UMR-ACUHO Social Justice Committee

Building and using our Passion

A Peace Corps volunteer shares an interesting point about choosing to serve those who need our help, and ensuring justice and equity around the world. She was invited to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer in winter 2010, and arrived in Niger in July 2010. Three days after arriving in her village, her friend passed away in Niger. Six months into the 27, she was evacuated, due to events in Niger. She sent numerous text messages: she was defeated. Couldn’t find it in her to continue her service. She felt empty and confused. After getting home, she reapplied, was invited to Lesotho, another African country, where she will get the chance to teach young people about HIV, AIDS and general education for young women. Her dream came true. Again. She left four weeks ago.

Friends, including myself, asked Heather why she chose to serve as a PCV, looking for inspiration as young professionals in our fields. In October, a week before she left, she gave us an answer:

“I don’t have a real good answer as to why I feel the need to go into the Peace Corps other than that it is calling. When I feel that passion, I have to follow it. Passion has led me all sorts of places and now it’s taking me to Lesotho.”

It got me thinking. We talk all the time about passion in higher education. What fuels our passion? What fuels our understanding and dedication to social justice, student development and our student success? Where sparked your passion?

My passion is sparked nearly every day. From conversations with students, conversations with my peers and supervisor, programs and educational moments with students. Particularily when I can have enlightening conversations about acceptance, equality v. equity, social inequalities, and social problems today.

My moment of Justice

We’ve all encountered Social Justice in many avenues of our lives - personally, professionally, and casually. Many are positive, and leave a lasting impact on our lives as we move on. I’ve had a great number of social justice moments in my professional career - but one that will always stick with me was a very recent, and personal one.

My soon-to-be brother-in-law is a wonderful young man, always happy, cheerful and fun to be around. He has also been openly gay and with his partner for about 6 years. At a wedding we both attended this summer, we had quite the conversation:

“One day, this will be for you and *partner*”
“Not anytime soon”
“Hop the border, we’ll throw you a huge bash in Iowa! You deserve this”
“Yes, we would love to be married, but it won’t be recognized here in *state.* I want my marriage to be free of question, like yours will be”

This took me by surprise, and I was, frankly, disappointed with myself for not thinking about that desire. My heterosexual marriage will never be discounted and has never been questioned by society. However, my brother-in-law’s marriage, and ultimately his happiness, would be discounted by millions, and only recognized by six states, his home state is not one.

While this will likely be a hot-button topic of conversation for many years to come, how can we help students who may be struggling in this realm as they prepare to come out of the closet? How can we assure them that our instiutions, residence halls, and offices are safe spaces for students of all backgrounds?

Above all, how can we ensure that they are signficant to the institution, the professionals, and other students?

-Melissa Griffith, Simpson College, Area Coordinator.

Random Acts of Justice

Hello Tumblr-verse and UMR folks! 

As a student development professional working in the exciting area of residential life we have an incredible opportunity to see students learn on a daily basis.  In our roles we have an opportunity to engage students through asking them to ask them questions about their actions, what influences their actions and how they evaluate the effectiveness of their decisions.  Just how often do we ask them about how they have been inclusive lately?  Maybe your answer is a lot, you might have the role of the token social justice educator on your campus and so this is always a hot topic of conversation, maybe it isn’t. 

No matter what, as student development professionals we have to be challenged on a daily basis to serve students from every walk of life.  And in my opinion, it is our role to not only evaluate how well we are doing that on a daily basis but how we pass this on to our students.  So here is my suggestion for the week, something to try.  This is an idea that has been bubbling in my head for sometime now so I am relieving to get it out there on the information superhighway. So here it is:

Random Acts of Justice: You have all heard of random acts of kindness, a day spent doing nice things for people to make them smile.  I would anticipate that Random Acts of Justice would seep even deeper into the groundwater and influence how we act on a daily basis.  So here’s how it works, the funny part is that it isn’t really random, it’s actually an intentional decision to take an action that creates a more just and inclusive community.  Designate a day to educate students on what they can do to create a more inclusive community that celebrates difference and inspires dialogue and positive social change.  For instance you might encourage students to take action to correct their use of the word “Gay” or “Retarded” as a negative expression.  They could start or join a committee that holds student organizations or the residential life office responsible for incorporating inclusive practices.  Or you can even have them take this into the community by volunteering to tutor and mentor underpriveleged children as a method of helping to break up the cycle of poverty.  You probably have lots of ways in which you encourage students to take an active role in creating a more just society.  What do you, what can you do? How can you incorporate this idea into your campus community formally or informally?

Let’s chat about it! 

Thanks for engaging in the Social Justice Experience! 

-Heather Nicole Saladino, College of Saint Benedict

Welcome!

Welcome UMR-ACUHO Members and anyone else who may have stumbled upon this blog. 

The Social Justice Committee wants to provide UMR-ACUHO members with the opportunity to learn about and discuss social justice topics year round (in other words, beyond the annual conference). 

This is a forum for resources and discussion, so contributions are welcomed and encouraged!