Highlights from Selected Campus Projects

Antioch College - Yellow Springs, Ohio

Project Summary

Antioch College hosted a Live Jazz Brunch for the Yellow Springs community, launching a series of events to connect the college in more meaningful ways to the local community. Enthusiasm generated by this brunch has resulted in the establishment of continuing monthly Racial Legacies campus-community forums. These forums are designed to discuss issues of race and other topics of diversity. As they discover how to support interracial dialogue, attendees are also developing plans of action to move beyond dialogue. This spring the Racial Legacies project will continue with a series of forums featuring community elders and alumni of the college, who will share their experiences with racism and how they moved toward interracial understanding and reconciliation.

Project Outcomes

• In response to community support for the Racial Legacies and Learning project, the campus community partnership has committed to continuing the following activities: monthly Racial Legacies forums, Live Jazz Brunches, Community Days, and monthly community book club meetings.

• A campus-community planning committee will collaboratively develop the agenda for the Martin Luther King Day activities, including a community pot luck and a panel on liberation theology.

Community Partners

• African American Cross Cultural Works
• Yellow Springs School Board
• Yellow Springs High School
• Yellow Springs Police Department
• Yellow Springs Village Council
• Community Services, Inc.
• Yellow Springs Men’s Group

Campus-Community Events

• Live Jazz Brunch
• Community Day at Antioch
• Family Name viewing and discussion with film maker Macky Alston
• "Campus Pulse" session on racism with local high school students
• Monthly community book club on race, racism, and racial reconciliation

The McGregor School of Antioch University
Yellow Springs, Ohio

Project Summary

Antioch University’s McGregor School created a partnership with the Dayton Board of Education, the 9th largest urban school district in the U.S., and the Greene County Educational Service Center, a combined suburban/rural school district. Utilizing their existing Intercultural Relations Program and Teacher Certification Program, project coordinators developed a new course, Vital Issues: Interracial Dialogue and Action. In this course, Antioch students studying to become elementary and high school teachers learn about race, identity, and interpersonal relations. Using what they learn, students are researching and developing original course materials to be used in the local partner school districts chronicling the history of race relations in Southwest Ohio. The McGregor School also hosted a colloquium on October 26, 1998, at which 100 public leaders exchanged ideas and developed strategies for working with higher education to develop methods for combating racism in the community.

Project Outcomes

• McGregor students are researching and developing a new curriculum for K-12 use which examines the local history of racism and racial reconciliation. Students within both the local school districts and at McGregor School will have a greater appreciation of the local context for race relations.

• Participants from the October 26th Educational Colloquia continue to meet and explore future avenues for collaboration.

The forum did more than just increase the awareness and sensitivity of the participants. It mandates a different way of thinking and acting if we want all of our children to have a better future. I’m glad that Antioch University opened its doors to the K-12 systems. They have a history of being diverse, open and people focused. All of these traits made Antioch the right convener for this project. -- Jeffrey Mims, Legislative Liaison, Dayton Board of Education

For more information about diversity programs at The McGregor School, please contact Steve Brzezinski at 937-767-6321x6786

Community Partners

• Dayton Board of Education
• Greene County Educational Service Center

Campus-Community Events

• Creating and Supporting a Diverse Work Force, lecture by Dr. Robert Bowen
• Regional Educational Colloquium

Arizona State University West - Phoenix, Arizona

Project Summary

On October 6, 1998 Arizona State University West and its community partners hosted more than 300 people in an interactive public forum that took a close look at race relations and discrimination in America. "Learning from the Denny’s Experience" featured a joint keynote presentation from the president and the chief diversity officer of Denny’s Restaurants. They described how Denny’s faced discrimination head-on with positive results, while providing fascinating insights applicable to all parts of society. A "town hall," breakout sessions, and theatrical skits followed, all engaging community, government, and business leaders in discussing diversity and its far-reaching implications.

"The blending into classes of all racial varieties, coupled with the offering of exciting classes taught by a diverse faculty will serve to break down barriers. Introducing ‘real people’ into the classrooms, despite textbook stereotypes, will help to shatter myths and preconceptions." -- Rabbi Robert Kravitz, Arizona Area Director, American Jewish Committee

Project Outcomes

• Positioning of campus as a local and national leader in fostering action on diversity issues, in keeping with its institutional mission.
• New and strengthened campus-community partnerships, representing a spectrum of interests including corporate, government, public safety, labor, religious, and educational institutions. Re-energized commitments for future collaboration to promote and celebrate diversity and multiculturalism.
• Initial planning toward large-scale community events at the campus that build on the
  October 6th Racial Legacies and Learning events.

