Author: Sean Davis

All of us with the SAFE Topics podcast team are back at it with another episode! In this latest release, we continue our conversation with faculty on the topic of linguistic bias. The question we initially asked was: how do we welcome diverse voices and prevent privileging one dialect over the other? Join hosts Sean, curry, and Mana along with special guests Maria Figueroa (English), Denise Stephenson (Director of Writing Center), Eric Robertson (Communication Studies), and Andrea Petri (International Languages) as we go into part two of this most excellent episode!

Ways to Listen!

1. Podbean – S.A.F.E. Topics
2. Google Podcasts
3. Spotify
4. Apple Podcasts
5. Amazon Music
6. Audible

What to Listen For

• How is language like code as in computer science?
• Are we perpetuating bias in our professional language?
• Being a jerk vs misunderstanding. 
• Respectability politics.
• “Erasing ourselves in order to be seen.”
• Focusing on the identity of a language.
• Dropping the F-Bombs to dismantle the system.
• Relaxing when you have privileged positions to be your authentic self.
• Formality vs informality.
• Pluralizing language.
• What makes language legit in your classrooms?
• Mana gets the chills at the end! 🙂

The S.A.F.E. Topics Team

curry mitchell – Faculty, Letters (Co-host)
Sean Davis – Faculty, Sociology (Co-host)
Mana Tadayon – Student, ASG President (Co-host)
Kelly Barnett – Intern and Music Technology Student (Audio Editor)
James Garcia – Associate Faculty, Sociology (Show Notes, Online)

Connect with Us

We hope you are all doing well and are ready to listen to our latest release! In this episode, the SAFE Topics podcast team has a conversation with faculty on the topic of linguistic bias! The question we ask is how do we welcome diverse voices and prevent privileging one dialect over the other? Join hosts Sean, curry, and Mana along with Maria Figueroa (English), Denise Stephenson (Director of Writing Center), Eric Robertson (Communication Studies), and Andrea Petri (International Languages) as we go into part one of this great episode and keep an eye out for Part Two to be released later this week!

Ways to Listen!

1. Podbean – S.A.F.E. Topics
2. Google Podcasts
3. Spotify
4. Apple Podcasts
5. Amazon Music
6. Audible

What to Listen For

• How is a discipline that teaches formal language structures racist?
• The ordering and structuring of teaching language.
• Moving away from the prescriptive to the descriptive.
• The concept of language or dialect.
• How do you approach students who seek help in spaces like the writing center?
• “Searching for a standard.”
• Contextualizing is very important when teaching language.
• Code switching – assimilate, strategize, or eliminate?
• How language can create a power distance.
• Language is only one form of communication.
• Breaking away from standards for students who need it.
• Positionality and giving students agency.
• Fairness vs equity.
• The idea of articulation.
• The team discusses code-switching.

Mentioned in the Episode

• ​Video: Children Interrupt BBC News Interview
• Video: Ted Talk -3 Ways to Speak English | Jamila Lyiscott
• Web Link: Stuart Hall

The S.A.F.E. Topics Team

curry mitchell – Faculty, Letters (Co-host)
Sean Davis – Faculty, Sociology (Co-host)
Mana Tadayon – Student, ASG President (Co-host)
Kelly Barnett – Intern and Music Technology Student (Audio Editor)
James Garcia – Associate Faculty, Sociology (Show Notes, Online)

Connect with Us

Hello campus community and happy Friday!

Part two is here! Our latest episode with students was so good that once again we had to split it into two parts. In this episode of the SAFE Topics Podcast, we’re continuing our conversation with students. We are joined by students from various Academic Success and Equity (ASE) Programs to talk about creating culture in the classroom! Our hosts Sean, curry and Mana are joined by several students including Helen Leinani Highland-Coslow (Mana, English/Literature), Dannia Saldivar (Mana, Liberal Arts: Math and Science), Jose Luis Mendez (UPRISE, Film/Theater), Jocelyn Rogers (RAFFY, Communication), Natalie Salgado (PUENTE, Sociology), Ian Clark (Umoja, Spanish), and Campbell Reyes (Mana, Art History). Join us in listening to part two!

Ways to Listen!

1. Podbean – S.A.F.E. Topics
2. Google Podcasts
3. Spotify
4. Apple Podcasts
5. Amazon Music
6. Audible

What to Listen For

• When is the classroom culture established?
• If the teacher’s mood is down, the class is down.
• It’s easy to change the students, but hard to change the teacher.
• The class culture can change daily.
• It starts with the syllabus – before the class even starts.
• “We need new sh*t so I’m not bored.”
• How can instructors build trust in the classroom?
• The need for vulnerability from both students and teachers.
• How teachers deal with big issues happening in the world while we’re in class.
• Raw realness that professors bring to the classroom.
• Having empathy for your students.
• The importance of ASE programs and identity.
• Is the professor open to constructive criticisim?
• Bonus after the end credits!

Useful Links

• Academic Success and Equity Programs

The S.A.F.E. Topics Team

curry mitchell – Faculty, Letters (Co-host)
Sean Davis – Faculty, Sociology (Co-host)
Mana Tadayon – Student, ASG President (Co-host)
Kelly Barnett – Intern and Music Technology Student (Audio Editor)
James Garcia – Associate Faculty, Sociology (Show Notes, Online)

Connect with Us

Hello campus community!
The student voices are back! In this episode of the SAFE Topics Podcast, we are joined by students from various Academic Success and Equity (ASE) Programs to talk about creating culture in the classroom! Our hosts Sean, curry and Mana are joined by several students including Helen Leinani Highland-Coslow (Mana, English/Literature), Dannia Saldivar (Mana, Liberal Arts: Math and Science), Jose Luis Mendez (UPRISE, Film/Theater), Jocelyn Rogers (RAFFY, Communication), Natalie Salgado (PUENTE, Sociology), Ian Clark (Umoja, Spanish), and Campbell Reyes (Mana, Art History). Let’s listen and learn from these students in part one of this two-part episode.

Ways to Listen!

1. Podbean – S.A.F.E. Topics
2. Google Podcasts
3. Spotify
4. Apple Podcasts
5. Amazon Music
6. Audible

What to Listen For

• Is a classroom a culture?
• What it means to be sitting in the back of class.
• Not waiting for a culture and taking it into your own hands.
• Co-creating a culture and disrupting the “typical.”
• How professors are included in cultures and subcultures.
• The structure of the course and where you fit in.
• Bringing in the different cultures of all students into a single place of learning.
• Where you sit determines your classroom culture.
• What it means to be respectful to the teacher coming from different student cultures.
• Generational gap and differences.
• When respect is earned and not given. 
• “I have so much to offer and I didn’t even know it” – Finally having voices heard.
• Race and ethnicity is definitely part of the culture.
• How white culture is impacting the culture. 
• The invisibility of culture of some students.
• The importance of acknowledging our privileges.

Useful Links

• Academic Success and Equity Programs

The S.A.F.E. Topics Team

curry mitchell – Faculty, Letters (Co-host)
Sean Davis – Faculty, Sociology (Co-host)
Mana Tadayon – Student, ASG President (Co-host)
Kelly Barnett – Intern and Music Technology Student (Audio Editor)
James Garcia – Associate Faculty, Sociology (Show Notes, Online)

Stay great and have a fun weekend!

The S.A.F.E. Topics Podcast Team