Heard It All Before: Moving Beyond Trivial Conversations About FLI Student Support

Many folks that work in the FLI student advocacy space have conversations about things like "mentorship", "not being alone", and "programming". While all of these things are undoubtedly important, in and of themselves, these conversations do very little to move the needle on FLI student support, as is evidenced by the repetition of the same conversations about how to support FLI students that don't yield any results. So what more can we do to ensure that we're actually making life better for FLI students and not just talking about it? What's missing from the conversation? In this workshop, we will attempt to move the conversation beyond the same surface-level conversations that have been happening in the space for years and highlight some tangible resources & ideas that are making or could make a real difference for FLI students across the country. Attendees will be able to participate in a brainstorming session to identify ideas & initiatives that could make a real difference at their respective schools so that they have something tangible that they can take back to their campuses to start affecting real change for FLI students. The information presented will be based on the work that FLIP National has done with various schools across the country as well as academic research & data that supports a different approach to FLI student advocacy & support. Takeaways from the workshop include, but are not limited to, how students can create solutions to address issues on their campuses, how administrators can stop repeating the same mistakes with respect to FLI student support, and how institutions can avoid performative allyship as it relates to support for FLI students.