Get ready for Critical Social Justice: Home with our “What You Need to Know” series. The keynote lecture with Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, titled “Body/ Land/ Home: Disability Justice, Healing Justice and Femme of Color Brilliance,” will be held on Tuesday, October 25th at 6PM in the University Center Ballroom (event details here).

by Auroura Levine Morales, Patty Berne and Micah Bazant

Disability justice is the continuation and expansion of disability rights, a movement that sought equal rights and access for disabled people, but was often constrained by its focus on mostly white and male individuals. Disability justice uses an intersectional lens to bring a more nuanced and active approach to the movement. By challenging assumptions about ability and embracing all kinds of bodies, the disability justice framework looks beyond the commonality of disability to incorporate other identities. 

Many people continue to be marginalized within conversations and activism around disability, despite its existence across all communities and populations; to counter these troubling hierarchies, disability justice centers the experiences and needs of queer people and people of color. Emphasizing the interconnectedness of oppression and people, disability justice demands the same integrated approach between all movements for liberation. 

“Disability exists in every sector of society: in immigrant communities, in prisons, in religious and spiritual communities, among veterans and homeless folks, among children and elders and everyone in between, so every movement has to advance disability justice, and vice versa. A movement that sees some people as disposable or able to be sacrificed is not disability justice.” – Nomy Lamm, This Is Disability Justice

More than just a theory, disability justice is a movement-building practice that calls upon people to actively protest, perform, and speak out against oppression and injustices globally.

Want to learn more about disability justice?

• This Is Disability Justice by Nomy Lamm
• Sins Invalid, a performance project celebrating artists with disabilities
• Changing the Framework: How our communities can move beyond access to wholeness
• Pick up Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha’s book of poetry Bodymap from the Women’s Center’s lending library!

A Women’s Center Blog post and reflection by student staff member Daniel

On September 22, 2014, I published my first Women’s Center blog post, titled “Male Privilege in Women’s Spaces.”  In it I shared my anxieties about joining the Women’s Center staff and reflected on my male privilege. I thought about what my role or place might be and how I could manage my privilege in a healthy and productive way.

I want to begin my last year at the Women’s Center the same way I began my first year here. I want to think about and complicate my male privilege and how I show up in the Women’s Center and other women-centric spaces.

Fall 2014 Women’s Center Staff

A lot of things have changed in the two years since I published that first post. After serving my terms in student org leadership, I’m now much less involved; I’ve watched freshmen and sophomores step forward and take positions I once held and do a better job than I or my predecessors did. My trans identity has evolved and my understanding of my relationship to the world has changed. My perspective on privilege is different now and I’ve learned that reflecting on my privilege makes me a better leader. I’m a third-year staff member and I often find myself in leadership and mentor roles, meaning this self-reflection is even more important than it was when I first started.

2016-17 Women’s Center Staff

When I wrote my original blog post, I had been on testosterone for nearly a year and solidly identified as Male. I wrote from the perspective of someone who identified with a privileged group and I was reconciling male identity with feminist identity; I felt like I needed to make up for seeming like a traitor who joined the patriarchy. Plus, I had a lot of unprocessed feelings about losing the camaraderie I shared with women and learned that some spaces just weren’t for me anymore.

Now, things are more complicated. It’s been three years since I started medically transitioning. I’ve legally changed all my documents and had surgery. I’m more male-passing than ever, but this is the least I’ve identified with maleness since I came out.

It would be easy to deny my male privilege by claiming a queer, non-binary identity. It would be easy to say I don’t experience male privilege because I don’t identify as male, but it wouldn’t be true. I still exist in this world as a male-passing individual and the world treats me as such. I still benefit from male privilege when I’m awarded more authority on a subject in conversation or more time to talk than my femme- and female-identified counterparts. I don’t get interrupted and I’m given more space. My queerness doesn’t change this and it doesn’t excuse me from perpetuating sexism or ignoring the ways male privilege has advantaged me in life. Trans men and masculine trans people are equally as responsible for perpetuating and participating in transmisogyny as cis men. We don’t get a free pass just because we may have once identified as women.

Of course, it’s important to understand how being queer and trans and fat and mentally ill have disadvantaged me in life, but they don’t negate the impact of the privilege I receive from being male and white. And while this self-reflection is important and necessary, it doesn’t excuse me from having to do something about my privilege.

I’ve been guilty of this. I’ve been guilty of letting others’ praise of me as “a good guy” in queer or feminist circles be enough proof that I’m not one of Those Guys. I’ve also been guilty of patting myself on the back just for acknowledging that I have privilege.

I hope my friends, classmates, and coworkers feel like they can call me on my shit, but that’s not their job. It’s my job to be actively combatting my privilege. It’s my job to be mindful of interrupting people, taking up too much physical and conversational space, giving credit where credit is due, and never concluding that my work is done. It’s my job to say, “This issue it important to me. How can I be of help to you?”

It’s also my job as a masculine trans person to be aware of (and do something about) how my passing privilege (as well as the economic and healthcare advantages that made my transition possible) makes me safer than gender non-conforming and non-passing trans people, how being trans masculine is safer than being trans feminine, and how race and white privilege are major factors in the safety of trans people.

Being a third-year staff member at the Women’s Center means I’m in a leadership and mentoring position, and I feel it’s important to think about privilege when I’m collaborating and working with other student staff. I think about how my coworkers might approach a problem or a project differently because of their experiences (and the things I might miss because of mine) and how working here for longer than my coworkers doesn’t mean I know more than anyone else. I’m wary of how my maleness and my whiteness puts me in a position of power and authority, so purposely taking steps to create a non-hierarchical relationship with my peers is a priority.  

