Over 400 students from across the country gathered to learn about and discuss issues pertaining to race, the LGBT community and women’s rights at the three-day “Building Unity” multicultural conference.
The conference, the largest multicultural affairs conference in the state, is sponsored by United Council and takes place at a different campus each year. Diversity was a key issue of the conference, ASM chair Jessica Miller said.
“The conference makes the issue of diversity concrete,” Miller said. “What are the issues, how we should direct them, and the impact they have. Why diversity is good in non-abstract terms.”
ASM diversity liaison Jennifer Epps said “Building Unity” has two goals. The first goal is to give students a chance to educate themselves about issues including prejudice and diversity. The second is to give non-traditional groups such as multicultural students, students of color, women and LGBT students a forum for personal connections.
“The conference is a resource for students to network with one another about what they are doing across the state,” Epps said.
The conference’s theme, “Solidarity and Struggle,” reflects these goals, Epps said. The title is based on the idea of building coalitions between students and exercising solidarity through the discussion of diversity issues.
The conference aims to meet the goals by providing a variety of activities that encourage personal connections, such as workshops, discussions, lectures and performances.
Friday night, the conference offered a large group discussion followed by a performance by Denise Uyehara called “Hello Sex Kitty.”
Uyehara spoke and performed about what it is like to be Asian and bisexual. She performed a skit and participated in a discussion following the performance.
A variety of hour-long workshops were scattered throughout the day Saturday. The goal of the workshop was to spur small group discussions. The workshops ranged in topics of sexuality, race, gender and diversity issues.
One workshop required students of color and allies of students of color to meet separately. They discussed ways to improve their relationship and coordinate their efforts.
Keith Boykin, the keynote speaker for the Building Unity conference, spoke on Saturday night about his experience being a special assistant to President Clinton and the highest-ranking openly gay man to work in a presidential administration.
“Boykin did a phenomenal job, I was really impressed,” Miller said. “The things he said were really moving, and I know they touched a lot of people.”
In the wake of the attacks of Sept. 11, diversity and race issues have become increasingly important on college campuses across the nation.
“Hate crimes are going up at an alarming rate across the country,” Epps said. “Two hate crimes in Wisconsin against Asian Americans are being federally prosecuted. Also, five hate crimes have been reported on this campus since the attacks, and these are only the reported ones.”
The conference drew a large audience and successfully perpetuated its ideas, Miller said.
“It was a major success,” she said. “A ton of people were there, and there were so many workshops exposing ideas about coalitioning, diversifying, and working on issues. There was a lot of education for people this weekend.”