Highline College’s “Unity Through Diversity” Week Begins April 26th

Highline Community College’s “Unity through Diversity Week” is coming April 26 through May 1st, and the theme this year is “Institutions, Power and Privilege.”

One of the more interesting offerings will be the third annual “Drag Show” Tuesday evening, April 27th from 6pm–8pm (and no, we’re not talking about car racing here…).

Here are the details:

WHAT: Highline College’s Unity through Diversity Week: Institutions, Power and Privilege

WHEN: April 26-May 1, 2010

WHERE: Various locations around campus; see schedule below for specifics:

SCHEDULE:

Monday, April 26:

• Racial Microaggressions and Experiences of Students of Color in Higher Education Lecture by Dr. Miguel Ceja 11:00-11:50 Building 7 (Co-sponsored by the Learning & Teaching Center): Racial Microaggressions are defined “subtle, innocuous, preconscious, or unconscious degradations, and putdowns” (Pierce, 1995). Using critical race theory as a framework, this talk will explore the educational experiences of students of color in higher education. Furthermore this talk will examine the campus racial climate in an effort to understand the concept of racial microaggressions and their adverse effect on students of color. Dr. Ceja is an Associate Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at California State University, Northridge.
• Enhancing and Strengthening the Campus Racial Climate: A Collective Effort Workshop facilitated by Dr. Miguel Ceja 1:30-3:00 HSU- Mt. Constance room: Workshop for faculty/staff (Sponsored by the Learning & Teaching Center): In this interactive workshop participants will have the opportunity to discuss issues of diversity in higher education and propose recommendations for developing and sustaining a healthy campus racial climate for faculty, staff, and students. Dr. Miguel Ceja is an Associate Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at California State University, Northridge

Tuesday, April 27, 2010:

• The Color of the Race Problem Is White Lecture by Dr. Robert Jensen 11:00-11:50 Building 7 (Co-sponsored by the Learning &Teaching Center): In The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. DuBois suggested that the question white people so often want to ask black people is, “How does it feel to be a problem?” This program turns the tables and recognizes some simple facts: Race problems have their roots in a system of white supremacy. White people invented white supremacy. Therefore, the color of the race problem is white. White people are the problem. White people have to ask ourselves: How does it feel to be a problem? Following the ideas in his book The Heart of Whiteness, Jensen argues that — even decades after the significant achievements of the civil-rights movement and with an African-American president — it is still appropriate to describe the United States as a white-supremacist society, in terms of how we think and how we live. Through an analysis of contemporary racial ideology, Jensen presents a framework for critiquing the naturalizing of power and privilege in other arenas of our lives (gender, class, nationality, and ecology). How have we come to accept so easily systems of domination and subordination? How did we become resigned to hierarchy? How can we challenge the unjust and unsustainable nature of the systems in which we live? Robert Jensen is a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin and board member of the Third Coast Activist Resource Center in Austin. His articles can be found online at http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/index.html.
• Beyond Race, Gender, and Class: Understanding the Roots of Privilege Dr. Robert Jensen Workshop for faculty/staff 1:30-3:00 HSU- Mt. Constance (Sponsored by the Learning &Teaching Center): Many corporate, governmental, and educational institutions in the contemporary United States articulate a commitment to diversity and multiculturalism. The discussion of race, gender, and class has been institutionalized in many of these institutional settings. Such changes signal progress, but do they indicate that U.S. society has made a serious commitment to a more just distribution of wealth and power? Has this multicultural moment led to an ongoing critique of the deeper systems of authority in the culture? Using the concept of privilege in race, gender, and class, this workshop will raise questions about systems and structures of power that can allow us to go beyond polite “diversity talk” to discuss what would be needed to transform our society and promote justice and sustainability. Any serious effort toward those goals must confront the structures of power in the contemporary United States that produce such profound inequality. Robert Jensen is a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin and board member of the Third Coast Activist Resource Center in Austin. His articles can be found online at http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/index.html.
• 3rd annual Drag Show 6:00-8:00 HSU- Mt. Townsend (Co-sponsored by the Gay/Straight Alliance): Come to Highline Community College‟s 3rd annual Drag Show event. Performers from both the Drag Queen and Drag King communities will show their best talents and entertain you for an evening you don‟t want to miss.

