Brandon Hults

Kenneth Willmott 

OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I

Arizona State University

A petition was created on social media by a group of former staff called “Better Camp
Chi” during the summer of 2020 that was targeting issues of inclusion that they believed
were not being addressed. The director and full-time staff members took immediate
action to open a dialog with the group to address their concerns. My role in this situation
was not direct, but as a current employee observing how it was handled by the full-time
year-round leadership team. Along with this point of observation into the situation is my
personal reaction also as member within the alumni community. The petition circulated
to members in the alumni community prompting hundreds of comments that attacked the
premise of the petition as taking advantage of the current environment of social unrest,
and while some of their ideas were in good faith, they went about it in a destructive
manner choosing to go public before any dialog with the camp was attempted. Camp Chi
formally responded to the petition in a post to the alumni Facebook group explaining how
they have either already taken action to address many of the issues brought up, or are
actively working towards many of the goals they set. In the response they provided
specific examples of how they have addressed many of the issues brought up and the
grants that they received to make it possible. They wanted to emphasize that they have
not been as publicly outspoken about changes that taking place in camp as they could
have been. They also included their email and phone number stating that they are always
open for anyone in the community to share ideas, concerns, and feedback.

Ethics were at the center of this situation and drove the response the full-time team would
give the group and the whole community. The textbook stated that ethics ultimately must
be rooted in soul: an organization's commitment to deeply rooted identity, beliefs, and
values (Bolman, 2017). Camp Chi has three core values of respect, kindness, and
community. These values are taught and modeled at camp and in the programming we
run. The motivation behind the group that started the petition was for justice. They were
inspired by the social movements taking place around the world right now. These groups
are inspiring individuals that have been persecuted for simply being themselves, to call
out things they do not believe are right. The group looked back on their experiences with
a critical social justice lenses and wanted to shed light on some of their negative
experiences. They wanted to be able to make lasting changes that would prevent other
LGBTQ+ kids and staff from experiencing some of the things that caused them to be
uncomfortable.
” In a world of competing interests and scarce resources, people are continually
compelled to make tradeoffs. No one can give everyone everything they want, but it is
possible to adhere to a value of fairness in making decisions about who gets what.”
(Bolman, 2017). When Camp Chi reached out to the group and had a zoom meeting, they
talked about a lot of the changes that have happened in the years that those staff have
been away from the camp. They told them that they wanted to listen to what they had to
say and work with them to make camp more inclusive for all. They recognized that some
of this groups demands were extreme and just not possible to implement in our camp
model. They recognized some of the change they requested that could be implemented
right away such as removing gendered words from their website. After meeting the group
went back and made changes to their preterition to reflect what they had learned camp
has been doing.
I have to say the Camp Chi leadership team applied all the ethical communities in their approach
to this situation. I would not recommend an alternative course of action as they really did an
exemplary job. We stated in a blog post to the community “As an organization, we always strive
to do our best. Recent world events have sparked a desire for social change, and it has given us
reason to reflect on how we can expand resources within the framework of Camp Chi and its
values. We are fortunate to have a community of campers, parents, staff, and alumni who support
us, enlighten us, share opportunities with us and help us respond wisely and with compassion.
Through careful examination of how important topics such as race, diversity, gender identity and
inclusion for all apply to camp, we recognize that, we, too, are always learning and growing.”

The textbook mentioned that caring begins with knowing; it requires listening, understanding,
and accepting (Bolman, 2017). Their response to the community and to the group showed their
capacity to have empathy towards this group of staff. They really cared about how they
approached this situation because they wanted to handle it in way that was constructive and
allowed for conversation to lead to real change. Love is a willingness to reach out and open one's
heart. An open heart is vulnerable. Confronting vulnerability allows us to drop our mask, meet
heart to heart, and be present for one another (Bolman, 2017). In their response to the
community they showed vulnerability and recognized the times that they may have fallen
short of upholding the values that act as guiding principles at camp. They said that
“Change can be difficult, but as we have learned from the past 100 years of Camp Chi,
our camp will continue to do the hard work, live by our core values of kavod (respect),
chesed (kindness) and kehillah (community), and move forward together.”
The Camp Chi leadership team understands ethics and how they relate to camp. An
organization, like a temple, be a hallowed place, an expression of human aspirations and
beliefs, a monument to faith in human possibility (Bolman, 2017). Camp is a hallowed
place for many of our campers and staff. It is their home away from home, a place where
you do not just learn about values, you live these values. We are a community of people
with shared traditions, values, and beliefs. These things are the glue that holds us
together. The textbook recognizes that members of a community may be diverse in many
ways (age, background, economic status, personal interests), but they are tied together by
shared faith and bonded by a sanctified spiritual covenant (Bolman, 2017). Our staff and
campers come from all over the worlds and from all different social and economic
backgrounds. We welcome people just the way they are and anyone that goes to camp
will tell you that they feel like they can be completely themselves there. It’s the respect
that we have for each other and the values that tie our community together that allow for
this feeling to exist.
Responding to the community ”As we go forward, we commit to lead with compassion
and curiosity, to provide a space to explore topics about which the world is passionate, to
try new things—to change for the better and ensure that the next generation of campers
will continue to dedicate themselves to being ambassadors of civility and humanity.” In
work organizations, faith is strengthened if individuals feel the organization is
characterized by excellence, caring, and justice (Bolman, 2017). They recognized that
some people did not feel like camp was characterized this way and they want to make
change that will allow them to feel like camp has their back once again. They want to
renew their faith in camp being a place that is providing a truly enriching experience and
doing good for our community.