Multicultural Affairs
Putnam University Center
Willamette University
900 State Street
Salem, Oregon 97301
503-370-6265 voice
MLK
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Willamette University's MLK Celebration Stride Toward Freedom 5k Run/Walk
Brown Field
9:00 am
Cost: $15 (includes t-shirt and snacks)
Proceeds to benefit Fabric of Cultures: Performance & Lecture Series for the Salem Multicultural Institute
Online registration available through Active.com and from 8am-9am at event.
Monday January 21, 2008
Willamette University Pledge
9:00am-1:00pm: University Center /11:30am-1:00pm, 5:00-7:00pm: Goudy Dining Commons
Celebrate Dr. King’s national holiday and birthday with an opportunity to show your support by signing the Willamette University Pledge. This pledge encourages people to make a personal commitment to adhere to a common belief that all individuals, including those in the majority and those in the minority, are valued. People will be asked to be individually as well as corporately responsible and to take action.
MLK Celebration Luncheon
40 Years Later…Are We Still Dreaming?” Rev. Dr. Jamie Washington
CAT Cavern
12:30-1:50pm
On April 4, 1968 the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. As we, the Willamette University community, honor Dr. King’s life, work and memory and of all others that followed him and the work done in the Civil Rights Movement we want to take inventory of where we've been, where we are, and what we need to do to continue advancing the dream of "Liberty and Justice for All".
Rev. Dr. Jamie Washington serves as the President and Founder of the Washington Consulting Group, a multicultural organizational development firm out of Baltimore, MD. Dr. Washington has served as an educator and administrator in higher education for over 25 years. He last served as the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). He has been an instructor in Sociology, American Studies and Education, and an Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies at UMBC.
Rev. Washington is a founding faculty member of the Social Justice Training Institute - a week long development program for professional and personal development of practitioners in their skills and competencies in designing and facilitating culture change through a diversity lens.
Dr. Washington has authored and co-authored several books chapters and articles. His most recent work is feature in African American Men in College; and Letters from the Road, and Inspirational Book on leadership and life. He is the Co Editor of Colors of the Rainbow: LGBT Folks of Color in the Academy. He’s also currently working on his first Book: Reconciliation; Black, Christian and Gay, The Journey to Wholeness.
No Reservations Required
Free Lunches for the first 250 people
Doors Open at 12:30 pm.
WU ID Required
Into the Streets: Community Service in Salem
Alumni Lounge- Putnam University Center
2:00-4:30pm
In 1994 President Clinton signed the Dr. King National Holiday and Service Act, establishing the King holiday as a national day of service.
Into the Streets is program that provides multiple service opportunities throughout Salem in an effort for members of the Willamette Community to actively serve together and learn through action. Students, faculty, staff, and alumni are welcome to attend.
Sites will include: Deepwood Estate, Union Gospel Mission, Salvation Army, Jason Lee Manor United Methodist Retirement Center, Oregon Peace Works, Family Building Blocks, Bush House Museum, HOST Transitional Living, Catholic Community Services, Willamette Valley Hospice, Douglas McKay High School, Marion Polk Community Garden, Easter Seals Disability Services, Evergreen Presbyterian Church, Grant Community School, and Judson Middle School.
Sign up here
This URL will take you to a listing of each event. Click on the desired event, create a brief user account with our partner organization Give Back Today, and register!
For more information, contact Amy Johnson: adjohnso@willamette.edu, (510) 323-6257
“Realizing the Dream”: Continuing the Inclusive Campus Conversation
2:00 -5:00pm
Session I (2:00 pm – 3:20 pm)
We Shall Over Come: Building Relationships through Authentic Dialogue Across Differences
CAT Cavern
Facilitator: Rev. Dr. Jamie Washington
How do we understand our place in the conversations about diversity and social justice? Jamie Washington was our featured speaker during this fall’s first year orientation and he returns to ask this question for those not able to attend. Understanding our place and responsibility is one of the beginning entrees into these important conversations. Dr. Washington’s interactive style creates a non-threatening environment in order to pursue these important issues.
