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Student Association will host its first Multicultural Week from Oct. 19 to 24, an Assembly member said.

The week, which SA’s committee on Diversity Affairs has been planning, will include themes of unity, arts, race and medicine, and activism, said Candice Ogbu and Taylor John, co-chairs of the committee.

Throughout the week, students will share personal testimonies about microaggressions, or indirect or subtle acts of discrimination against a marginalized group, they have experienced both on and off campus, Ogbu and John said. SA will also host a lecture about SU’s position on ancestral lands of the Onondaga Nation, and a panel on using poetry as a platform to express multicultural awareness, they said.

“We’re excited to celebrate the many cultures that make up our Orange family,” said SA President Justine Hastings.

This year specifically has been politically tumultuous, both on SU’s campus and across the country, Ogbu said. Multicultural Week is meant address the #NotAgainSU and Black Lives Matter movements as well as difficulties people of color face in the professional world. #NotAgainSU, a movement led by Black SU students, led a series of protests about the university’s handling of racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic incidents on campus last fall and spring.

Despite COVID-19 restrictions, Ogbu and John said they are trying to make Multicultural Week as accessible as possible. The week will include dancing and singing performances from student organizations, many of which will be virtual and recorded, they said.

“We hope this week will create a standard for the university,” Ogbu said. “Something we (want) is to show awareness and accountability.”

Ogbu and John are also partnering with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion to host a panel workshop about equal opportunity and working with the College of Law for a lecture about racial disparities.

“(We want) students to learn more about different resources the university provides,” Ogbu said.

Ogbu and John said they want Multicultural Week to be a comprehensive learning experience for all students and that they will learn about diversity in a more positive light.

Published on October 12, 2020 at 12:22 am

Contact Alexandra: azpollac@syr.edu