in the work of changing educational systems, and work collaboratively with other forms of transformative leadership.  We will be joined for the first part of the class by Richard Gray, Co-Director, Community Organizing and Engagement at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform.  Richard is also a member of the Transformative Leadership for Social Justice Working Group.  We will have the opportunity to explore the roles and strategies of a lawyer who engages communities and parents in the process of mobilizing change, and the pathways that have enabled lawyers to be in the position to do this kind of of work. The assigned materials will introduce you to the work Richard is doing at Annenberg, and to the idea of transformative lawyering through he final projects on lawyers and transformative leadership of two student from a previous class.  As an optional reading, I am including the draft of the white paper of the Transformative Leadership for Social Justice working group, which I co-authored with Nancy Cantor.

The last hour of class will be reserved for group work on field research projects.  We will go over the timeline and elements of the research plan in our groups, building from an overview of the workplan and timeline provided below.  This will be a preparation for the assignment for the last week of class, which will include an outline and timeline for your own project work.  I have posted under "Resources: field research"  two powerpoint presentations: (1) last week's literature review and endnotes powerpoint and (2) a powerpoint on developing your research proposal, which will be discussed next week and is designed to  guide the preparation of your workplans and timelines.

For your reflection piece, please use this class to reflect about the question: how do the readings and video relate to your sense of yourself as a lawyer/change agent?  What questions do you have about realizing your vision of your professional development-short, medium and long term?

Assigned materials for class

Integrating Theory and Practice: Your Research Plans

Week 14, December 6

Week 14: Next steps: Research Proposals and Lessons to Take Forward

This week we will spend the first half of class laying a solid foundation for developing your research proposals, including conducting your literature reviews, developing your conceptual frameworks and research questions, and using endnotes.  The second half of class will give us an opportunity to reflect about the most important lessons of the semester and get your input on how best to structure our seminar next semester.  We will meet at my apartment (Lionsgate, 520 W. 112th Street, Apt. 20A).  We will eat dinner at 6pm.  People are free either to leave at 7:10 or to stay afterward and have dessert.

The assignment for this week is intended to provide a foundation for preparing your research proposals (the end of semester assignment).  I am asking you to take some concrete steps by setting up your data management systems, reviewing the requirements of the research proposals, trying out the research tools and data bases, and outlining your literature reviews.  Taking this first step early on is best way for you to make sure you have a good idea of how to develop your research proposals, to demystify the research tools (social science data bases, endnotes etc.) and to identify and give us a chance to address the questions you have and make sure you have a good idea of what the research proposal involves.  This is the first step of preparing your research project.  You should feel free to arrange a time to meet with me or with Rachel, Margie, or Briana before you leave for the holiday.

  1. Review the powerpoints (distributed before Thanksgiving) on literature reviews/endnotes and on the research proposal
  2. Go to the email inviting you to join dropbox and follow the links so you have access to these dropbox folders.  If you have not received a dropbox invitation, email me so we set one up for you.  (This will take 2 minutes).
  3. Review the research proposal outline and develop a timeline for when you will complete the proposal (the final due date is January 10).  Post at least 2 questions about the research proposal.  Your questions can be general questions about the requirements and/or particular questions about your specific proposal.
  4. Identify possible themes/the areas of inquiry that will organize your literature review.  Think about what you want to know from the literature and why.  Think about this topically (such as access of first generation students or community-university partnerships) and also in terms of the concepts that are important to your research (e.g., networks, collective impact, transformative leadership).    Include in your reflection questions you have about structuring your literature review, as well as about questions about how you will go about researching these questions.   What information is already available and how will you access it?  What are the data bases that you will use to find the sources need?  How will you use endnotes and the Center resources that are already available?
  5. Become familiar with the Columbia Library data bases that are available for your use for your secondary research.  Go to the slide on data bases in the literature review/endnotes powerpoint.   Check out the databases referenced in the powerpoint, which can be accessed on the Columbia University Library e-resources website, http://wwwapp.cc.columbia.edu/ldpd/rti/index.jsp.  Spend a little time exploring the available data bases.  Run a few searches related to your project.  Identify questions or problems you have with using the data bases.
  6. Look at the sections on the lit review power point on using endnotes.  Create an endnote library for your project, and add 5 references and do a structured abstract on 2 references.  Take stock of what you already have, what you need.
  7. Download the Center endnote library, (which you should have received an email link for from me before Thanksgiving).  Look at the resources that are available on that library.  Do a search relevant to your project, and upload resources onto your endnote library.
  8. Google the institution/project/site you are researching (you may already have done this).   Identify information on the public site about your project.  Write a brief (no more than 3 paragraph) overview of the aspects of the site you think are relevant to your project.   Make sure you know how to follow up to identify the on- line and Center information resources about your site that you will use as part of your research proposal.
  9. Post or email any questions or concerns about this assignment.
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