Confronting Privilege in Everyday Life
Montag Den
Facilitator: Jenne Schmidt ‘08
Almost all of us experience some form of privilege in our daily lives. It might be male privilege, class privilege, white privilege, heterosexual privilege, Christian privilege, or able-bodied privilege. These privileges are often made invisible in society, thus we face the questions of how we can come to recognize the privilege we have received? Through a discussion with a panel of students, “Interrogating Privilege” seeks to highlight the struggle to understand privilege and how we can move toward using this privilege as a tool to fight oppression, discrimination and for justice.
Mixing It Up: Exploring Our Multiple Identities
Walton B21
Bernie Liang, University of Washington Tacoma Resource Specialist
We are more than the sum of our parts. This is certainly true when looking at the multiple ways we can identify ourselves as holistic human beings. “Mixing It Up” aims to create authentic dialog on the issues of multiple identities and what it means for the greater Willamette community.
Diversity in the Classroom: Challenges, Imperatives, and Implications
Hatfield Room: Hatfield Library
Nacho Cordova - Professor of Rhetoric, Seth Cotlar – Professor of History, Ellen Eisenberg – Professor of American History and Students (TBA)
This conversation has been designed to bring students, faculty, and administrators together to examine the implications, opportunities, and challenges of diversity in the liberal arts classroom, and specifically at Willamette University. Specific objectives include the establishment of reflective dialogue about how best to understand the implications of diversity in the classroom, discussion of ways to integrate diversity-related issues in the achievement of educational outcomes, and practical strategies for handling pedagogical and classroom conflicts related to diversity.
Participants will learn what students and faculty say about their teaching and learning experiences at Willamette, as well as ways to foreground a pedagogical practice in which issues of diversity and difference are integrated into the curriculum and campus life, and that advance student's learning and preparation to engage the responsibilities of citizenship in a multicultural global society.
Session II (3:30 pm – 5:00 pm)
Town Hall Meeting: The Inclusive Campus
CAT Cavern: Putnam University Center
Facilitators: Charlie Wallace, Chair of the Council on Diversity and Social Justice and Will Nevius, ‘09
This Town Hall gathering provides opportunity for the Willamette University community to gather in conversation to share and discuss the work being done to move us towards a more inclusive campus.
It is open to all people, those that have been “doing” the work, and those that are “beginning” to enter the dialogue about inclusiveness, and how to support our diverse communities. Hear from key students, faculty and administration what the driving forces were that led them to developing their initiatives, their successes and the barriers they have encountered. The Council on Social Justice and Diversity will share what work they have done towards these efforts. Come be a part of the movement forward.
Community Event
“Our Work for the Next 40 Years: Realizing the Dream 2048”
Hudson Hall- Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center
7:00 pm
Rev. Dr. Jamie Washington will challenge us not to forget the lessons learned over the 40 years as we move into a time where access to information has increased but access to the human spirit has decreased. How do we insure that we keep moving forward in positive ways and not regress?
Tuesday January 22, 2008
Civil Rights Film Series: Strange Fruit
Montag Den
7:00 pm
Strange Fruit explores the history and legacy of a song unique in the annals of American music. Best-known from Billie Holiday's haunting 1939 rendition, the song "Strange Fruit" is a harrowing portrayal of the lynching of a black man in the American South.
The film tells a dramatic story of America's past by using one of the most influential protest songs ever written as its epicenter. The saga brings us face-to-face with the terror of lynching as it spotlights the courage and heroism of those who fought for racial justice when to do so was to risk ostracism and livelihood if white - and death if black. It examines the history of lynching, and the interplay of race, labor, the Left and popular culture that would give rise to the civil rights movement.
Discussion following the film will be led by Gary (Vaughn) Rasberry II, Lausanne Graduate Fellow of the English Department at Willamette University. Mr. Rasberry is teaching a class this spring entitled 'The American Novel and the Twilight of Jim Crow'.