"The challenge for educators is to teach students to be open to different points of view. In that sense, diversity education has always been fundamental to education. Life in a global society requires respect for difference, engagement in productive dialogue, and commitment to finding the common ground required for such dialogue to occur." -- Elaine P. Maimon, Provost, Arizona State University West

Community Partners

• AFL-CIO
• American Jewish Committee
• Antioch Church of God in Christ
• Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board
• AT&T
• City of Glendale
• City of Phoenix
• Community Excellence Project
• Equal Opportunity Department, City of Phoenix
• Kevin Mosley Group Strategic Pragmatism
• Performance & Training Resources, Inc.
• Phoenix Fire Department
• Phoenix Light of the Lamb Christian Church
• Si, Se Puede! Program
• Southminster Presbyterian Church
• South Parks District

Campus-Community Events

• "The Gathering," a colorful fine arts opening to the program, symbolizing the coming together of people from around the world
• Keynote address from the president of Denny’s Restaurants
• Interactive Town Hall meeting
• Breakout sessions to gather broad-based input and ideas
• Concluding reception featuring multicultural music

For more information about diversity programs at Arizona State University West, please contact Mildred Garcia at 602-543-4513

Community College of Philadelphia - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Project Summary

As part of the Racial Legacies and Learning project, Community College of Philadelphia along with the Martin Luther King Association for Non-Violence held a series of events throughout the fall. One such event took place on October 7, 1998. A racially diverse panel of business and educational leaders joined together to discuss the question: "How can higher education, with its local communities, prepare graduates to address the legacies of racism and the opportunities for racial reconciliation in the United States?" Afterward, students enrolled in English classes spent time discussing the question and completing surveys on diversity.

Other events included a workshop on conflict resolution and a presentation of "Faces of America," a one-woman play addressing the questions of multiculturalism in today’s society through the eyes of Generation X.

Project Outcomes

• The College sparked a city-wide conversation through the newspaper regarding effective strategies for a successful discussion on race. After receiving the College’s packet of news materials on the Racial Legacies and Learning events, the Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Board, decided to incorporate some of the information and strategies on a commentary page detailing ways individuals can improve race relations.
• Community College of Philadelphia used the Racial Legacies and Learning events to enhance cultural competencies and build conflict resolution skills among students. The Conflict Resolution Committee used role playing to explore how individuals can bridge differences and discussed what strategies can be used to diffuse conflicts. Guidelines for communicating with respect were distributed.

"It is our responsibility to give students the skills they need to maintain their cultural identity, and preserve their traditions, and at the same time function in a world where diversity is no longer distant but within one’s reach." -- Ronald A. Williams, Acting President, Community College of Philadelphia

For more information about diversity programs at Community College of Philadelphia, please contact Lynette Brown 215-751-8858

Community Partners

• Martin Luther King Association for Non-Violence
• Organized Anti-crime Community Network (OACCN)
• The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission
• The School District of Philadelphia

Campus-Community Events

• Business, community leaders and educators discussed the role of higher education in resolving America’s racial dilemma
• "Faces of America," a one-woman play addressing the questions of multiculturalism in today’s society
• Readings from African and Asian novels
• Student performance of scenes from the Underground Railroad
• Community panel discussion on Race and Religion
• Workshop on conflict resolution
• National workshop for faculty designed to integrate curricula on Africa and Asia
• Seminar on Race and the Law at the OACCN Statewide conference on crime prevention

Duke University - Durham, North Carolina

Project Summary

Duke University’s Racial Legacies and Learning project involves three distinct, but interrelated activities. Students and student athletes from Duke University, the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill, and North Carolina Central State University are working with the Durham Recreation Department to promote healthy life style alternatives at Githens Middle School. Student athletes mentor and counsel at-risk students. Graduate psychology students also work with parents on parenting and other interpersonal skills.

Duke also produced Cross-Cultural Clips, two eight-minute videos that feature ordinary exchanges among friends and colleagues that quickly move from simple interactions to potentially heated discussions of intercultural relations. Each video has an open-ended format which encourages viewers to generate responses to the scenarios presented. This winter, the videos will be used as part of Duke’s third activity, the Duke-Durham Study Circles project. Including students, faculty, staff, and community members, the Study Circles project will use Cross Cultural Clips, cultural events, and other resources to spur dialogue on issues of race and racial reconciliation.

