Building Connections

Building Connections:

Exploring social identities and social justice through dialogue

 

Speaker and activist Cornel West and IGR student facilitators

Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” In this three-day pre-orientation program, students will contribute to proactively learning about the complexities of living in a multidimensional society. They will examine their own social identities—such as race, gender, and social class—while questioning how these identities shape their day-to-day lives. Through storytelling and active listening, they will explore their own values and beliefs about issues like power, privilege and inequality in the United States and beyond. In doing so, students will grapple with how they can become agents of change on campus and in the surrounding community. From this dialogic experience, students will acquire new skills and knowledge about how to create a more socially just world. (This pre-orientation program is adapted from Skidmore's intergroup relations minor. For more, see: https://www.skidmore.edu/igr/.)

Social activities during this pre-orientation may include things like: trips into town for ice cream, attending cultural events in Albany, boating on the lake, hikes in the North Woods, campouts and s'mores, or live music and movie nights.

Student leaders: Heather Lipkin, Gerolly Lorenzo, Maiya Thornton-Hodge, Kavey Vidal
Program director: Kristie Ford

 

Lee Mun Wah