Hundreds of students and faculty from 24 northeastern colleges and universities will converge at Dartmouth this weekend to discuss racism at a two-day conference.
The annual conference, this year titled "The Challenges of Diversity: From Talkin' the Talk to Walkin' the Walk," is sponsored by the Society Organized Against Racism in New England Higher Education.
The organization "was founded 15 years ago to help member institutions fight racism and to provide networks and other resources to do so," said Candace Crawford '98, co-chair of the Interracial Concerns Committee -- Dartmouth's SOAR chapter.
Approximately 240 students and 60 administrators will participate in the conference, which starts at noon on Friday and will end on Saturday afternoon. Seventy Dartmouth students and faculty will take part in the conference.
Irma Hernandez '00 said she will attend the conference because "I want to hear other people's stories, what they have gone through and how they dealt with it and see how I can apply it to the situations I may encounter in the future."
Conference organizers hope the participants will see the practical applications of what they learn at the conference.
"The conference is especially important because we are focusing on what you can do about racism in your life and in your community," said Meylysa Tseng '98, co-chair of the ICC. "We hope that people can take what they've learned at the conference and use it in their own lives."
The first major event of the conference will be "Developing a Common Language", an ice-breaking workshop which will be held this afternoon, Crawford said.
Crawford said the workshop will ensure "all students will be on the same page, at the same level, working from the same definitions for the workshops on Saturday."
Guadalupe Lara, Director of Social Work at Children's Hospital of Michigan, will deliver the first keynote speech, "Achieving Quality Outcomes in School through Effective Communication Across Cultures," at 7:15 p.m. on Friday night at Webster Hall.
Laura co-founded the Michigan Standing Committee on Multicultural Mental Health and the Michigan Hispanic Mental Health Association. She founded the Organization of Latino Social Workers at a national level.
The second keynote speaker, Yuri Kochiyama, a civil rights activist from Harlem, New York, will speak about "Living a Life Committed to Justice" at 8:45 Saturday morning in Webster Hall. Both speeches are open to the public.
Kochiyama has been a social activist in Harlem since 1963. She was a member of Malcolm X's Organization of Afro-American Unity at its inception.
"We are going to have workshops on what people are doing at their universities, successful programs that have worked on their campuses," Tseng said.
Friday night will feature several ICC-sponsored social events.
The Cultural Extravaganza at 8:30 at Collis Common Ground on Friday night will include performances by Final Cut and the World Music Percussion Ensemble.
Performances by students from other schools will include a gospel presentation, a dance troupe and a traditional Indian dance.
The ICC will host tonight's Friday Night Dance Club with the theme of "Breaking the Sound Barrier."
Crawford said the ICC plans to play a wide variety of cultural music, from Japanese and French pop music to meringue. "We have an eclectic mix of music to keep with our theme [of diversity]," Crawford said.
"I decided to participate in the conference because when you come to college you meet people from everywhere -- it's a completely diverse place," said Olivia Carpenter '00. "At times, we stick with our stereotypes and by participating in such an event I'm being culturally open-minded, learning about others and allowing others to learn about me."
Among the schools attending the event are Amherst College, Brandeis University, Brown University, Wesleyan University and Williams College.
