Students, faculty and community members gathered on the DU campus on Jan. 22 and 23, for the 14th annual Diversity Summit. The event encouraged diversifying campus and respect for people of all colors and backgrounds through a variety of talks and workshops, according the Diversity Summit website. The event’s website also mentions that the recent 50th anniversary of The March On Washington distinguishes it as different from previous years’ events.
According to Professor Lynn Schofield Clark—the Chair of the Media, Film, and Journalism Studies department, Director of Estlow International Center for Journalism and New Media and a member of the Diversity Summit’s planning committee—the summit took place in May in the past, but was moved to January this year so students and faculty have more time on campus to keep the event’s momentum going before summer break.
Clark said she was thrilled to see the end product of all the university’s hard work.
“To me, this is a key time in our history, especially in the media studies field,” said Clark. “People are thinking about movements that are emerging, and the stories that are being told. So this is an exciting time for us to think about how we want to be a part of the changes that are taking place and to be advocates for the people who have alternative stories not necessarily heard yet.”
Chancellor Rebecca Chopp recently released a statement with similar sentiments on the summit’s website.
“In an organization so reliant on its people, creating a diverse and inclusive community isn’t only the right thing to do; it’s critical to the successful implementation of our mission,” she said. “The greatest challenges facing us in the century ahead are incredibly complex and will require diverse teams who can work collaboratively and innovatively.”
The summit kicked off on the evening of Jan. 22 with a panel covering the incidents of racial injustice that have recently occurred in the United States. The panel focused mainly on the Michael Brown shooting and uproar in Ferguson, Missouri, and featured a plethora of statements from five speakers concerning both what has happened in the past and what can be done in the future to create change. After about an hour of discussion, attendees were invited to ask the panelists questions.
Jan. 23 included several workshops, which focused on inclusion of diversity and how to respond to recent racial issues. Topics within these workshops included “Social Justice in Social Media: Raising Your Virtual Voice,” “Why Religious Voices Matter: From Selma to Ferguson” and “Black Souls In Ivory Towers: 50 Years Since Selma and We Are Still Not Free.” The workshops took place in various classrooms in Sturm Hall, and were led by students, professors and other professionals from outside of the DU community.
That afternoon, the Estlow International Center for Journalism and New Media hosted a luncheon where The Anvil of Freedom Award for outstanding journalism and democracy was given to keynote speaker Michelle D. Bernard. Bernard is the chairman, founder, president and CEO of the Bernard Center for Women, Politics & Public Policy and appears frequently on MSNBC and other television networks as a political and legal analyst.
The day concluded with a Call To Action reception, which recapped the event and encouraged participants one more time to walk away with a plan for change using everything they learned. With that, the 14th annual Diversity Summit came to an end.
