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Ohio forged, globally minded

The Ohio State University

We are Ohio State, a dynamic community where opportunity thrives. Through our far-reaching network of diverse resources and perspectives, we foster the incisive thinking, spirit of collaboration, and depth of character you need to transform yourself and your world.

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Thank you for your commitment to challenging explicit and implicit biases in your professional role and day-to-day life! It can be difficult to know what to say when a family member, friend, colleague, or acquaintance makes problematic comments. However, we will only be able to dismantle racism in its overt forms if we are brave enough to challenge racism in even its most common forms. The Kirwan Institute invites you to utilize the strategies and resources on this page to empower yourself to speak out in response to biased comments.

In the words of Audre Lorde, " When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak."
Active Bystander Training
Have you ever been in a conversation when someone said something biased that made you uncomfortable, but you were not sure how to respond? Most of us struggle to address these all too common situations, whether in the classroom, the workplace, while spending time with friends, or in the company of family. Even though we want to do what is right and speak up for equality, we do not always know how to take action in that awkward moment-especially if we are not sure whether the person making the comment actually meant to cause harm.

As individuals dedicated to dismantling systemic oppression, we must be empowered to take action in these moments when bias manifests so that we can create a welcoming, inclusive, and affirming environment for all people. This training seeks to empower and equip participants to speak out in response to those all too common, "Did they really just say that?!" moments when bias emerges. This training illustrates the importance of committing to being an active bystander in moments when bias emerges through microaggressions, as well as provides actionable skills to do so. These skills are tailored to create educational conversations in response to biased comments/actions, rather than eliciting a defensive reaction from the person who has (perhaps unintentionally) caused harm.

Participants in this training will thus learn how to communicate effectively in challenging situations through the employment of strategies that can be tailored to the particular situation at hand.

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Did They Really Just Say That?! Being an Active Bystander

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Ohio forged, globally minded The Ohio State University We are Ohio State, a dynamic community where opportunity thrives. Through our far-reaching network of diverse resources and perspectives, we foster the incisive thinking, spirit of collaboration, and depth of character you need to transform yourself and your world.

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UCLA Center for Advancement of Teaching

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A Message to our UCLA Teaching Community

In the space of a few months, the world has undertaken a tremendous educational experiment in remote teaching amid a pandemic. In the United States, the difficulty of conducting that experiment has been exacerbated by brutality against Black people and protests against racial injustice. Here at UCLA, as at so many universities, we have taken on the challenge of teaching our students well during this time of pandemic and protests.

Spring quarter 2020 saw us struggling at times with technology, and at others with the enormity of the circumstances surrounding us - but, for the most part, finding creative solutions and persevering in our quest to serve our students equitably, to nourish their minds and enable them to continue their studies without interruption.

In a way, this accidental experiment focused our attention on identifying the most critical elements and goals of our courses and freed us to concentrate on what matters most. Out of necessity, we invented some successful practices that we may even take back to our in-person teaching.

And we prevailed. A survey of UCLA students at the end of spring quarter found that 90% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their instructor and their TA were responsive to student needs. [See STUDENT PERSPECTIVES tab for more information].

Many have gotten over the initial hurdle of transitioning to remote instruction, while some are still struggling and others have yet to try. Challenges certainly remain, especially with respect to equity for students with disparate circumstances. But now we can refine our methods, supported by UCLA resources and colleagues, becoming more comfortable with the new teaching modality, and innovating in ways small and large - because that's what we do when confronted with a challenge.

This website provides advice and resources for teaching well under extraordinary circumstances. There is something here for everyone, no matter your level of familiarity and comfort with remote teaching.

Warm regards,

The CAT Team

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In the space of a few months, the world has undertaken a tremendous educational experiment in remote teaching amid a pandemic. In the United States, the difficulty of conducting that experiment has been exacerbated by brutality against Black people and protests against racial injustice.

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If you're working remotely and using equipment owned by your employer, it's worth thinking twice before switching between work tasks and personal tasks. Regardless of your company's privacy policy, employers have very broad rights to watch what their workers do.

