Diversity Week Features Events, Exhibits

The Center for Diversity, Pluralism and Inclusion is leading the effort to coordinate the week, with assistance provided by other offices and individuals on campus.

"Opening our minds to new perspectives, engaging in both difficult and sometimes uncomfortable conversations will continue to make SUNY Plattsburgh a welcoming teaching and learning environment for all," said President John Ettling.

Available all week is a "Dreaming of Timbuctoo Exhibit" in the Angell College Center, a book display in the Feinberg Library and a "Diverse Collage Exhibit" in the Myers Fine Arts Building.

The week’s events include:

Monday, Feb. 29

CDPI Faculty Panel Discussion: Diversity and Social Justice in Academics both Now and Later

5-7 p.m.

Cardinal Lounge, Angell College Center

A faculty panel of SUNY Plattsburgh’s deans will discuss the campus’ commitment to diversity and how their divisions are preparing students for future careers. Panelist will have 7-10 minute presentations to discuss each division, which will then be followed by an open discussion in response to the presentations.

Sponsored by the Center for Diversity, Pluralism and Inclusion.

Tuesday, March 1

11 a.m.-1 p.m. and 3-5 p.m.

Meeting Rooms 1 -8 and Amnesty Room, Angell College Center

Explore the oppression that has and does exist all around us. This experience will help you examine and reflect upon oppression from an international, national, local, and personal level. You will have the opportunity to do both a self-guided tour and be part of a group conversation to explore ways to overcome oppression.

Sponsored by QSU, O.W.E., Native Peoples Association, Alpha Phi Alpha, Phi Mu Delta fraternity, Lambda Pi Eta, the Outing Club, Housing and Residence Life, and the Office of the Vice President of Student Affairs.

Film: “The Normal Heart.” CDPI Film and W.R.A.P. Series

6 p.m.

Room 200, Yokum Lecture Hall

Film about the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City during the early 1980s. The film focuses on the United States’ sexual politics as gay activists and their allies fight to expose the truth about HIV-AIDS. Discussion follows the film.

Sponsored by Safe Space and the Center for Diversity, Pluralism and Inclusion.

Wednesday, March 2

Luau

4–8 p.m.

Clinton Dining Hall

Sponsored by Campus Dining.

Autism Speaks U: Erase the R Word

6-9 p.m.

Angell College Center

Autism Speaks U SUNY Plattsburgh is engaging in the initiative to educate and bring awareness to campus about the use of the R-word. Its mission is to stop the misuse of the word "retarded" on campus because it wrongly affects many different people who struggle with educational, environmental, social and behavioral disabilities. Includes tabling in the ACC with activities to open up discussion on the misuse of this word.

Sponsored by Autism Speaks U.

Lawrence Ross: Know Better, Do Better: College, Racism and YOU

8 p.m.

Warren Ballrooms, Angell College Center.

Program centers on informing students about the history of campus racism, how to prevent it, and what you should do about it. The lecture is blunt, challenging, entertaining, and even funny at times. The audience is encouraged to critically think about racism as they see it.

Sponsored by Fraternity and Sorority Life, Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, Interfraternity Council, Inter-Sorority Council.

Thursday, March 3

Theater of the Oppressed NYC

2-4 p.m.

Champlain Valley Hall Commons

Sophie Nimmannit of Theater of the Oppressed NYC will offer three workshops designed to empower the participants to become catalysts for change in their lives and communities. The workshops include games, exercises and improvisations to uncover the many possible alternatives to discrimination and oppression. No registration required. Wear comfortable clothes.

Sponsored by the President’s Office and English Department.

Dr. James Loewen: Lies My Teacher Told Me About Race Relations

6-8 p.m.

Krinovitz Recital Hall, Hawkins Hall

Bestselling author Dr. James Loewen will discuss ideas and facts in U.S. history often believed to be true but which are, in fact, false. At his talk, Loewen will show how this history that is taken for granted to be true “often turns out not to be true.” In the process, he offers some ways to rethink the past so it becomes more interesting as well as accurate.

Sponsored by the President’s Office, Plattsburgh College Foundation, College Auxiliary Services, Alumni Association, Fitness Center, Center for Diversity, Pluralism and Inclusion, History Association, Department of History, and the Student Association.

Friday, March 4

Theater of the Oppressed NYC

10 a.m.-noon; 1:30-3:30 p.m.

Champlain Valley Hall Commons

Sophie Nimmannit of Theater of the Oppressed NYC will offer three workshops designed to empower the participants to become catalysts for change in their lives and communities. The workshops include games, exercises and improvisations to uncover the many possible alternatives to discrimination and oppression. No registration required. Wear comfortable clothes.

Sponsored by the President’s Office, Plattsburgh College Foundation, and English Department.

Alpha Women, Beta Men

4-6 p.m.

Room 202, Yokum Lecture Hall

In many cultures, men are viewed as the breadwinners and are supposed to make more money than their women counterparts. Today, these ideas are still reflected in the gender pay gap — women still make less than men. This program will explore perspectives of the gender differences in the workplace.

Sponsored by the National Association of Black Accountants , and Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

Saturday, March 5

You Matter

1:30-3:30 p.m.

Warren Ballrooms

Angell College Center

Sponsored by the Title IX Office.

Other activities throughout the week include:

Dreaming of Timbuctoo Exhibit

7 a.m.-midnight Sunday-Thursday

7 a.m. Friday-1 a.m. Saturday

10 a.m. Saturday-1 a.m. Sunday

Second Floor

Angell College Center

The “Dreaming of Timbuctoo” Exhibition celebrates a bright page of Adirondack and African-American history when black and white abolitionists worked together to win equal voting rights for black New Yorkers through a radical land distribution scheme. Hailed in its time as “a scheme of justice and benevolence”, it involved the give-away of 120,000 Adirondack acres to 3,000 black men from nearly every corner of the state.  Its proponents—Frederick Douglass, Henry Highland Garnet, Gerrit Smith and others—aimed to undercut a ruling that since 1821 had denied voting rights to black New Yorkers with less than $250 in real property.

A John Brown Lives! production, “Dreaming of Timbuctoo” roots a chapter in the national struggle for civil and political rights in a black farm colony in the Adirondacks in fifteen years before the Civil War.

Sponsored by the Center for Diversity, Pluralism and Inclusion and John Brown Lives!

Feinberg Library Book Display

Sunday: Noon-midnight

Monday-Thursday: 7:30 a.m.-midnight

Friday: 7:30 a.m.-8 p.m.

Saturday: 11 a.m.-8 p.m.

Feinberg Library is pleased to present a selection of books in honor of Diversity Week. The selection includes materials related to all kinds of diversity, including but not limited to: race, sexual orientation, gender identity, culture & ethnicity, religion, age and disability. Feinberg Library remains committed to providing access to materials that represent diverse voices and experiences in literature and on our campus.

Diversity Collage Exhibit

Myers Fine Arts Building wall near Burke Gallery

Myers Fine Arts Building Hours

7 a.m.-10 p.m.

An evolving exhibit of 2D submissions that celebrates the visible and non-visible differences among our campus community.  New submissions will be added daily to help stimulate public dialogue and promote deeper understanding of the diverse individual identities at SUNY Plattsburgh.