More than 75 students from 10 colleges across the Northeast came to Dartmouth to participate in the Afro-American Society's first Intercollegiate Conference this weekend.
The conference titled "Celebrating Our Heritage: Exploring Our Multiple Identities" included speakers and workshops on topics ranging from beauty ideals to the Greek system to African-American leadership.
There were two keynote lectures Saturday that highlighted the weekend - "Racism 101," given by Nikki Giovanni and "Black Economic Empowerment," given by Dr. Juwanza Kunjufu - but LaShae Sloan '94, a co-chair of the program, said she enjoyed the student workshops the most.
The workshops "stimulated a lot of intellectual discussion that you don't usually get," Shakari Cameron '96, the other co-chair, said.
The workshops engaged students in conversations about prevalent issues in the African-American community including gender equity, the role of blacks within Greek systems, divisions among African-Americans based on different skin color and beauty standards and maintaining identity at predominantly white colleges, said Zola Mashariki '94, a member of the conference committee.
The conference, which included 17 different events, began Friday afternoon and ended yesterday.
English professors William Cook, Deborah Chay, and Martin Favor, African and Afro-American Studies Professor Chinosole, Associate Dean of Freshman Anthony Tillman and Class of 1996 Dean Sylvia Langford participated in panel discussions during the weekend. Mashariki said their participation "really added to the outcome."
The conference was held partially to encourage communication between African-Americans at different colleges, Mashariki said.
"It was a great opportunity to network," Cameron said.
"We realized that people were working on the same issues at other colleges," Mashariki said.
Sloan said the organizers hope to make the event an annual event with a site rotating among the colleges in the Intercollegiate Conference.
The Intercollegiate Conference included Brown University, Vassar College, Mount Holyoke College, Boston College, Boston University, Virginia State University and Norwich University, Sloan said.
The conference was sponsored by the Bilner Endowment for Human and Intergroup Relations, and co-sponsored by the Student Assembly, the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center, the Women's Resource Center and the Women's Studies Department.
