Lafayette Comes Together for United Against Hate Week Feb. 26-March 3

The campus community will celebrate United Against Hate Week Feb. 26-March 3. This year’s theme “Hate Has No Face” will encompass lectures, brownbag discussions, performances, film screenings, and a semiformal ball. The second annual Peace Conference will conclude the week’s events from noon-4 p.m. March 3 in Kirby Hall of Civil Rights room 104.

Originated by Students for Social Justice, United Against Hate Week addresses issues such as racism, activism, discrimination, sexism, homophobia, and other topics surrounding hate within issues of diversity and social justice. This year, an effort was made to include more campus organizations and offices in organizing events.

“Issues dealing with diversity and social justice shouldn’t be addressed solely as a reaction to a particular event,” says Michael Benitez, director of intercultural development. “The best way to promote unity and collectiveness is for folks to proactively engage in conversation about diversity issues and come up with creative and collective ideas that speak to the need of promoting awareness and respect across campus. Lafayette is doing just that.

“It is important that, as a liberal arts academic institution, we come together throughout the year to engage in productive and intellectual conversation about critical issues. Our aim is to place such issues at the forefront of socio-academic responsibility where we help engage students in the process of understanding how these issues impact society today, and how we can more effectively deal with these issues in the wider global community.”

This year’s sponsors include the American studies program, Amnesty International, Alternative School Break Club, Association of Black Collegians, Hillel Society, Hispanic Society of Lafayette, International Students Association, Lafayette African and Caribbean Students Association, English department, Foundation for the Awareness and Alleviation of Poverty, Lafayette Intercultural Networking Council, Intercultural Development, Religious Life, Student Life Programs, Dean of Students, Dean of Studies, Skillman Library College Archives, Students for Social Justice, Pan Hellenic Council, Questioning Established Sexual Taboos, Women’s Studies program, and Writing Organization Reaching Dynamic Students.

The second annual Peace Conference, themed “Student Activism, Service, and Scholarship,” is sponsored by Students for Social Justice. Poet, musician, and activist Paula Larke will deliver the conference’s keynote address, entitled “Radical Voices: Freeing Our Roots,” at noon March 3 in Kirby Hall of Civil Rights room 104.

An accomplished musician, Larke plays electric bass guitar, banjo, and the djembe, an African drum. A veteran of Broadway and off-Broadway productions, she has performed nationally for over 25 years. She presents chants, songs, and spirituals that originated from locations such as Georgia Sea Islands, Blue Ridge and Appalachian mountains, North Carolina’s Piedmont Plateau, and Tuskegee, Ala. Her latest CD, Precious Gifts, was recorded while she was artist-in-residence at Riverside Church in New York. Larke served a residency at Lafayette last year as part of Women’s History Month.

To conclude the conference, students and members of the campus community are invited to participate in an art wall, where they may record images, testimonials, experiences, and quotes about hate. The semiformal ball “Dance for Darfur,” from 8 p.m.-midnight March 3 in the Bergethon Room, will raise awareness and funds for the crisis in the Sudan.

For more information on United Against Hate Week events, contact the Office of Intercultural Development at (610) 330-5819.

Schedule of Events:

• Feb. 26: “Reclaiming Words: The Social Dangers of Language” noon in Farinon College Center, Marlo Room. A panel of students, faculty, and staff will address issues of language and the social dangers associated with malicious and unintentional use of inappropriate terms. Lunch will be provided.
• Feb. 26: “An Other or Another: How Do You Cross Borders?” 7 p.m. Kirby Hall of Civil Rights room 104. As the wife of controversial black playwright and poet LeRoi Jones (now Amiri Baraka), Hettie Jones, a white Jew from Queens, N.Y., plunged into the Greenwich Village bohemia of jazz, poetry, left wing politics, and underground publishing in the late 1950s. She implies that her marriage ended in 1965 partly because of separatist pressure on blacks to end their interracial marriages. Jones discusses coping with racial prejudice and violence, raising two daughters, and living in the shadow of her husband. This event also is part of Women’s History Month.
• Feb. 27: “We Are All Red on the Inside: Finding Commonality While Embracing Diversity” noon Interfaith Chapel, Hogg Hall. Musician and songwriter Michael Jacobs uses a blend of Native American and American “roots” music – a mixture of rock, pop, and folk – to fuse contemporary and traditional sounds with powerful imagery. His songs are the stories of life – of the past, present, and future, beauty and pain, hope and heartache, and love lost and love found.
• Feb. 27: “Homosexuality and Religion in the Black Community and Beyond” 7 p.m. Oechsle Hall auditorium (room 224). Riley Temple ’71, partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Halprin and Temple and member of Lafayette’s Board of Trustees, will delve into the controversy surrounding church and sexuality and explore homosexuality in the black community. He will challenge misconceptions about sinfulness and homosexuality in the church and discuss the historical conditions that justified inhumane actions in the name of faith.
• Feb. 28: “Greek Life and Activism: A Historical Look at Race and Greek Life at Lafayette College” noon Oechsle Hall auditorium (room 224). James Vorosmarti ’57, a physician in private practice, will discuss pledging black fraternity members at the College in 1956, despite national Greek rules forbidding their inclusion. He will recall the experience of confronting racism following local and national riots related to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision.
• March 1: Film screening of Do the Right Thing 8 p.m. Limburg Theater, Farinon College Center. Written and directed by Spike Lee, this 1989 film explores issues of pride, prejudice, justice, and inequity as they come to the surface as tensions between blacks and Italians rise on a sweltering hot day in a Brooklyn neighborhood. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, including Spike Lee for Best Screenplay and Danny Aiello for Best Supporting Actor.
• March 2: “Hot Topics and Funk” 8 p.m. Gilbert’s. Poet, writer, musician, and storyteller/gatherer Paula Larke will perform and engage the audience in an interactive evening filled with music, storytelling, and community building. This event also is part of Women’s History Month.
• March 3: Peace Conference: “Student Activism, Service, and Scholarship” noon-4 p.m. in Kirby Hall of Civil Rights room 104. The second annual Peace Conference will explore activism on campus and abroad through service projects, academic research, and art. Paula Larke will deliver the keynote address, entitled “Radical Voices: Freeing Our Roots,” at noon.
• March 3: Dance for Darfur 8 p.m.-midnight in the Bergethon Room of Marquis Hall. This semiformal ball will raise awareness about the current crisis in the Sudan. Tickets cost $10. All proceeds will benefit the Save Darfur Coalition. For more information on Dance for Darfur, email international affairs and French double major Jillian Gaeta ’07 (Middletown, N.J.).