office of student life offers new diversity programming
chapel topics, open forums allow students to openly discuss current events and analyze their own opinions.
janel shoun-smith | 615.966.7078 |
in the fall of 2020, student life on campus certainly looks different, but it is still vibrant with a renewed interest in addressing and exploring issues of racial, cultural and spiritual identity.
with the social distancing constraints brought on by covid-19, the office of student life has infused their student programs with more virtual options and has focused on providing a wide variety of events from virtual panel discussions of current events to open-air events such as a drive-in movie.
in addition, given the renewed national conversation surrounding racial inequality in the u.s., many of those student engagement events this fall have been designed to spark thought and conversation surrounding diversity and inclusion issues on campus.
“coming off the national events of this summer, it was needed and timely. we didn’t want to lose the momentum we have built over the past few years,” said dean of community life prentice ashford.
“in conversations we had over the summer with black and brown students, there was a newfound energy, commitment and desire to learn and be a part of an engaged community. we didn’t want to lose that, so we provided multiple activities this semester for students to be involved in and to grow in their cultural awareness,” ashford said.
among the events held this fall are two breakout chapel series: faith and culture chapel and antiracism and the cross, both hosted by the office of intercultural development (oid). the office of student life is also hosting the student voices series, a pop-up panel discussion held periodically to address current events in the news.
these programs are in addition to annual cultural awareness programs such as hispanic heritage month events; social media campaigns such as cultural compass, featuring a new nation each week; and a new diversity and inclusion committee within the student government association (sga).
in the faith and culture breakout chapel, six student interns in the office of intercultural development are developing worship programs focused on how to deal with daily life and current conflicts from a faith perspective, said candace williams, director of oid and student organizations. chapel programs have discussed dealing with toxic relationships, responding to a situation in a godly versus a worldly way, race and religion, and how to keep faith strong when disaster strikes, williams said.
antiracism and the cross is a deep look into how race and faith come together, said ashford. the chapel program shows the connections between faith and antiracism and encourages participating students to analyze their own relationship with race at home and in their communities. it is hoped that by the end of the semester participants can devise their own personal antiracism action plan for their lives.
both of these virtual breakout chapel series have 50 students each registered.
the student voices series has hosted virtual student discussions on the shootings of jacob blake and breonna taylor, ashford said. panelists included members of the sga, interns from oid and members of the student activities board. about 100 students logged in for the first student voices discussion.
“student voices is designed to get students’ eyes looking up and out to the things happening in the nation and the world. often students get caught in the college bubble and don’t notice the events going on in the news,” said ashford. “the students’ response was positive. they were appreciative to have a place to speak openly.”