5 Angry Women: Advisory Committee Edition ??

Description

We are an advisory committee hired by Toronto Metropolitan University to address the foreseen displacement of homeless individuals on campus, specifically outside of the incoming building project of the Lincoln Alexander Law school. We are all individually versed in social justice issues including homelessness, from a wide variety of interconnected disciplines. We are charged with the task of addressing the complex nuances of the social issue at hand to put forward a comprehensive and informed proposal. Coming from a diverse background of disciplines, our advisory committee consists of two social work professionals, one criminologist, a policy expert, and a corporate relations legal professional. In an attempt to address the displacement issues that will arise as a result of the construction project, our disciplines experienced conflict in deciding the best way forward. Misunderstandings about one another’s professions led to inaccurate assumptions about their standpoints on the issue. As an advisory committee passionate about social issues and community relations, we experienced conflict at multiple levels including interpersonal, intergroup, and systemic. After some deliberations, as professionals, we began to understand the importance of multiple perspectives and varying stakeholders. We decided to engage in an interest-based negotiation about the issue to address one another’s needs as opposed to wants. This allowed for our advisory committee as a whole to transform the interdisciplinary conflicts we were experiencing to a mutually beneficial proposal.