As of early this month, two new awards adorn the halls of the Office of Residence Life. The office is the 2006 winner of two of the four annual awards given by the American College Personnel Association's Commission for Social Justice Educators.
The university applied for two awards: a general award for overall commitment to social justice issues and an award for a specific, innovative response to an issue that may have occurred on campus. This award was given for the Stop Hate March that was held in November 2005 after discriminating acts that occurred in the residence halls.
This is the university's first ACPA award from the Commission of Social Justice Educators.
Kathleen Kerr, director of Residence Life, said more than 7,300 students currently live in the residence halls and it is the duty of Residence Life to help prepare these students for the future.
"It may be their first opportunity to live within a community and they can learn lesson's they can then take out into the world," she said. "A big part of being a good citizen is understanding the diversity in our world."
Kerr said even if they had never won these awards, residence life would still continue to work on educating students on the value of social justice.
Michele Kane, assistant director of Residence Life, said the awards confirm the efforts and commitment that Residence Life has put forth for social justice education.
"The commitment says that it is something that you are going to stay with and stick with, it's not just a flavor of the month," she said. "In the time that I've been here, I think that there has always been a commitment to trying to do education around privilege and oppression and understanding issues that affect unrepresented groups - not just on our campus but in the world."
Cynthia Cummings, associate vice president for Campus Life, said the university's strides in social justice education is what originally attracted her in the early '80s.
"I think that 20 years ago, you would have had students of color, particularly black students, talking about diversity. There would have been some white students, who were really interested and passionate in this issue but they would have been few and far between," Cummings said.
Innovative programs like the Stop Hate March are still being planned at the university. Residence Life's Unity Day is in the works for April 21, and will include the entire university, Cummings said.
"If you would have had a Stop Hate March, it would have been people who had been victims coming forward. Now, 20 years later, we are getting all kinds of students coming forward saying 'while I'm not a victim and I'm not a perpetrator, it still affects me and I want to take a stand against it.' "
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