Project Outcomes

• Duke University has developed a valuable tool for beginning constructive dialogues about race. The open ended nature of Cross-Cultural Clips provides audience members with a safe avenue through which they can discuss a variety of responses to diversity issues. Duke is also developing a facilitators’ guide to accompany the video, which will be distributed beyond the campus.

• Through its continuing Student Athletes Mentoring program, Duke and its partner institutions have built bridges to the Githens Middle School and are helping to shape its students’ educational goals.

For more information about diversity programs at Duke University, please contact Benjamin K. Reese at 919-684-8229

Community Partners

• Durham Congregations in Action
• Githens Middle School
• JTH and Troupers
• University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill
• North Carolina Central State University

Campus-Community Events

• Student Athletes Mentoring Program
• Viewings and Follow-Up Discussions of Cross-Cultural Clips
• Study Circles Dialogues with Duke University and local Durham community members

Indiana State University - Terre Haute, Indiana

Project Summary

Working with multiple constituency groups both on and off campus, Indiana State University (ISU) has built an agenda for dialogue and action. Beginning with a Building Bridges/Campus and Community Forum featuring Ronald Takaki, the partnership has hosted several conferences to examine the impact of racism in various communities of color. Topics for these conferences included: "Changing Images of America" on Hispanics in the Americas, and "Portraits of the People" on Native Americans. Other events have included: "Dismantling the Red Sambo," an ongoing effort to rid the community of stereotypical images of Native Americans, and "Living with Jim Crow," a lecture by Mr. Willie Simpson, a former sharecropper.

Community Forums for leaders of local faith communities, ISU’s One America project and a presentation by civil rights activist, Dr. C.T. Vivian of the Center for Democratic Renewal, provided participants with an opportunity to assess local impediments to social justice and to discuss opportunities for interracial reconciliation. The Racial Harmony contest has engaged middle school students in the work of racial reconciliation by asking students to write essays about: "What I Plan to Do to Create Racial Harmony in My Neighborhood." Continued collaboration between the campus and the community will begin with a spring Unity Week entitled "Strength to Love" focusing on non-violence and racial healing.

Project Outcomes

• ISU’s involvement with the Racial Legacies and Learning project enhanced several ongoing projects and solidified several campus-community relationships. ISU, in collaboration with the Terre Haute community, has established a Terre Haute Human Relations Task Force.

• ISU has also garnered recognition as a community and state resource for diversity information and training. Students at ISU are developing the capacity to engage in constructive conversations about race and other diversity topics.

"I think there is a strong and urgent need for higher education to deal with racial problems by introducing not only programs on racial issues, but also activities that help bring students of all races together with a view of understanding each other better and learning to accept those from different social backgrounds." -- Catherine Chierwa, Coordinator, Student Diversity Team

For more information about diversity programs at Indiana State University, please contact Dorothy M. Simpson-Taylor: at 812-237-3619

Community Partners

• NAACP
• Terre Haute Interfaith Council
• Terre Haute Human Relations Task Force
• Sisters of Providence
• Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
• Terre Haute Study Circles Team
• Cinergy

Campus-Community Events

• Building Bridges Across the Community-Campus/Community Dialogues
• "The Role of the Public University to Prepare Multiculturally Competent Students for the 21st Century" by Dr. Ronald Takaki
• Student Dialogues on "Why Can’t We Talk About Race" and "Racial Healing: Confronting the Fear Among Races"
• "Social Justice Among Communities of Faith" interfaith community forum
• "Preparing Tomorrow’s Leaders Today" by Dr. C.T. Vivian, Center for Democratic Renewal
• Racial Harmony Essay Contest for local middle schools
• "Strength to Love" Unity Week (Spring 1999)

LeMoyne-Owen College - Memphis, Tennessee

Project Summary

On October 9, 1998, LeMoyne-Owen College and a coalition of community partners hosted a day of celebration and serious discussion about the legacies of racism and the opportunities for racial reconciliation entitled "Voices from the Community: Memphians Celebrate Diversity." Almost 200 community members, some on the campus for the first time, came to LeMoyne-Owen to take part in the day’s program that combined art, video, story-telling, student panels, interactive workshops, and serious discussion. The day was a culminating event in a week proclaimed by the Mayor of Memphis as "Diversity and Higher Education Week."

