2023 Social Justice Conference

• Conference Welcome
  James C. Wimbush, Vice President, Diversity, Equity, and Multicultural Affairs and Johnson Chair for Diversity and Leadership, Indiana University
• Opening Remarks
  Pamela Whitten, President, Indiana University
• Vocal Performance Introduction
  Charles Sykes, Director, African American Arts Institute, Indiana University
  
  “Ride on King Jesus” Arrangement by Hall Johnson and
  “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” Arrangement by Margaret Bonds
  Benjamin Gittens, Doctoral Student, Piano, Jacobs School of Music
  Shenika John Jordan, Doctoral Student, Voice, Jacobs School of Music
• Campus Host Remarks
  Rahul Shrivastav, Provost and Executive Vice President, Indiana University
• City Host Remarks
  Mary Catherine Carmichael, Deputy Mayor, City of Bloomington
• City Keynote Speaker Remarks
  Representative Park Cannon, Georgia House District 58
• Building Bridges and IU MLK Student Organization Grant
  James C. Wimbush
• Keynote Introduction
  Monica Johnson, Assistant Vice President for Diversity Education and Cross-Cultural Engagement, Indiana University
• Keynote Address
  Thema Bryant, Ph.D., professor of psychology at Pepperdine University and director of the Culture and Trauma Research Lab. Bryant has more than 20 years of experience in trauma recovery and works to raise awareness about mental health and believes it is time to shift, heal, and thrive.
• Morning Session Closing Remarks
  Monica Johnson, Assistant Vice President, Diversity Education and Cross-Cultural Engagement
  
  

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"Hands Up Act"

Travis Washington, a resident of Bloomington, Indiana, created a petition called the Hands Up Act with the goal of making it the federal law of the land. It is a petition to regulate police officers who shoot unarmed citizens to serve a mandatory 15-year prison sentence. It has more than  2.7 million signatures. To date, Michael Brown's mother, Antwon Rose's mother, Marcellis Stinnette's sister, Breonna Taylor's mother, and Jacob Blake's father signed the petition.

Presenter(s): Travis Washington, Residential Life Coordinator, IU Bloomington

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Implicit Bias in Campus Hiring: Dangers and Solutions

Participants will learn what implicit biases are as well as their causes and how implicit bias negatively affects the university hiring process as well as the university itself. Lastly, participants will learn methods to help curtail implicit bias on university search committees.

Presenter(s): James Wilkerson, Director of Staff Diversity and Equity and Deputy Title IX Coordinator, IU Southeast

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The Path to the Creation of the MLK Jr. Holiday: A Conversation with the Katie Hall Foundation

A discussion with Junifer Hall from the Katie Hall Foundation. Junifer, is the daughter of Katie Hall, the first Black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She is widely credited with sponsoring the legislation leading to efforts on the floor of the U.S. House in 1983 to make the MLK Jr. birthday a national holiday. The discussion will focus on that journey, discussing the climate at the time, players involved, and the holiday’s relevance today.

Presenter(s): James Wallace, Director, Office of Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs, IU Northwest; Junifer Hall, Katie Hall Educational Foundation, Inc.


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DEI, Social Justice, and Cancer?

Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center is pleased to present a virtual panel discussion on health disparities, equity, and social justice in cancer. We will highlight both research and current efforts toward achieving parity in education, research, risk, treatment, and survivorship to the statewide IU community.

Moderator: Dr. Ann Kimble-Hill (IUSCCC Asst. Director DEI, Asst. Research Professor of Biochemistry at IU School of Medicine)
Presenter(s): Calvin E. Roberson Jr., M.H.A., M.P.H., (Director of Operations, IUSCCC Office of Community Outreach and Engagement); Mary R. Robertson (Prevention and Screening Program Leader, IUSCCC Office of Community Outreach and Engagement); Dr. Seethal A. Jacob (Director, Pediatric Sickle Cell Program at Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, IU School of Medicine)


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Menstrual Equity

"Peer Health and Wellness Educators (PHWE) strive to teach students on campus a variety of health topics. Between working on tabling events and presenting for specific groups, we encourage people to be engaged in personal and community health. For example, speaking at the MLK Social Justice conference would allow us to discuss a topic that is not commonly spoken about. Menstrual inequity disproportionately affects people of color and people living in poverty. Speaking at the MLK Conference would give us the platform to educate individuals about the effects of menstrual poverty and how to advocate for change.

Millions of menstruating individuals struggle daily to get the products they need to keep themselves clean and taken care of while bleeding (Sommer & Mason, 2021). As something entirely out of individual control, struggling to do simple daily tasks due to pain or inability to contain period blood should never occur. Yet people struggle daily. Globally, roughly 500 million individuals have said that they do not have everything they need to manage their periods (Sommer & Mason, 2021). Lack of access is just one example of inequity for menstruating individuals. Unfortunately, statistics like these are discouraging and barely begin to expose the inequity in our society.

