♪ MUSIC ♪
Hello, and welcome to
Outlook Montgomery.
Recently, the United States
Supreme Court released a
landmark decision on LGBTQ+
rights. The Court's decision
will have wide-ranging
ramifications, not only for
employers and employees, but
potentially for educators
and students as well.
In the case of Bostock
v. Clayton County, Georgia,
the Supreme Court
ruled that Title VII
of the Civil Rights Act of
1964, a federal civil rights
law that prohibits
discrimination "because
of...sex", also includes
protections for gay and
transgender workers. This
watershed ruling for LGBTQ+
rights was written by one of
the Court's most
conservative justices, Neil
Gorsuch, who wrote, "An
employer who fires an
individual merely for being
gay or transgender
defies the law."
Here with me to
discuss this ruling and its
ramifications are Sharon
Bland, Montgomery College's
Chief Equity and Inclusion
Officer; Ka'leef Morse, an
Adjunct Professor of English
at Montgomery College; Audra
Jacobs, a Montgomery College
alum; and Jordan Rodriguez,
a current Montgomery College
student. I'd like to thank
all of you for joining us.
Thanks for having us.
So, first of all, I want to
ask, uh, Ka'leef, Audra, and
Jordan, uh, what were your
initial reactions once you
heard the decision? I guess
I'll start with, uh, with
you Ka'leef.
I think it's a long time
overdue. I think it's a
wonderful thing, but there's
still more work to do.
Bias is real.
That is most certain. Sure.
How about you, Audra?
I think my initial reaction
to it was one of incredible
joy. Like this is something,
like Ka'leef said, that has
been long overdue. Um, I
still definitely feel a
little bit of frustration
with the way it was handled
and the future it kind of
predicts.
That makes sense, too. And,
uh, Jordan, how about you?
Yes. All, all the above of
what was just said. Um, I
think it's a lovely first
step in the right
direction, uh, towards what
the community absolutely
needs, um, to take place as
far as federal law is
concerned. Um, hopefully we
can get some more
steps in there.
So, have any of you ever
been discriminated against
in the workplace because of
your sexual orientation and,
you know, how would this
decision empower you in your
future workplaces? Audra, do
you have something to say
about that?
Yeah, absolutely. So as a
queer individual of color,
absolutely, I've experienced
some relatively heavy
discrimination in almost
every workplace I've been
in. And I think this
decision is opening the door
for us to change the
language a little bit and
place responsibility on the
people who are harming us,
who are discriminating
against us instead of
blaming us for who we are.
So you're discriminating
against me, not because I'm
queer, but because you are
homophobic. So I think that
decision helps, um, elevate
that language and change our
societal views in that way.
Excellent answer there. Um,
so Sharon, as the equity and
inclusion practitioner for
one of the larger employers
in Montgomery County, what's
your opinion and the
College's reaction to, uh,
this ruling?
Well, I mean, it's a
historic move and I've been
working in this space for 20
years. I started before I
even came to the College as
a civil rights attorney and,
uh, practicing in
affirmative action and equal
employment. And so for us at
the College, it gives us
greater tools to, um, to
implement the affirmative
action plans that we'd like
to advance and equal
opportunity plans that we'd
like to advance without, uh,
the, the legal ramifications
of other people saying that,
you know, we somehow
reverse discriminated.
Okay, I want to switch gears
a little bit here. Because
the Supreme Court opinion
clarifies the LGBTQ rights
in the workplace by virtue
of Title VII . It also has
impacts on education via
Title IX of the Civil Rights
Act. That section of the
legislation prohibits
discrimination in
educational institutions. So
let's look at some of the
potential issues that
educators might see in the
wake of the Bostock
decision.
Now, why is this important
in education? For one thing,
a school districts and
colleges are pretty big
employers. So, so they face
the same, uh, workplace and
employment issues that other
organizations deal with on a
regular basis. Reading Title
VII to embrace coverage of
LGBTQ workers would help
create a, quote,
"powerful and effective
workforce" and would
ultimately help students.
Uh, the other way, these
cases are potentially
important for education is
that, uh, many courts have
analyzed Title VII similar
to Title IX
of the Education
Amendments of 1972. And
under Title IX in recent
years, we've seen a lot of
questions about the rights
of transgender students and
whether they can use
restrooms and locker rooms
consistent with their gender
identity and whether they
can participate in athletics
on that same basis. Justice
Alito's opinion discusses
education quite a bit on
bathrooms and locker rooms,
something that's come up in
schools. Justice Alito says
transgender students will be
able to raise claims under
Title IX , that they should
be able to use facilities
consistent with their gender
identity. And now he has
concerns about that and he
talks about some of the
school cases that are out
there. Some of these
education-related issues
that Justice Alito
identified, we may see the
Supreme Court's decision
applied by the lower courts
very soon, because there are
several pending cases
where that could happen.
