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The winter quarter has come to an end, and there are some students from the Social Justice Community who should be recognized for their outstanding work this year!
Also during winter quarter, director Roscoe Hill had the first-year class over to his house for dinner in early February and on the 6th of March, Randle Loeb joined us for our last dinner of winter quarter in Nelson Hall. Randle spoke about his role in the community, as an activist in the homeless community and the work he is doing on the Mayor’s Commission to End Homelessness. We look forward to having other guests from the community join us for dinners during spring quarter.
Dr. B. Afeni Cobham taught the winter quarter 2-credit seminar, which explored the many aspects of oppression through power and privilege. Some of the major themes focused on historical perspectives in higher education, campus climate in predominantly white institutions, and cultural capital in higher education, with special attention on race and class. The spring quarter class, which will be co-taught by Dr. Annemarie Vaccaro and Leighanne Regan, will continue exploring themes of oppression, primarily through gender and sexuality.
Spring quarter is going to be busy for the SJC. Two service projects are planned for the first-year students and any other members who are interested.
Other events that will take place in the spring for SJC students include presenting at the poster session of the Public Good Celebration on April 3rd; attending the Estlow Institute on April 17th (http://www.estlow.org/); taking part in the Diversity Summit on May 2nd and in Project Homeless Connect 6 (www.du.edu/homelessness) on May 9th.
Students will also have the opportunity to attend some of the following cultural events sponsored by the SJC:
Our Spring quarter retreat for first-year students only is planned for the weekend of May 17-18th at Roscoe Hill’s cabin in Grand Lake.
And we will celebrate the end of the year at our annual SJC Banquet on May 22nd in the Community Room of Craig Hall.
We look forward to the many exciting things that the rest of the academic year will bring for our community!
The SJC is off to a great year so far! The floor in JMAC is bustling with energy, and new ideas from students come about every day. It is a great group of students, who come from nine different states and very diverse backgrounds. Five first-year SJC students spent a week on campus prior to the rest of the first-year class arriving at DU, as part of the Emerging Leaders Institute. They were then joined by their peers on the 3rd floor of JMAC (Johnson3-3) where they all settled in for the start of their college careers.
Each student went though a week-long orientation as part of Discoveries Week and met up with their first-year seminar instructors. There are lots of stories to tell about the topics students are studying and the outings they are taking outside of DU.
The fall quarter class is taught by Dr. Roscoe Hill with teaching assistant Katie Symons. The course, which meets Tuesdays and Thursdays for two hours each time, has entertained some great discussions thus far and we look forward to more to come throughout the year. Students researched the amount of money it would take a family of four in Denver to live decently. Then, they got a glimpse of the reality of what people around the world who live off of $2/day experience on a daily basis at the Hunger Banquet. Many SJC students went to hear Jonathan Kozol speak at the LoDo Tattered Cover in late September, which allowed them an up close view of the author of Savage Inequalities, a book that first-year students read over this past summer and have discussed in class. Other readings that students have discussed include: the UN Declaration of Human Rights; Nickel & Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich; "Unpacking the invisible knapsack" by Peggy McIntosh; MLK Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham jail"; John Rawls' "Principles of Justice"; and various readings on Globalization. These have all guided fruitful discussions both within and outside of the classroom.
Students have also started engaging in the local Denver community. A number of SJC students will focus this year on the issue of immigration and will be working in partnership with organizations like El Centro Humanitario and the Front Range Economic Strategy Center. Others are focusing on the issue of homelessness, while still others will look at the education system in Denver and will work with youth in inner city public housing neighborhoods and the Denver Public Schools.
First-year students in the community traveled to the Balarat Outdoor Education Center for their fall overnight retreat, which took place the weekend of September 29-30. They all participated in a "challenge by choice" course, conquering fears on a high ropes course and climbing walls. Everyone had a great time together and did a lot of teambuilding along the way. We spent the evening partaking in lively conversations, playing games, and listening to live music by a number of our talented guitar and mandolin players. A few students went for a morning hike and explored an old gold mine while learning a little Colorado history. The group had a wonderful time getting to know one another better, outside of the classroom and residence hall at DU.
The SJC has had three dinners in the Nelson Private Dining Room so far this quarter and a picnic at Observatory Park. Dr. Deb Ortega, director of DU's Latino Center, was our guest speaker for one of these dinners, and Dr. Maria Salazar from the College of Education, joined us for another. We will be joined by other wonderful guests from the campus and local Denver community for future dinners in winter and spring.
Our comunity has alsoco-sponsored a number of events so far this year: a "Welcome BBQ" for all GLBTQI communities and allies at DU in September; the Hunger Banquet on October 2nd; and the "Fishbowl" style dialogue titled "gay? Fine by me... what does that mean to you?"
Look for more highlights coming soon in the winter of 2008!
