With a campus as culturally rich as SFUAD’s, some are inclined to think that diversity is not of great concern. It’s a notion with which Dr. Corine Frankland, chair of the Liberal Arts Department, respectfully disagrees. That is why she is spearheading the diversity initiative: an on-campus movement seeking to further diversity and unite students and faculty on related issues. The first step for the initiative will be to create a mission statement. “With a diversity statement, it helps us in what our mission is, our programming, what type of climate we want to create here for our students, and I think, also, there is a piece of recognizing the importance of diversity,” Franklin says. “The big piece [is that] we live in a culture where people are so identified with their differences and their specific identity, and while that is certainly valid…it also can create sort of small special interest groups that get so unipolar on their issue that they can’t see how they are part of a larger group working together.” Contributing faculty member of the Liberal Arts department Ryan Henson shares Frankland’s sentiment: “I think there have been so many different sub-populations created now that are so focused on one aspect of diversity, one aspect of culture, that it robs diversity of perspective and culture has been missed.” Henson is the faculty advisor for the Black Student Union. He looks forward to the prospect of working within the diversity initiative to raise awareness about what culture and diversity actually mean and approaching these concerns from a holistic and humanist standpoint. One of the first events being undertaken by the initiative is this year’s campus celebration of Martin Luther King Day. The event will include musical performances, a reading of King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, and a panel by the Black Student Union that will address the ways in which the issues Martin Luther King worked for are reflective of the Black Lives Matter movement. Henson feels that this sort of presentation is important in the current political climate and in a time when entire groups are ostracized for the actions of a few. Henson went on to describe his feelings about a lack of understanding among people of all groups and the way it hinders culture: “I’ve experienced this a lot working with the Black Student Union. I have students who have come from Houston, which is heavily populated with black individuals and they come here and they’re a very small subset of the overall New Mexico population. They’re like, ‘I don’t know how to deal with this, I don’t know how to talk to anyone, I don’t know how to fit in.’ You have to challenge them to think of other areas that culture exists. You have to say, ‘let’s not look at race, let’s not look at ethnicity, let’s look at your artistic culture.'” Another group that will be working within the diversity initiative is Colors, SFUAD’s LGBTQIA+ group. Sierra Parson, the access services librarian in Fogelson Library and the faculty advisor for Colors, believes that the purpose of a diversity initiative is twofold: first, for involved individuals to expand knowledge and understanding of each other in order to collaborate more effectively; and second, to expand knowledge and understanding of privilege and how the power of privilege operates in particularly destructive ways. Parson believes that this type of active awareness is vital in educational environments; that students are more productive when they feel don’t feel dismissed and uncomfortable. “I guess my main point is that I would like to see a shift institutionally towards anti oppression awareness, and advocacy for students’ diverse needs and ideas, ” Parson says. “As educators and administrators, I think we’re in unique positions of authority to make a positive difference with and towards our students, and if we’re irresponsible with that authority, then we’re doing a great disservice.” Parson...
Gender Neutral Hall Snafus...
posted by Charli Renken
After the success of last year’s gender neutral hall, LGBTQ+ students on campus were excited to return to an inclusive living space. However, due to the closing of LaSalle, miscommunication and a push to fill residence halls to capacity, the gender-neutral hall this year has been less than ideal. Last year there were two bathrooms in St. Michaels B200, both completely gender neutral. The hall was designated only for those who had signed up for the hall. The “door decs” had been carefully made to include the student’s preferred names rather than their legal ones. This year, however, things have changed. The hall was moved from St. Michael’s B200 to B100, one floor below and, while there are three bathrooms, the only gender-neutral one is a single-use facility. There are also many students who didn’t sign up to be in the gender-neutral dorm who were placed there after the closing of LaSalle, making the hall a “hybrid of what it used to be,” says Housing Director Connor Nelson. While most residents feel that DeAndre Montoya is doing a good job with the hall, it was not communicated to him that he would be the hall’s RA until what many feel was last minute. Because of this, “door decs” had residents’ legal names, rather than their preferred names, something that is very important to transgender students. While this wasn’t Montoya’s fault, many students felt anxiety over the decorations. “[When I chose to live in the gender-neutral dorm] I was expecting that the bathroom signs wouldn’t still be up,” George says. This is one of the major problems the hall is having this year. With only one gender-neutral bathroom for transgender and non-binary students to use, it’s hard for them to feel comfortable in their own...
COLORS
posted by Rene Bjorheim
Jackalope photographers capture the colors on the Santa Fe University of Art and Design campus.
Pride Week Wrap-up
posted by Charli Renken
Despite a rocky start due to equipment malfunction and bad weather, Pride Week was a big success. From Thursday April 16 to Sunday April 19, the campus was buzzing with Pride related activity.
Pride Week!
posted by Charli Renken
Pride Week kicks off today with an open mic this evening, April 16, in the Forum at 7 p.m. In addition to the open mic, students will be performing skits, plays and poetry. The Screen will also be showing “The Birdcage” tonight at 10 p.m with free pizza. Sponsored by COLORS, Pride week will continue with events happening each day, ending Sunday, April 19.
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