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  Symposium on Race Invigorates Campus Discussion
 

Magdalen Hsu-Li’s performance “Smashing the Ceiling” relates the challenges she faces as a Chinese-American, bisexual recording artist.
Magdalen Hsu-Li’s performance “Smashing the Ceiling” relates the challenges she faces as a Chinese-American, bisexual recording artist.
Photo by Denise Suarez ’05
In response to discussions and issues percolating on campus, Colorado College hosted “Race Matters,” a two-week symposium in March and April.

Rochelle Mason ’84, symposium organizer and director of the office of minority student life, says the event was designed to stimulate and challenge its participants to tackle the subject of race.

“We’ve had some incidents of racism and prejudice come to light on campus — most notably offensive articles in the Catalyst’s April Fools’ Day 2002 issue. We felt these incidents boiled down to a lack of knowledge about how the races interact,” Mason said. “More than another multicultural awareness event, we felt we needed a forum that challenged people to talk specifically about race, which this symposium did.”

Spencer Wood, visiting assistant professor of sociology, described the many unscrupulous practices at national and local levels that have resulted in the loss of land owned by African-American farmers.
Spencer Wood, visiting assistant professor of sociology, described the many unscrupulous practices at national and local levels that have resulted in the loss of land owned by African-American farmers.
Photo by Brian Miller
The symposium brought several noted speakers to the CC campus, including:

  • Beverly Moran, a professor at Vanderbilt University, presented the capstone lecture on why Americans think about race differently now.
  • Michael Trujillo, a Native American and a former U.S. assistant surgeon general, discussed “American Indian Health Care and Policy: A Personal Experience.”
  • Spencer D. Wood, a CC visiting assistant professor, presented “Land, Wealth, and Food: Why Black Farms Matter and Why They Are Under Attack.”
  • Nick Kotz, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Magazine Award, presented “From Shining Moment to Deadlock: How LBJ and MLK Overcame Then, and Why the Counterrevolution Overshadows Today.”
  • Emma Perez, professor at the University of Colorado-Boulder, spoke on “Racialized Sexualities in the Borderlands.”
  • Vanderbilt Professor Beverly Moran’s capstone address described how Americans think differently about race than we did decades ago due to media and popular culture, changing self-identification, and government-imposed labels.
    Vanderbilt Professor Beverly Moran’s capstone address described how Americans think differently about race than we did decades ago due to media and popular culture, changing self-identification, and government-imposed labels.
    Photo by Luca Adelfio ’05
  • Magdalen Hsu-Li, a bisexual activist and singer/songwriter, performed “Smashing the Ceiling.”
  • CC faculty participated in a panel on race, stereotyping, and political correctness entitled, “You Called Me What!!??!!”
  • Jennifer R. Holladay of the Southern Poverty Law Center presented “The Role of Whites in Anti-Racism: a Roadmap.”
  • “Staying on the Wall: Annual Gospel Extravaganza” featured the Gospel Music Workshop of America Choir and an address by Rev. Benjamin Reynolds, local NAACP president and pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church.

Symposium attendees also took part in discussion groups organized through Sustained Dialogue, a nonprofit international initiative engaging community members in conversations that change relationships of conflict to constructive ones.

Former CC Dean Richard Storey was instrumental in securing a generous private donation from the Tutt Family Fund to jump-start the Race Matters symposium. Additional funding was provided by the dean’s office, the dean of students’ office, the president’s office, the Diversity Task Force, and the Diversity Funding and Development Council.

 

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