The goal of presenting at the MLK Conference is to educate and empower students and provide steps to increase the accessibility of menstrual products, encourage legislative change to require free high-quality products, and empower our fellow students to take action."

Presenter(s): Serenity Seigel, IU Student Health Center, IU Bloomington; Amber Nacyk, IU Student Health Center, IU Bloomington; McKenna Love, IU Student Health Center

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The BoDEI Issue: An Exploration of How Body Image Exists Prominently in DEI Struggles

The bodies we occupy are consistently ridiculed by society for a plethora of reasons including race, ability, size, and more. However, when we discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion body image does not surface, directly, in these discussions. Across social media, the conversation around “body positivity” is often co-opted by those who do not exist in the margins, further silencing the experiences of those who are underrepresented. Body image has an impact on everyone and historically has impacted others in far more critical ways. This session will explore the impacts of body image and the unsolicited negative narratives associated with these experiences and the importance of including the body in DEI efforts.

Presenter(s): Ellise Smith, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, IUPUI

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Fighting for Justice in a Tumultuous World

This session details the work the IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center (CRHC) has been doing for the past decade to embody Indiana University’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Founded by IU South Bend students, the CRHC is a community-facing and engaged center that operates on multiple levels to work collaboratively with community partners in the fight for social justice. The presentation will share the history of the CRHC and the work it is involved in to address issues ranging from police reform, housing inequities, healthcare disparities, strengthening K-12 public education, and advocating for restorative justice practices.

Presenter(s): Darryl Heller, Assistant Professor, Women’s and Gender Studies; Director of the Civil Rights Heritage Center, IU South Bend

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IU Kokomo’s Pedagogical Partnership: Increasing Equity and Inclusion in the Classroom

The Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment (CTLA) and the Multicultural Center (MCC) partnered in Fall 2022 to pilot an IRB-approved program, “Pedagogical Partnerships.” In the partnerships, one faculty member was paired with one MCC Equity Ambassador (an IU Kokomo student) with the goal of increasing the inclusivity in the classroom. Through semester-long observation and discussion, the partners improved curriculum and instructional strategies in the faculty member's chosen course. This session will describe the evidence-based structure of the partnership; the desired outcomes of the pilot; and initial outcomes achieved. It will also include first-person accounts from two pairs of student-faculty partners as to their experience in the pilot.

Presenter(s): Julie Saam, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Director of the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment, Professor of Education, IU Kokomo; Tess Barker, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, IU Kokomo; Naomi Jones, Lecturer of Nursing, IU Kokomo; Brandi Keith, Adjunct Professor of Sociology and Student Success, IU Kokomo; Alex Smith, Equity Ambassador, IU Kokomo; Jayden Emenhiser, Equity Ambassador, IU Kokomo


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Social Justice Education in Praxis: A Conversation with The IUPUI Social Justice Scholars

Social Justice Education serves a critical role in the formation and education of college aged students. In addition to enhancing their formation, social justice education programs, particularly those programs that are intentional to notice, name, and nurture theory as liberatory practice, have the potential to radically reshape the ways modern institutions engage and hold space for traditionally underrepresented student populations. This session will provide an overview of the Social Justice Education program at IUPUI and provide candid student and practitioner accounts of social justice education in praxis.

Presenter(s): Shonda Nicole Gladden, Specialist for Multicultural Center & Social Justice Education, IUPUI; Precious Majors, Assistant Director, Social Justice Education, IUPUI; Diamond McDonald, Graduate Assistant, Social Justice Education, IUPUI; Salma Abdi, 2022-2023 Social Justice Scholar, IUPUI; Mo Adekanye, 2022-2023 Social Justice Scholar, IUPUI; Tyler Allison, 2022-2023 Social Justice Scholar, IUPUI; Christian Brock, 2022-2023 Social Justice Scholar, IUPUI; Saloni Dixon, 2022-2023 Social Justice Scholar, IUPUI; Alston Dsouza, 2022-2023 Social Justice Scholar, IUPUI; Keion Taylor, 2022-2023 Social Justice Scholar, IUPUI; Yoselin Fonseca, 2022-2023 Social Justice Scholar, IUPUI; Camille Hedd, 2022-2023 Social Justice Scholar, IUPUI; Medha Kulkarni, 2022-2023 Social Justice Scholar, IUPUI; Anna Morgan, 2022-2023 Social Justice Scholar, IUPUI; Kaneise Mitchell-Casey, 2022-2023 Social Justice Scholar, IUPUI; Hamdi Rashid, 2022-2023 Social Justice Scholar, IUPUI; Melanie Reyes, 2022-2023 Social Justice Scholar, IUPUI; Tapiwa Mzumara, 2022-2023 Social Justice Scholar, IUPUI; Rashi Tyagi, 2022-2023 Social Justice Scholar, IUPUI; Makaela Watkins, 2022-2023 Social Justice Scholar, IUPUI; Ryan Wiley, 2022-2023 Social Justice Scholar, IUPUI; Jannae Watkins, Lead Scholar, 2022-2023 Social Justice Scholar


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