Even when you work from home, employee privacy is limited, but there are things you can do to address your remote work privacy concerns and stay employed. Learn what they are.

What Privacy Rights Do Employees Have?

Employees have very few electronic privacy rights when working from home because there are generally very few employee rights to privacy at work. According to federal law and court cases, employers have the right to monitor your use of employer-provided equipment and computer networks, including what you type, your files, what web pages you visit, and your work email.

What privacy rights exist for email are for personal email-but not if you're using it on the employer's equipment or network. And for social media, even if you make a post on your own time and computer to a password-protected social media site, your employer may still legally penalize you if someone else forwards it.

That's part of why Professor Ifeoma Ajunwa of Cornell University's Industrial and Labor Relations school, who is also an attorney, co-wrote a law review article called " Limitless Worker Surveillance."

"Right now, employers have carte blanche in terms of what they can do regarding surveillance and worker monitoring," says Ajunwa, who is also associate faculty at Cornell Law School and Harvard's Berkman Klein Center.

Are There Any Exceptions to Worker Monitoring?

There are some exceptions. Generally, employers may not videotape employees in bathrooms or break rooms, although it's not clear how that would apply in an era of virtual meetings. Employers may not legally read messages related to genetic information or union organizing, and union contracts may prohibit monitoring altogether.

The National Conference of State Legislatures says Connecticut and Delaware state laws require employers to disclose that they're monitoring employee email, and at least 26 states forbid employers from demanding employees' social media passwords. Selective monitoring of employees based on race, gender, or certain other demographics could violate civil rights laws.

And it's not clear to what extent employers can monitor what workers do on computers or smartphones they own but are using for work. Enid Zhou of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a D.C.-based nonprofit, says courts haven't yet ruled on that.

Do Workers Know What Employers Can Access?

Zhou says the simplest way to protect your digital privacy rights could be to find out what your employer is monitoring and avoid conducting any sensitive business that way.

"Having notice is the most important thing," says Zhou. "[As well as] knowing exactly who has access to your information and choosing platforms where your employer doesn't have that [access]."

Your employer may explain this in a company privacy policy or an employment contract, or you may have to ask. Unfortunately, Zhou says most employers are not obligated to answer truthfully-and withholding your consent could get you fired. There's also at least one case where a court found that an employer had a right to monitor workers' email, even though it expressly said it wouldn't, according to the worker rights nonprofit Workplace Fairness.

Should Workers Use Their Personal Equipment?

Edgar Ndjatou, executive director of Workplace Fairness, says the best way to protect your privacy is to conduct all personal business using equipment that you personally own, though Ajunwa notes that some employers may forbid this.

"Anytime you use an employer's hardware or email system or software ... in most instances, it can be subject to search or exposure," says Ndjatou, a former employee rights lawyer. "So, particularly when you're at home, [it's] even more important that you be mindful of the device you use."

Lewis Maltby, president of the National Workrights Institute, adds that you should not be logged on to any sort of employer network when you do that. Even if you're not actively using the connection, your employer can see what you're doing when your computer is part of the employer's network.

"There aren't many things in law that are simple. This one's pretty simple," says Maltby, author of Can They Do That? Retaking Our Fundamental Rights in the Workplace. "If you're using your personal computer for something, you're absolutely safe from intrusion by your boss unless you log onto your boss's network."

As telecommuting becomes the norm, Zhou says, employees may push back more against surveillance. But for now, she suggests staying well-informed about your own workplace-and reminding employers that intrusive surveillance is bad for workplace morale.

"Implementing these types of tools increases the stress of your employees. And that decreases employee morale," she says. "So, it's not necessarily the best business model."

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What Are Your Privacy Rights When You Work From Home?

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After a switch to working from home, it's easy to find yourself conducting personal tasks during work time. But what if that personal business is sensitive? Here, we take a look at what kinds of privacy rights workers have in their homes.