Guiding Philosophy

Q’nnections is a collective mentorship program that was developed out of a need for community on campus, and has existed in many different forms (both traditional and the collective). At it’s inception, Q’nnections existed in a typical mentor to mentee model.  As time passed and students’ commitments increased (with mentor numbers dropping and mentee numbers rising), the former LGBT center pivoted to a group model of mentorship to meet those needs.   During the summer of 2022, the GSRC critically examined the history of Q’nnections, how it changed over time, and where it could go in the future. During the 2021-2022 academic year, the GSRC staff saw how the Q’nnections program dwindled over the course of the year. Engagement was high at the beginning of the year (a little over 100 participants), and ended with only about 20% of participants engaging in programming.  While participants enjoyed the premise of a family mentorship group, and all the possibilities it could provide, there seemed to be little direction or structure to keep people invested as the semester pace increased. There was confusion around participant responsibilities and how they could access funds for their small groups, as well as staff being stretched too thin to assist in accountability/follow through for those meetings.  For the new year of 2022-2023, the GSRC staff will be implementing family lead orientation, transparent guidelines around access to funding, collectively built small group outings, and semesterly staff check-ins. 

Traditional mentorship models (mentor to mentee) often perpetuate systems of oppression and fail  to take into account the needs of both parties (Goerisch, Basiliere, Rosener, McKee, Hunt, and Parker, 2019) . For example, there is a often a power imbalance, and an “imparting of wisdom” that is one directional. In an attempt to Queer the dichotomy of traditional mentorship models, as well as provide skills, community, and resources, Q’nnections is forging ahead in collective, or circle, mentorship.  The limited extant research about collective mentorship has focused primarily on faculty to faculty, or staff to staff mentorship circles (Darwin and Palmer, 2009.Singh and Mathews, 2019.Goerisch, Basiliere, Rosener, McKee, Hunt, and Parker, 2019) To inform a mentorship collective space for faculty, staff, and students, the GSRC is inspired  by the feminist teachings of bell hooks, as well as other feminist scholar practitioners/activists and researchers (Sigh and Mathews, 2019). 

In alignment with the mission and vision of the GSRC, the goals of Q’nnections are to help Queer and Trans students, faculty, and staff build community, learn new skills, and connect in with campus resources. These goals are  achieved through the structure of Q’nnections–large group programs (2), and smaller family monthly meetings–skill building opportunities with other offices on campus as well as alumni, and collective sharing of resources–financial, social, and physical. 

These goals were set with a few things in mind: consciousness raising and family (bell hooks, adapted from sisterhood), care, and social/physical/navigational capital.  Consciousness raising will appear with the guided conversations in small groups and large groups.  Family leads will be given prompts for conversation surrounding Queer and Trans identities,how they intersect with other identities, and how they show up in the world.  The family groups will serve as a space for support, learning, and growth moments mirroring sisterhood described by bell hooks, as well as creating a group of people to care for and with. Q’nnections provides participants with their small groups to care with, as well as the members in the large group and the staff of the GSRC to care with.  While care, support, and community play a large role in Q’nnections, the other important aspect is providing participants with access to different types of capital.  Socially, participants will get to meet people from all facets of the university as well as alumni, creating connections to expand their networks both on campus and off.  Q’nnections provides monetary capital to the groups to help foster experiences they might not usually have.  Q’nnections participants will also have access to people who know how to navigate the political landscape of Princeton (and potentaially farther out), and have opportunities to learn the skills it takes to navigate.  There are also going to be opportunities to build certain skills (such as career prepardness) that may not be available to those not in the program. 

Sources

Darwin, A., & Palmer, E. (2009). Mentoring circles in higher education. Higher Education Research and Development, 28(2), 125–136. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360902725017 

Goerisch, D., Basiliere, J., Rosener, A., McKee, K., Hunt, J., & Parker, T. M. (2019). 

Mentoring with: Reimagining mentoring across the University. Gender, Place, and Culture, 26(12), 1740–1758. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369x.2019.1668752 

hooks, bell. (2015). consciousness-raising, sisterhood is still powerful. In feminism is for everybody: passionate politics (pp. 7–18). essay, Routledge. 

Singh, T., & Mathews, T. J. (2019). Facilitating queer of color feminist co-mentorship: Reflections on an online archive of scholar-activism. Gender, Place and Culture, 26(12), 1701–1720. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369x.2019.1636768