Social Justice, International Sports Expert to Visit K

A world-renowned expert on social justice and its role in international sports will visit Stetson Chapel at Kalamazoo College on Monday, Nov. 4.

Social Justice and International Sports Expert Richard Lapchick
Social justice and international sports expert Richard Lapchick will visit Kalamazoo College on Monday, Nov. 4.

Richard Lapchick, the endowed chair and director of the DeVos Sports Business Management Program at the University of Central Florida and the president of the Institute for Sport and Social Justice (ISSJ), will conduct a conversation about sports, justice and activism with Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership Director Lisa Brock. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. before the event, “Just Sport: A Conversation on Sports, Justice and Activism with Dr. Richard Lapchick,” begins at 7:30 p.m.

Lapchick founded the Center for the Study of Sport in Society in 1984 at Northeastern University. He served as its director for 17 years and is now its director emeritus. The center has attracted national attention to its efforts ensuring the education of athletes from junior high school through the professional ranks. The center’s Project TEAMWORK was called “America’s most successful violence prevention program” by public opinion analyst Lou Harris. The project won the Peter F. Drucker Foundation Award as the nation’s most innovative nonprofit program and was named by the Clinton Administration as a model for violence prevention.

Lapchick also helped form the National Consortium for Academics and Sport, which is now the ISSJ, in 1985. Nationally, ISSJ athletes have worked with nearly 19.9 million young people in the school-outreach and community-service program, which focused on teaching youths how to improve race relations, develop conflict-resolution skills, prevent gender violence and avoid drug and alcohol abuse.  They collectively donated more than 22 million hours of service while member colleges donated more than $300 million in tuition assistance.

Lapchick has authored 17 books, received 10 honorary doctorates, and is a regular columnist for ESPN.com and The Sports Business Journal. He has written more than 600 articles, has given more than 2,900 public speeches, and has appeared several times on Good Morning America, Face the Nation, The Today Show, ABC World News, NBC Nightly News, The CBS Evening News, CNN and ESPN. From the sports boycott against apartheid to exposing the connection between sports and human trafficking, he has spoken before Congress, and at the United Nations, the European Parliament and the Vatican.

For more information on the event, please call 269.337.7398 or visit the Arcus Center on Facebook.

Arcus Center Invites Public to With/Out-¿Borders? Events

The public is invited to join the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership for two events related to its With/Out-¿Borders? gathering, which is scheduled for Oct. 8-15.

The opening ceremony is slated for 5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 10, at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, 205 Monroe St. A community breakfast is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 11, in the Hornet Suite at K’s Athletic Fields Complex, 1600 W. Michigan Ave. Register for either event through email at acsjl@kzoo.edu.

With/Out-¿Borders?
Sunni Patterson, Denenge Akpem and Shannon Haupt participate in a ritual performance of release and healing during the 2016 With/Out – ¿Borders? Afrofuturism breakout session “Breaking the Legacy, Conjuring Futures.”

The third With/Out-¿Borders? invitational gathering will bring together land activists who approach social movement work in small grassroots organizations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, South Africa, Canada, Colombia, Mexico and the Pacific Islands. They will discuss how land is essential to indigenous sovereignty movements, contested through forced dislocation, and an asset for strength and nurturance.

“The activists coming to Kalamazoo in October are engaged in some of the most effective and forward-thinking work around land sovereignty and protection in the world,” Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership Executive Director Mia Henry said. “We are honored to have the opportunity to use our resources to uplift and strengthen the work of each of our guests, living into our mission of capacity building on a global level.”

The purpose of the With/Out-¿Borders? gathering is to:

  • unite global grassroots activists who envision a world free from oppression while actively working toward that vision;
  • create an environment where activists can learn from and support each other; and
  • develop deep and meaningful relationships between the Kalamazoo College community, these activists and their work.

The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College develops and sustains leaders in human rights and social justice through education and capacity building. Kalamazoo College, founded in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1833, is a nationally recognized liberal arts college and the creator of the K-Plan, which emphasizes rigorous scholarship, experiential learning, independent research and international and intercultural engagement.

For more information on the With/Out-¿Borders? gathering or either of its public events, contact Bailey Mead at 269-337-7398 or bailey.mead@kzoo.edu.

Shared Grant to Proactively Prevent Sexual Violence

Kalamazoo College is receiving nearly $300,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice through a shared grant to proactively prevent domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking on campus.

K is the only Michigan institution and one of just a few small private schools among 60 colleges and universities nationwide to receive part of the $18 million being distributed. K’s portion, totaling $298,698, will:

  • create a Campus Coordinated Community Response Team;
  • expand training for campus safety officers and Title IX investigators;
  • expand victim services;
  • hire a full-time project coordinator who will focus on culturally relevant prevention efforts;
  • further enhance the College’s focus on student safety; and
  • support a K partnership with the Kalamazoo YWCA and the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety. The partnership will bring a victim advocate to campus for 20 hours a week and formalize response to incidents that involve students in the city.