♪ MUSIC ♪
The beginning of previous
Fall semesters at MC had its
campuses busy with lots of
people. The pandemic has
changed things up and now
students and faculty will be
meeting each other through
computer screens. If
you were an MC student last
Spring, you experienced some
of the transition and
probably know what to
expect. But if this is your
first semester at MC you
might be wondering
where to begin.
I think the thing that the
students who are new to the
College need to understand
first is to start with
Raptor Central. Raptor
Central is the opening door
to the College. It is where
students come to get all the
information that they need.
It is our virtual Welcome
Center. And when students
are admitted to the College,
they receive a letter that
tells them all of the steps
that they need to take in
order to get tested, placed,
enrolled in classes.
Students who are new to
Montgomery College usually
need to have some kind of
placement testing before
they can enroll. They can go
to the Assessment Center
online, and all of the
placement testing is
available on that site.
There are three different
ways that classes are being
offered. They're being
offered as distance
learning, which is
independent. They're being
offered as remote learning,
which is basically
replicating the classroom
experience, but online at a
particular time and a
particular day. And then
there's the hybrid option,
which has students come to
campus on occasional days,
career-based classes where
they use specialized
equipment like automotive
technology or biotechnology
or nursing. Students in
those hybrid classes are
going to be contacted by
their instructor with their
particular appointments to
come onto campus and to work
on the different equipment.
MC professors are getting
ready for the semester and
they're structuring their
courses so that their
students can be comfortable.
I'll primarily be using Zoom
for my class sessions.
That's what we used in the
Spring, so I feel like most
students are comfortable
with it. So we'll just
continue with the same
format. So since I teach
literature and journalism
and writing, I think for me,
what will be key is making
sure that the students are
engaged for the whole class
period. But I do have some
group projects in my
classes, and I will continue
to do those projects.
Through Zoom, we can do
breakout sessions, I can
easily hop into each of
those breakout rooms so that
I can offer guidance to them
as well.
Now, for those courses that
normally involve labs and
handling equipment, some
creative workarounds are in
place.
We are using a variety of
virtual technology in our
laboratory courses to
replicate the hands-on
experience that students
typically receive. Many of
our online labs are using
simulation based activities
and virtual reality lab
programs that allow students
to handle chemicals, work
with common lab equipment,
and even design and perform
their own experiments in a
virtual setting. We have
also integrated some
fundamental kitchen
chemistry activities that
can be completed at home.
Students will also have the
opportunity to engage in
capstone laboratory projects
and participate in active
and ongoing citizen science
projects.
Most students
coming back to MC will at
least be familiar with
Blackboard. My course
Blackboard site serves as a
central location where
students can go to
communicate with each other
and with me, to access
course resources, to find
additional services such as
tutoring centers and writing
centers, as well as to
engage with supplemental
material, such as video
tutorials, to help them
better master those course
concepts.
I'll be using Blackboard to
give my quizzes. That's what
I usually do in my online
classes. And that works
really well because they're
automated. But for the
larger assignments, since I
teach English and
literature, it's mainly
writing. So they will
continue to submit their
work through Blackboard.
I'll be holding office hours
virtually. I did that in the
Spring when we shifted to
remote and the students were
able to look at my calendar
and choose a slot. I will
definitely reach out to my
students beforehand,
just to give them
some information about
how the class will work,
how to access Blackboard,
how to access the Zoom link.
That way everyone feels
comfortable and not confused
on that first day of class
and will know how to access
all the materials.
After the students have set
up their MyMC account and
registered for classes,
they'll need to go
where it says,
"Pay My Bill/ManageAccount",
and pay their amount.
Otherwise they could be
locked out of their courses.
It's important to know there
is no auto-pay system.
Every student needs to
do this every semester.
Again, Raptor Central
is a great resource
to find answers to
common questions.
The most important thing for
students, whether they are
returning students or they
are brand new students, is
is to ask questions,
look for help.
Use the Raptor Central
website and the email
addresses to ask questions.
Check your Montgomery
College email, because
that's the way that your
faculty member will
communicate with you. Make
sure that you have a
Montgomery College email
address and that you contact
your instructor when you're
ready to start the class.
There's a whole army of
people out there waiting to
help students succeed.
And you just need to
ask for the help.
♪ MUSIC ♪