The University of Wisconsin fifth annual Plan 2008 forum will be held Monday at Memorial Union, offering lectures and discussions about creating a more diverse campus environment.
All students, faculty, staff and community members are invited and encouraged to attend the free sessions to gather information, discuss what UW is doing and find out how they might improve their efforts to diversify all aspects of campus life.
“The basic theme is: what are the missing pieces as we move forward? What needs to happen if we hope to achieve our goals?” Bernice Durand, professor of physics and associate vice chancellor for diversity and climate, said. “We are looking for practical advice on how to make it happen.”
Durand will kick off the meeting after registration at 7:30 a.m. She will speak with UW Provost Peter Spear and her co-chair of the Plan 2008 Diversity Oversight Committee and professor of Afro-American studies Michael Thornton. Refreshments will be available until 8:15 a.m., the beginning of the opening session.
“Turnout in the past has been good, but it can always be larger,” Thornton admitted. “This forum is great because we don’t get a lot of chances to discuss these types of issues on campus.”
Professor Peggy McIntosh of Wellesley College and her associates, Victor Lewis and Hugh Vasquez, will present a plenary session of privilege and social justice after the introductory comments. Lewis and Vasquez appear in the internationally acclaimed social sciences documentary, “The Color of Fear.”
From 11 a.m. to noon, the forum will consist of 10 concurrent sessions, leaving individuals to choose their topic of most interest.
Lunch hour will take place as Spear and his panel discuss diversity in public and private workforces. The secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, Michael Morgan, Andy Smiltneek of Kimberly Clark and SBC representative Dextra Hadnot will give presentations.
The forum will conclude around 4 p.m. after a question and answer session with Chancellor John Wiley and other campus chancellors and deans.
The forum’s organizers encourage faculty members who teach Ethnic Studies courses on Monday, Sept. 27, to have their students attend the forum in lieu of regular classes. Those students who attend should bring their student identification cards.
Participants can also voice their opinions and offer solutions to the “missing pieces” of the university’s diversity issues.
“I am excited for the event, but the event is just a kick-off,” Thornton revealed. “I am more excited about what will happen after the forum, because the change [is] what it is all about.”