"In college, we learn about math and science and how to use these things practically in life. Well, life is diverse. We also need to learn about diversity and how to apply it in real life." -- LeMoyne-Owen College Student

Project Outcomes

• LeMoyne-Owen built new relationships with many community organizations and laid the groundwork for future collaboration.
• As a result of the "Messages of Peace" project, individual expressions of diversity were captured in two ways: as painted images on an 18-foot canvas and as commentary on a compilation videotape. The resulting canvas and tape serve as a record of messages of racial reconciliation and will be used in future events to foster discussion.

"We know diversity because we live it. We are thus acquainted with the tensions diversity can lay bare and the opportunities for growth it creates." -- George R. Johnson, Jr., President, LeMoyne-Owen College

Community Partners

• Community Foundation of Greater Memphis
• Memphis Pow Wow Association
• Memphis Diversity Institute
• M.K. Ghandi Institute for Nonviolence
• Facing History & Ourselves
• Tennessee Disability Coalition
• Memphis/Shelby County Library & Information Center

Campus-Community Events

• "Messages of Peace:" Artistic Expressions on Racial Reconciliation and Diversity
• Student Panel on Perceptions of Multiculturalism
• Interactive Session: How to Build Community
• Interactive Session: How to Impact Race Relations
• Exhibition of Paintings
• Poetry Readings and Songs on Diversity
• Story Circles on Diversity

For more information about diversity programs at LeMoyne-Owen College, please contact Barbara Frankle at 901-942-7363

Mount St. Mary’s College - Los Angeles, California

Project Summary

Mount St. Mary’s College (MSMC) students are working in local high schools to create safe places for students from a wide variety of racial and cultural backgrounds to talk about race. Through the project, MSMC students were trained as facilitators and conducted dialogues in four local high schools and in the Mar Vista Gardens Housing development, where they worked with local immigrants. The arts provided another vehicle for connecting with local high school students. MSMC used arts projects to help students explore their own racial heritages and to learn about the backgrounds of other students and community members. Finally, MSMC sponsored a juried art show, "Racial Legacies: Perceptions from L.A. Youth," that allowed community members to see how high school students represent the meaning of race in their lives.

Project Outcomes

• By using the arts to reconceptualize race relations, MSMC is encouraging students to think about race relations from radically different perspectives and helping them to generate new alternative solutions.
• Providing students and members of the immigrant community with structured opportunities to discuss race, race relations, and racial reconciliation has enhanced capacity for cross-cultural interactions within the community and between the campus and community.

"Those of us in higher education must actively participate. . .We need to be cultural bridge builders, mediators, negotiators, helpful innovators, and highly concerned members of a community family. If we choose to remain distant and aloof, then we cannot hope for reconciliation, greater tolerance, or intercultural appreciation in our young people. The academy must do more." -- Dr. Sandra Bunce, Assistant Professor of Sociology,
Mount St. Mary’s College

For more information about diversity programs at Mount St. Mary’s College, please contact Pam Haldeman at 310-954-4366

Community Partners

• Lynwood High School
• Garfield High School
• Locke High School
• South Gate High School
• Mar Vista Gardens Housing Development

Campus-Community Events

• Art Show: "Racial Legacies: Perceptions from L.A. Youth"
• Dialogues on Race in local high schools and the Mar Vista Gardens Housing Development

New York/New Jersey Coalition

Bloomfield College
City College, The City University of New York
State University of New York, Stony Brook
Wagner College

Project Summary

The New York/New Jersey Racial Legacies and Learning coalition inaugurated its initiative with a videotaped town meeting entitled, "Why Can’t We Talk About Race?" This conversation was moderated by WNET anchor Steve Adubato, Jr. and included panel members Yolanda T. Moses (president, The City College/CUNY), Shirley Strum Kenny (president, SUNY-Stony Brook), Azad Anand (CEO, Long Island Diagnostic Imaging), Hon. C. Virginia Fields (Manhattan Borough President), and Jack Rudin (Co-chairman, Rudin Management Co., Inc). This video is available for purchase (see fold out) and is useful for stimulating conversations about race among campus and community constituencies. Coalition schools and other institutions participating in the Racial Legacies and Learning project have used it to facilitate dialogue among community partners, faculty, and students.