I’m ready for the new challenges and learning opportunities coming my way this year. I’m excited to meet all the people who use the space and offer our services and resources to the best of my ability. I’m excited to be in a place where I understand the role I play here, and I’m excited to continue to grow and learn from the amazing people and stories I encounter. And, I’m excited to walk away from this place knowing there are newer people with better ideas, fresher enthusiasm, and more drive to enact change ready to replace me.

At Google, we believe information should be universally accessible.  Our education and scholarship programs aim to inspire and help students become future leaders in computing and technology by breaking down the barriers that prevent them from entering these fields.  If selected, scholarship recipients will each receive a $10,000 scholarship for the 2017-2018 academic year and be invited to attend the annual Google Scholars' Retreat at the Googleplex next summer.

Please see below for a list of open scholarships.

Women Techmakers Scholars Program (formerly known as the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship)is open to current female undergraduate or graduate students who will be studying at a university in the United States or Canadafor the 2017-2018 academic year. Deadline: December 1, 2016

Generation Google Scholarshipis open to current undergraduate or graduate students from an underrepresented background in computer science who will be studying at a university in United States or Canada for the 2017-2018 academic year.  Deadline: December 1, 2016

Google Lime Scholarship is open to current undergraduate or graduate students with disabilities who will be studying at a university in United States or Canada for the 2017-2018 academic year.  Deadline: December 4, 2016

Google Student Veterans of America Scholarshipis open to current undergraduate or graduate student veterans who will be studying at a university in the United States for the 2017-2018 academic year.  Deadline: November 4, 2016

Name: Lilly Vartain

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: BGE

Position Title: Gas Business Support Engineering Intern

Major(s)/Minor(s): Mechanical Engineering

Expected Graduation Year: May 2018

Briefly describe your internship, co-op,  or research opportunity, including your day-to-day tasks, responsibilities, and assignments.

This summer I worked as a full-time intern on the Gas Business Support team at BGE's Spring Gardens campus where their liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant is located. My main task this past summer was to develop a report that analyzes gas outages by looking at the different characteristics of the pipe that failed, the weather at the time of the outage, and the type of outage. I also researched developing technologies that could be implemented to reduce the outages. Creating this report involved learning new excel techniques to handle the large amount of data that I was dealing with; also I had to learn how to navigate several of the company's databases in order to extract the necessary information.

The intern program offered several opportunities to meet other interns in the company as well as network with company professionals. BGE's interns were divided into six team composed of five or six members, and we were assigned a project to present our idea of what BGE will look like in the future. The project was left very open-ended so each of the teams had to be creative in strategizing how to present their projects. On the last day of the internship, the presentations will be shown to many of the different managers who had an intern in their group.

Finally, I had the opportunity to go out in the field on several occasions. I went on a gas leak survey; I got to see where a new gas main is being installed; I visited Old Ellicott City after the flood left the area devastated; and most excitingly, I was able to climb all 162 stairs to the top of one of the LNG tanks! 

Describe the process of obtaining your internship, research, or co-op opportunity.

First, I had the Career Center look over and help me edit my resume before attending the Fall Career Fair. I handed out my resume to multiple companies at the fair; then, once I was offered an interview for a position at BGE, I scheduled a mock interview in which I got to practice interviewing skills and received feedback on my performance. Then I had two interviews; one was on UMBC’s campus and the second one took place at one of BGE’s office locations.

What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization/company?

What I enjoyed the most was being able to get out in the field to see first-hand the work that BGE is doing to ensure the reliability of gas supply to the Baltimore area. 

How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?

I think that my report will help the company to begin to look more closely at what can be done to prevent gas outages as the customer base for LNG grows. I also have helped other company employees work more efficiently by doing some of their assignments with which they had need for assistance. 

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?

I would advise other students to take advantage of the services that the Career Center offers. While it might be a little bit of a hassle to set up and go to appointments, it is certainly worth the effort. I especially would recommend doing a mock interview; I am a more introverted person who is not the most comfortable in interviews, but after doing a practice run, I was much more confident and relaxed for my actual interview than I would have been.

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Want to be the next Intern of the Week? Make sure to fill out this form and stay tuned. New interns are announced every Friday!

It is with great pleasure that we announce the opening of the USAID Donald M. Payne International Development Fellowship Program 2017 application! The application can be found at www.paynefellows.org and will remain open until January 20, 2017.

The Donald M. Payne International Development Graduate Fellowship seeks to prepare young people for careers in international development as Foreign Service Officers in USAID.  USAID has expanded the program, which selected three fellows in 2013, and will offer up to ten fellowships in 2017. The best way for potential applicants to learn more about the programs is through the website at www.paynefellows.org.  They can also feel free to contact USAID directly by e-mail (paynefellows.org) or phone (202-806-5952).  

The Payne Fellowship Program provides benefits of up to $94,000 over two years toward a two-year master's degree, arranges internships in Washington D.C. and at USAID missions overseas, and provides professional development and support activities leading to employment in USAID.  Fellows may use the fellowship to attend a two-year master's program in a U.S. institution to study an area of relevance to the USAID Foreign Service, including international relations, public policy, agriculture, environmental sciences, health, business administration, economics, or urban planning at a graduate or professional school approved by the Payne Program.  At the end of the two-year fellowship, Fellows enter the USAID Foreign Service.  The Payne Fellowship encourages the application of members of minority groups who have historically been underrepresented in international development careers and those with financial need.  Applicants must be college seniors or graduates looking to start graduate school in the fall of the year they apply, have GPAs of at least 3.2 and be U.S. citizens. The program welcomes applications from those with any undergraduate major.

Attached you will find a flyer and newsletter providing you with more information about the fellowship, as well as some tips to help guide you through the application process! 

OFF CAMPUS

Colony Ballroom, Stamp Student Union

1133 Adele H. Stamp Student Union University of Maryland

College Park, 20742