The spring semester brought a litany of challenges to our campus and higher education across our nation. Besides challenges brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, our country is also facing an issue that has been an ongoing problem in the United States: social injustice and racial tensions.
The Center for Multicultural Student Leadership and Engagement (MCSLE) is posed to address those issues head-on through continued programming and student-centered discussion.
During the 2019–20 school year, MCSLE developed two series of programs to open discussion around social inequities directly: Building Bridges and Breaking the Barrier. These two programs will be ongoing throughout the summer and during the regular school year, considering students' needs and suggestions from our campus partners.
Building Bridges aims to provide a space for Black and Brown students to receive support, express concerns, and connect with other students.
Breaking the Barrier is designed to facilitate dialogue among all students interested in learning about and from groups with varying interests and needs, as well as advancing positive social change.
Theo Turner, director of MCSLE, said, “MCSLE is proud to offer these programs and to lead the way towards supporting IUP as an anti-racist campus community. We want to offer our support across the university for initiatives that may align with our direct programming goals to bring all interested parties within IUP into the fold. Speaking to this, MCSLE would like to encourage all areas of the university to reach out to us with your ideas regarding collaboration, topics, resources, speakers, and activities/events.” Anyone who has a suggestion, comment, or idea is encouraged to reach out to Theo Turner via email at tturn@iup.edu.
The Center for Multicultural Student Leadership and Engagement will continue offering Building Bridges and Breaking the Barrier events on alternative weeks throughout the summer. We invite all students, staff, and faculty to join in the conversations. Please look for more information on specific events via the Central Calendar and MCSLE's social media sites. MCSLE will provide a list of upcoming events throughout the summer to help interested parties who wish to participate plan appropriately. In the meantime, look for more information about the next event, coming up on Wednesday, July 8, at 7:30 p.m.