The new academic year is almost here, and Megan Cayton and Murphie Chappell, newly-elected Staff Senate co-chairs, are ready for the fall.
Staff Senate is both a resource for the staff community at UNCG and a liaison to campus administration. Cayton and Chappell are committed to both of these facets of the Senate and have plans for how to grow it to serve UNCG’s staff even more effectively. A key concern of Cayton and Chappell’s is to ensure the accessibility of the Senate, so that every member of UNCG’s staff feels that they have a voice.
“What we want to do is demonstrate to staff the collective power of their voices,” Chappell says.
Chappell brings her experience as UNCG’s Title IX Coordinator, while Cayton works as Student Success Navigator and Instructor for the School of Health and Human Sciences. Both have served in roles connected to anti-discrimination, mentoring, collaboration, and communication which strongly influences their new work as co-chairs. The pair possess substantial experience in their fields, but they are also keenly aware of places where they cannot fully represent the diversity of the campus community.
“Megan and I recognize the fact that we are two white women in positions of leadership on a very diverse campus,” Chappell says. “We’re excited that our peers thought enough of us to elect us, but at the same time, it gives us even more responsibility to name that and address it… what we do is we try to ensure that we are reaching out to experts and we are being mindful of those things and calling out the elephant in the room.”
It’s particularly important to them that the Staff Senate is a source of concrete action. Over the summer they passed a resolution in support of UNCG’s Black students, faculty, and staff. Going into the 2020-21 academic year, they want to focus on what they can do to ensure the Staff Senate can attend to the entire staff community’s needs and productively address any concerns.
They also recognize challenges that may emerge for staff in the new academic year that require flexibility and creativity. When difficult situations arise, Chappell and Cayton want to make it clear that Staff Senate is there to help resolve them.
“We want to help people know that Staff Senate can be your point of contact with administration. We can be your one-stop-shop,” Cayton says.
If there’s something that underpins all their work, it’s an understanding that the appointment is not about them as individuals, but about them as co-operators and as advocates for the whole staff community. As Cayton says, “We recognize that this is a team effort. It’s not Megan, it’s not Murphie, but it’s us together.”
Cayton and Chappell emphasize that Staff Senate meetings are open to all UNCG staff members, whether or not they are the elected representative for their department. More information can be found at the website here.
Story by Chloe Blythe and Avery Campbell
