Presenters and students from nine institutions converge at Colby this weekend for Embracing Difference, a conference for networking and sharing best practices for ending racism on campuses and beyond.
About 50 students active in two organizations, Campus Conversations on Race (CCOR) and Students Organized Against Racism (SOAR), will discuss how the organizations run on their campuses—what's working and what's not. Relationships built at Colby will allow students from partner institutions to collaborate and share in the future.
Campus Conversations on Race is a program in place at 13 colleges and universities, mostly on the east coast, that helps facilitate dialogue. Colby joined the CCOR network in 2008. Students Organized Against Racism, which began at Brown University with Horace Seldon as a founding member, develops educational strategies to encourage campus communities "to actively address the insidious nature of racism." Colby joined SOAR [ www.colby.edu/soar], which has 18 member schools, in 1999.
Colby is one of two institutions nationwide to participate in both programs, said Coordinator of Multicultural Student Programs and Support Joseph Atkins, the conference organizer.
The Embracing Difference conference includes three public events:
Keynote Address: John Woodall, The Unity Project
Saturday, Nov. 7, 1 p.m.
Ostrove Auditorium, Diamond Building
John Woodall is a psychiatrist and founder and director of the Unity Project, a program that develops strength in children and youth. Woodall just returned from Israel, where he is setting up the framework for cross-cultural dialogues between students in Israeli and Palestinian high schools.
Traces of The Trade with Producer and Director Katrina Browne
Saturday, Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m.
Ostrove Auditorium, Diamond Building
Katrina Browne is the director and producer of the Emmy-nominated PBS documentary Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North. The film explores the history and legacy of her ancestors, who were the most successful slave-trading family in U.S. history. Film screening will be followed by a discussion.
Finding Your Purpose in Life
Sunday, Nov. 8, 11 a.m.
Ostrove Auditorium, Diamond Building
An epiphany on the Massachusetts Turnpike 40 years ago, days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, inspired Horace Seldon to create Community Change Inc. "It just became clear to me that I must live my life working against white racism," says Seldon, who is white, of the bigotry whites direct toward blacks.
Related article on CCOR