“This grant is very competitive, so we’re excited to have this additional funding and support,” said Ellen Lassiter Collier, K’s Title IX coordinator and director of gender equity. She added documented endorsements of existing efforts from students, faculty and staff likely were determining factors for the Department of Justice in securing the shared grant.

“This kind of grant traditionally goes to public schools,” Lassiter Collier said. “That speaks to the work the College is already doing and the support we receive from across campus.”

K’s existing efforts include programs such as Green Dot, which offers bystander training that statistically reduces the likelihood of dating and domestic violence, stalking and sexual assault. Green Dot at K is funded through the State of Michigan Campus Sexual Assault Grant Program, which gave the College about $18,600 in 2016 and $41,800 in 2017.

The Department of Justice grant, though, will enhance such efforts and others, including the creation of targeted online training programs for students, to ensure the programs and training materials are culturally competent considering K’s diversity, and relevant to its student experiences such as study abroad.

With study abroad, for example, “We want students to know that the College is still a source of support and potential investigation should something happen abroad,” Lassiter Collier said.

For more information on the grant from the Department of Justice, visit its website.

Choral Concert Centers Around Love Affairs, Obsessions

The College Singers, a 24-voice choral ensemble that specializes in social justice-themed programming, will perform its concert titled “EXCESS: Shadows of Pleasure and Power” in two free, public performances in Kalamazoo. The first will take place at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 30, at First Congregational Church and the second at 3 p.m. Sunday, June 3, in the Dalton Theater of the Light Fine Arts Building at Kalamazoo College.

College Singers in concert
The College Singers will perform its concert titled “EXCESS: Shadows of Pleasure and Power” in two free, public performances May 30 and June 3 at First Congregational Church and the Dalton Theater at Kalamazoo College respectively.

In the wake of an epidemic-level crisis around opioid abuse in the United States, the program explores genres from Broadway to folk, and from Renaissance songs to vocal jazz, each touching on those experiences that can enhance life in moderate quantities, but which quickly become destructive when taken to extremes. Chris Ludwa, director of the College Singers, described it as entertaining and educational, suggesting that audience members will experience a range of emotions as the concepts of indulgence, self-control and balance are explored as part of the human condition.

The program will touch on the love affair people tend to have with caffeine, alcohol, sex, power and relationships. There will be music from the musicals “Wicked” and “Chicago,” madrigals of Monteverdi, soul music by Sam Cooke, and more.

Both concerts are supported by a free-will offering to work toward the goal of local and Midwest touring to share these social justice concerts with an ever-increasing audience.

The College Singers includes music majors and non-music majors, offering a different approach to choral singing. Ludwa calls it “singing with a higher purpose,” a hallmark for which he is well known in the Midwest.

For more information on the concerts, contact Ludwa at cludwa@kzoo.edu or 231-225-8877.

Organizer, Educator Mariame Kaba to Lead MLK Day Convocation

Greater Kalamazoo is asked to consider this: What is your position in times of challenge and controversy? Join in a celebration of Martin Luther King’s legacy at a convocation that begins at 10:50 a.m. Monday at Stetson Chapel with organizer, educator and curator Mariame Kaba.

Kaba to Speak at Stetson Chapel
Join in a Monday celebration of Martin Luther King’s legacy at a convocation that begins at 10:50 a.m. at Stetson Chapel with Mariame Kaba.

Kaba’s work focuses on ending violence, dismantling the prison industrial complex, transformative justice and supporting youth leadership development. She is the author of many articles and publications on criminal justice, abolition and ending the mass incarceration of minorities in our country. She dedicates herself to working with youths and empowering them for leadership. Kaba is also the founding director of Project NIA, a grassroots organization dedicated to ending youth incarceration, and the co-founder of the Chicago Freedom School. Hear Kaba’s Thursday interview on WMUK’s WestSouthwest.

Tamara Morrison ’20, an Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership student liaison, will present an opening address. The convocation is open to the public. A brunch and workshop will follow for students who RSVP’d in advance.

At 7 p.m. Monday in 103 Dewing Hall, Intercultural Student Life will sponsor a public showing of the movie “Gook.” In the movie, Eli and Daniel, two Korean American brothers who own a struggling women’s shoe store, have an unlikely friendship with 11-year-old Kamilla. On the first day of the 1992 L.A. riots, the trio must defend the store while contemplating the meaning of family and thinking about personal dreams and the future. Popcorn and pizza will be provided.