Students And Faculty for Equity S.A.F.E. Zone
"When we cultivate spaces of belonging, we see equitable representation at the table, and we hear the voices of those from historically underrepresented and excluded populations." Dr. Debra Bolton
At Kansas State University we deeply value our Principles of Community. As such, the S.A.F.E. Zone program helps provide information and helps hold the K-State Family accountable to those standards.
The purpose of the Kansas State University S.A.F.E Zone program is to create allies for marginalized and silenced groups. Allies are remarkably effective at promoting positive change and respect for human difference.
S.A.F.E. Zone Allies can be any faculty, staff, student, or community member at Kansas State University and in the Manhattan area who have completed one of our workshop opportunities. People in various departments, majors, and fields across campus and Manhattan are encouraged to become a S.A.F.E. Zone Ally to help us grow our ally network. We are also happy to announce that we are working with HCS to allow for these workshop to count towards your professional development.
We encourage you to subscribe to our S.A.F.E. Zone listserv to stay up to date on all workshop opportunities and other ally-related information. We aim to be active via our email list by sending updates on events, surveys, etc.
The Foundations of S.A.F.E. Zone
“When we cultivate spaces of belonging, we see equitable representation at the table, and we hear the voices of those from historically underrepresented and excluded populations!”
Statement of Need: Kansas State University commits to maintaining academic, housing, and work environments that are free of discrimination, harassment, and sexual harassment. K-State policies prohibit discrimination based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, age, ancestry, disability, genetic information, military status, or veteran status. Faculty, staff and students benefit from knowing and understanding of when negative issues face individuals in their daily lives. Of special concern, we advance the understanding of those historically excluded, misrepresented, and underrepresented identities on campus, in community, in the state, nationally, and internationally.
Vision: As a program of K-State, S.A.F.E Zone envisions academic and social environments where students, faculty, and staff possess senses of belonging and experience conditions in which they thrive.
Output: S.A.F.E. Zone workshops focus on building capabilities and skills centered on erasing the barriers to acquiring college degrees and thriving in global economies for our students.
Intended Long-Term Outcome:
- Students report feeling safe and supported by faculty, staff, administration, and other students
- Faculty, staff, and administration members report feeling safe and supported by one another
- S.A.F.E. Zone Allies report knowing with whom or what campus entity to connect when faced with situations where students or colleagues offer an account of feeling threatened or unsafe.
- S.A.F.E. Zone Allies report increased understanding of exclusionary laws, policies, and practices that socialize societal members to assign hierarchies to human value.
Short-Term Learning Outcome:
- Participants can identify or recognize students or colleagues who are in an unsafe environment.
- Participants understand exclusionary actions.
- Participants feel comfortable discussing culture and race.
Alignment with Human Capital Services Competencies for Professional Development
- Ensures Accountability – S.A.F.E. Zone workshops educate K-State campus community members to learn about and act upon conditions on campus that contribute to students’, faculty, and staff feelings of emotional, mental, or physical unsafety.
- Action Oriented – S.A.F.E. Zone introduces concepts of the difference between Authentic Allyship and Performative Authentic Allyship takes action to assure that students, faculty, and staff feel safe in their environments by connecting the person of concern to the services and people who address challenges.
- Manages Ambiguity – S.A.F.E. Zone allows participants to build skills and confidence toward effective allyship.
- Collaborates – S.A.F.E. Zone relies on campus partners as a network of experts in the education process for allies.
- Communicates Effectively – The S.A.F.E. Zone team shares new workshops weekly on K-State Today and updates its website regularly to add new information.
- Manages Complexity – The S.A.F.E. Zone team studies the latest research to assure that allies have current data
- Courage - S.A.F.E. Zone workshops tackle hard topics related to historical exclusions of non-dominant identities in difficult conversations.
- Customer Focus – The team tailors S.A.F.E. Zone workshops to specific needs of departments, units, and community members
- Values Difference – The sole reason for S.A.F.E. Zone centers on promoting the negative aspects of a hierarchy of human value as outlines in the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Framework.
- Global Perspective – S.A.F.E. Zone, at its core, promotes and educates around global perspective to move away from “mono-cultural” mindsets.
Health & Wellness
- S.A.F.E. Zone promotes the understanding and implementation of health and well-being practices on physical, emotional, social, and occupational levels.
- Mental Health Services – Information on Campus Resources
- Body Positivity
- Mindfulness
- JED Foundation Framework
- Suicide Prevention
- Trauma-Informed Practices
- Recognizing the Mental Health Needs of Trans College Students
- Understanding Signs of Depression and Anxiety
Intercultural Confidence and Humility
- S.A.F.E. Zone workshops help to develop deeper understandings of systemic issues critical to promote equitable representation of under-represented and historically excluded student populations in higher education.
- Biases – Implicit and Explicit
- Aggressions
- Language that Further Separates
- Culture and Cultural Patterns
- Culture Deconstructed
- Historical Exclusionary Laws and Policies
- Trans-competency
- Sexual and Gender Expression
- Sexuality and Gender Identities
- “Speak Up, Speak Out, But Don’t Speak For”
Educational Development
- S.A.F.E. Zone strives to provide in-depth information on various topics to further understanding of the conditions, laws, and policies that lead to and support exclusion of underrepresented populations. We will tailor workshop topics to your department or unit’s needs.
- The History of Stonewall Riots
- Historical Significance of the Land Acknowledgement
- Trans and Identity History
- Language the Further Separates
- Black History at K-State
- Historical Exclusionary Laws and Policies
- Displaced Populations – People who leave their homelands by forcible displacement.
- The language of hyper-masculinity
- Unpacking Workplace Harassment: Shifting Prospective
- The language gender identity
Student Support
- S.A.F.E. Zone works to collaborate with campus partners to advise on all available resources and opportunities for students, faculty, and staff, and community partners.
- Student Life - Student of Concern Procedure
- Counseling Center - Mental Health Support
- CARE office
- Student Access Center
- K-State Police Department
- PowerCat Financial - Financial Resources
- Other Campus Service based workshops
- Human Capital Services
Safe Zone Education Series – For our Education Series we offer information for furthering your understanding of the conditions, laws, and policies that lead to and support exclusion of certain populations.
- The History of Stonewall Riots
- Culture: Deconstructed
- Historical Significance of the Land Acknowledgement
- Trans and Identity History
- Language the Further Separates
- Black History at K-State
- Historical Exclusionary Laws and Policies
- Displaced Populations – People who leave their homelands by forcibly displaced.
- Cultural Humility
- The Emotional Labor of Teaching the Dominant How to be Culturally Self-Aware
- Navigating the Dominant Cultural Narrative
Additional Workshop Topics
- Hyper-masculinity
- Bystander Intervention
- Self- Care
- Culture Deconstructed and Bias
- Prevalence of Stalking on College Campuses
SZ Advanced Topics (we offer an average of three topics per month):
- Realities of Interpersonal Violence
- Trauma Informed Classroom
- Suicide
- Bystander Intervention
- Domestic Violence
- LGBT History
- Mental Health Issues in Trans College Communities
- Sexuality and Gender Identity
- Providing Access and Inclusion During the Pandemic
- Rotary Club: Culture and Implicit Bias
- Cognitive Bandwidth (Verschelden)
For more information please e-mail us at safezone@ksu.edu.
Dr. Debra Bolton, Director, dbolton@ksu.edu
Dr. Brandon Haddock, Coordinator, bhaddock@ksu.edu
