Anti-LGBT2Q+ University Values: Should an Innovative Experiential Exercise be Cancelled?

by: Benjamin Bigio, Janaki (Jana) Seijts

Publication Date: September 7, 2022
Length: 16 pages
Product ID#: 4-526-380

Core Disciplines: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, Leadership/Organizational Behavior, Social Impact, Strategy & Management

Available Documents

Click on any button below to view the available document.

Don't see the document you need? Don't See the Document You Need?
Make sure you are registered and/or logged in to our site to view product documents. Once registered & approved, faculty, staff, & course aggregators will have access to full inspection copies and teaching notes for any of our materials.

$3.95

Need to make copies?

If you need to make copies, you MUST purchase the corresponding number of permissions, and you must own a single copy of the product.

Electronic Downloads are available immediately after purchase. "Quantity" reflects the number of copies you intend to use. Unauthorized distribution of these files is prohibited pursuant to term of use of this website.

Teaching Note

This product has a teaching note available. Available only to Registered Educators. Please login to view it.

Description

Dr. Pramita Balakrishnan was a strong advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and was one of Canada’s most renowned business professors in management communications. Over the past three years, more than 500 students had completed a virtual, cross-cultural, experiential exercise as part of Balakrishnan’s management communications course. However, this year, a number of students expressed discomfort in working with a partnering school, Mission University in Louisiana, due to its anti-LGBT2Q+ stance. For example, the Mission University administration required students to sign a values statement that prohibited “sexually impure relationships” such as homosexual activities. Other students in the course wanted to proceed with the exercise.

Should she cancel the exercise? What message would her decision send to students, faculty, and administrators at both schools? What would be the potential consequences of her decision and what was the best approach moving forward? Balakrishnan had less than 24 hours to figure out what to do before the exercise was set to launch.

The case uses fictional people and institutions to illustrate a pressing and important set of issues in education, with high relevance to business and other organizations.

Teaching Objectives

After reading and discussing the material, students should:

  • Build confidence in their ability to work collaboratively with people who have different values, beliefs, and demographics.
  • Develop an understanding of unconscious or implicit biases and intersectionality and how they may influence the ability to achieve DEI objectives.
  • Learn how one can effectively stand up, voice, and act on personal values while remaining respectful, professional, and resilient in the face of adversity.
  • Understand the notion of self-fulfilling prophecies and the consequences of applying schemas, stereotypes, and stigmas to people based on their characteristics and the institutions and groups to which they belong.