Wednesday, April 28:

• ALIVE & FREE: Eliminating the Disease of Violence Presentation by Marquis White, Leletha Williams, J’Quai Holiday 12:10-1:13 Building 7 (Co-sponsored with Honor’s Colloquy): Violence is a public health issue and a social disease. Alive & Free is the prescription to eliminating the disease. Alive & Free, a nationally recognized youth development and violence prevention organization works with communities to eliminate the “risk” factors of violence by dealing with emotional residues and breaking unhealthy norms. Presentation will focus on the individual and systemic roles of violence.
• Caucus Discussion, Topic: Youth Violence, Facilitated by Thomas Tobin; 1:30-2:30 Leadership Resource Room- HSU- 3rd floor Come to this caucus discussion where we will be investigating the causes of and solutions to youth violence.

Thursday, April 29:

• Searching Routes and Roots for Songs of Ghosts Talk by Quynh-Tram Nguyen, School of Social Work- UW-Tacoma 10:00-10:50 HSU- Mt. Constance room. In the tradition of storytelling this interactive lecture aims to reveal an insider‟s perspective in migrant invisibility in North America landscapes. Quynh-Tram Nguyen is a faculty member in the School of Social Work at UW-Tacoma and Doctoral Candidate in the PhD Social Science Program, Taos-Tilburg University. Her public scholarship focuses on performance-based community work where creative tension between the local and „global‟, between the familiar and unfamiliar, the being at-home and the being on-the-move takes place.
• Backstage Racism: How Nice White Students Perpetuate the Racial Hierarchy Lecture by Dr. Leslie Houts Picca 11:00-11:50 Building 7 (Co-sponsored by the Learning & Teaching Center): It’s more comfortable to view racism as “bad acts committed by bad people.” Dr. Picca‟s lecture draws upon her research on 626 journals of racial events kept by white college students at twenty-eight colleges in the United States. Dr. Picca co-author of the book “Two Faced Racism: Whites in the Backstage and Frontstage” (Routledge, 2007 with Joe Feagin) examines and explains the racial attitudes and behaviors exhibited by whites in private settings. Picca earned her Ph.D. from the University of Florida, and is now a Sociology professor at the University of Dayton in Ohio. She has publications in the areas of racial relations, and adolescent sexuality. Her research on racial relations has been nationally recognized, and she has been interviewed by CNN, the Associated Press, Congressional Quarterly, National Public Radio, Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, among others. She is also the proud mother of three daughters ages 4, 2, and 10 months.

Friday, April 30:

• Safe Zones Workshop Facilitated by Joshua Magallanes, Multicultural Services & High School Programs 10:00-11:30 Building 2; Although grossly understudied, research indicates that Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender/Questioning (GLBTQ) students hear derogatory words such as “fag, homo and gay” an average of 26 times per day. In K-12 education, colleges and universities, 85% of teachers oppose integrating GLBTQ topics into the curriculum (Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network 2003).The Safe Zones education program is part of a national program that focuses on basic GLBTQ concepts, definitions, theories and building skills to confront homophobia and heterosexism. This interactive workshop will focus on campus climate for GLBTQ communities and allies and strategies to address individual and institutional forms of homophobia.
• Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? 12:30-2:00 Building 7 (Co-sponsored with Movie Fridays) In sickness and in wealth- how does the distribution of power, wealth and resources shape opportunities for health? Unnatural Causes is the acclaimed documentary series broadcast by PBS and now used by thousands of organizations around the country to tackle the root causes of our alarming socio-economic and racial inequities in health. Viewing and discussion facilitated by Melissa Ponder and Natasha Burrowes.

Saturday, May 1:

• 2nd annual Teaching Equity Conference May 1, 2010 9:00-3:30 pm Highline Campus; This year’s event is being held in collaboration with CWU’s Power of Diversity project and The Center for Excellence in Education’s Future Teacher’s Conference. The professional development experience for future educators and those interested in teaching will provide important information for participants regarding successful pathways to becoming a teacher and the need for all educators to be culturally competent. There will be panel discussions throughout the day in addition to workshops, information tables from local colleges/universities, and entertainment. More information at: http://www.teachingequity.com/.

For more information on this year’s event, download the program here (PDF file). To view presentations from last year, click here.