Wednesday January 23, 2008
Civil Rights Film Series: The Beloved Community
Montag Den
7:00 pm
In the summer of 2004, Canadian health researchers made a startling discovery in the Chippewa birth records for the city of Sarnia, an hour north of Detroit—for the past decade, girl babies had been outnumbering boys at a rate of 2:1. Further investigation revealed large numbers of miscarriages, a cluster of reproductive cancers in young women, and widespread neurological problems among the band's children—all signs of potential exposure to a cluster of hormone-mimicking chemicals called “endocrine disruptors.”
The Beloved Community looks at a Great Lakes oil town facing a toxic legacy head-on. The nerve center of Canada’s petrochemical industry, Sarnia once enjoyed the highest standard living in the country—but now the bill has come due, in compromised environmental and community health.
Discussion following the film.
Thursday January 24, 2008
University Convocation
Film – “Spirit to Spirit: Nikki Giovanni”
Cone Chapel
11:30 am-12:30pm
Once crowned "The Princess of Black Poetry," the prolific and political Nikki Giovanni has become one of America's most popular poets. The film highlights the life and work of a poet whose verse appeals to everyone interested in poetry and modern American life. This lyrical and visually provocative film details the poet's coming-of-age against the background of her times: the Civil Rights struggle, Vietnam, and the Women`s Movement. In this dynamic portrait, selected readings by Giovanni reveal the values and personal history which have deeply influenced her poetry. Spirit to Spirit unveils the sly wit and sharp insights of Giovanni's multi-layered work, making it a delightful introduction to this talented poet and incisive social commentator.
Civil Rights Film Series: Coffee Date
Montag Den
7:00 pm
Coffee Date, a movie celebrating LGBT rights explores gay stereotypes and brings comedy to take on the challenging task of raising awareness.
Discussion following the film will be led by Jessica Lee, Youth Organizer of Basic Rights Oregon. Founded in 1996, Basic Rights Oregon (BRO) is the state’s chief advocacy, education and political organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Expressions of Justice: Open Mike
Bistro
9:00 – 10:30 pm
Continuing the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr with expressions of poetry, song and spoken word. Faculty, staff and students can sign up in the Bistro beginning January 15th. Bistro refreshments to be served.
Friday January 25, 2008
MLK Celebration 2008: “Truth is on its Way”
Nikki Giovanni with Rainbow Dance Theatre
Smith Auditorium
7:30 pm
(Doors open at 7pm)
Nikki Giovanni
Nikki Giovanni is a world-renowned poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. Over the past thirty years, her outspokenness, in her writing and in lectures, has brought the eyes of the world upon her. One of the most widely-read American poets, she prides herself on being "a Black American, a daughter, a mother, a professor of English." Giovanni remains as determined and committed as ever to the fight for civil rights and equality. Always insisting on presenting the truth as she sees it, she has maintained a prominent place as a strong voice of the Black community. Her focus is on the individual, specifically, on the power one has to make a difference in oneself, and thus, in the lives of others.
The author of some 30 books for both adults and children, Nikki Giovanni is a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.
Rainbow Dance Theatre
Rainbow Dance Theatre is directed by internationally renowned dancer-choreographers Valerie Bergman and Darryl Thomas. Its name highlights its roots in Hawaii, the “land of rainbows”, as well as the ethnic diversity of its company members and the diverse cultural influences in the choreography performed by the Company. The Company celebrates this diversity as well as state-of-the-art technology in dance theatre performance with its virtuosic style that fuses West African Dance, Haitian Dance, Hip Hop, Martial Arts and American Modern Dance with computer animation and aerial choreography.
The Willamette Store has Nikki Giovanni's books in stock and available at the Friday evening event.
Tickets available at the Putnam University Center Information Desk for WU Faculty, Staff and Students beginning January 14, 2008.
First ticket is free. Each additional (up to 4 total) are $5. WU ID required.
Tickets for the General Public are available beginning at 9am on January 21, 2008 Tickets are $5 each (up to 4 total).
Contact (503) 370-6265 for ticket information.