As a follow-up to the videotaped town meeting, more than 450 campus and community representatives gathered at City College on October 7, 1998 for a Racial Legacies and Learning Summit to assess the state of race relations on their campuses and within their communities. The Summit attracted representatives from 46 colleges and universities within the Tri-State area. With their community partners, each participating campus identified two major issues and developed an action plan to address them. In the spring of 1999, Summit participants will gather again at Bloomfield College for a second summit to discuss how successful they have been in implementing these action plans.

"The Racial Legacies Summit greatly reinforced the important role colleges and universities play in fostering communication between people of diverse racial backgrounds. For most American college students, the college is the most diverse community— Stephanie Smith, Director for Administration, CUNY School of Architecture

Project Outcomes

• The video, "Why Can’t We Talk About Race?," models a constructive dialogue about racism and the role higher education can play in improving race relations. Institutions across the country are using the video to spark campus-community conversations.
• The Coalition has established a network of local peer institutions committed to advancing racial reconciliation through the Racial Legacies Summits.

Seattle Campus Coalition - Seattle, Washington

Antioch University
North Seattle Community College
Seattle Central Community College
Shoreline Community College
South Seattle Community College
University of Washington

Project Summary

Through the Racial Legacies and Learning Project, higher education joined with Seattle business leaders and community members to discuss the role of higher education in addressing racial legacies and racial reconciliation. As part of the project, which was organized by Shoreline Community College, several presidents of participating institutions opened their homes to business leaders and community members for dinner conversations around the project’s organizing question, "How can higher education, with its local communities, prepare graduates to address the legacies of racism and the opportunities for racial reconciliation in the United States?"

In partnering with the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, the Seattle Racial Legacies and Learning Campus Coalition adopted the model of the "It’s Time to Talk" Project of the Chamber’s Urban Enterprise Center (UEC). The UEC created this project in response to a growing need for critical dialogue about race between business leaders and members of local communities. To achieve this end, the UEC has sponsored a series of nationally known speakers and a series of facilitated dinner conversations in private homes for community participants to engage in discussions about race.

Project Outcomes

• The Seattle Coalition has extended existing networks of campus/community partners addressing issues of race.
• The partnership with the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce helped to reaffirm business’ role in supporting diversity on campus and campus’ role in preparing students with diversity competencies that businesses need.
• Student participation in addressing race issues will continue through a student-led film project to document comparative United States/South Africa approaches to racial reconciliation.

"Students want to learn in an environment enriched by people with very different life experiences and who bring different perspectives to study materials. They want to build relationships across diversity."-- Gary Oertli, President, Shoreline Community College

For more information about the Seattle Campus Coalition’s diversity programs, please contact Betty Schmitz at 206-546-4673

Community Partner

• The Urban Enterprise Center of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce

Campus-Community Events

• Series of facilitated dinner conversations addressing the project’s organizing question
• Week of Campus Presidents’ Dinners
• Speaker series featuring Nikki Giovanni, Julian Bond, and Ronald Takaki
• Campus workshops on race and related topics
• Intergroup dialogue training

Wesleyan University - Middletown, Connecticut

Project Summary

A campus-community lecture series featuring distinguished public figures provided the intellectual framework for Wesleyan’s Racial Legacies and Learning project. Professor Charles Ogletree (Harvard Law School), The Honorable Constance Baker Motley, Leonard Weinglass (defense attorney), and Theodore Shaw, Wesleyan ’76 (NAACP Legal Defense Fund), each spoke about race relations, affirmative action, and other topics. During Parents Weekend, the Parent’s Council hosted a dialogue on the value of diversity to Wesleyan University. Rebecca Knight, Wesleyan ’98, who recently published "Leg Up For Minorities Turns College into Real Life" in USA Today provided a moving testimony about how Wesleyan’s diversity had enriched her life. Campus members have also been actively involved with the North End Action Team, assessing the needs of an economically disadvantaged neighborhood, as well as participating in community service work with the Odd Fellows Playhouse and the Middletown Schools. Wesleyan is also sponsoring campus-community pot luck suppers to explore the establishment of a Study Circles project as part of the future work of the partnership.

Project Outcomes

• Wesleyan has established regular Campus-Community Pot Lucks and is conducting ongoing community service projects with Odd Fellows Playhouse and Middletown Public School.

• The University is also collaborating with the North End Action Team to assess needs of this economically disadvantaged community.