Come Together for Unity Days
“Responsible Citizenship At Home and Abroad” is the theme for this year’s Unity Days, which will feature the opening of the New World Resource Center and keynote speaker Donna Brazile. The annual event, held this year on October 14 and 15, brings students, faculty and staff together, and celebrates all the diverse elements that make up the Rider community, explained Don Brown, director of Multicultural Affairs.
Brown said Unity Days is student-led and driven, and involves the leadership of 10 cultural groups, Student Government Association and the Student Entertainment Council (SEC). Uchenna Duru, an M.B.A. graduate assistant for the Center for Multicultural Affairs, is just one of the many students involved in Unity Days.
“Unity Days is for the Rider students to come together, hear keynote speakers and discuss issues that occur on campus and the world at large through workshops,” Duru explained. “We gear these events toward the students and give students an opportunity to have conversations.”
Students will be able to continue the dialogue in the New World Resource Center, which is located on the second floor of the BLC, next to the Commuter Lounge. Years ago, students used to gather to discuss diversity in the Multicultural Lounge. However, due to campus renovations, the space was lost. The University Diversity Council, composed of student leaders of cultural groups, recently pushed to implement a new center on campus. The name of the New World Resource Center describes a new vision of the world that encompasses various cultures, ethnicities, religions, sexual orientation and gender, explained Brown.
The opening of the center will kick off Unity Days on Tuesday, October 14, from 4 to 6 p.m. in BLC 134. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will begin at 4:30 p.m. and be officiated by President Mordechai Rozanski. That evening at 6:30, Brazile, the chair of the Democratic National Committee’s Voting Rights Institute and adjunct professor at Georgetown University, will speak on the topics of race, gender and the 2008 Presidential election.
On Wednesday, October 15, the campus community is invited to the Multicultural Lunch with The Steel Kings Band, which will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the Cranberry’s Patio (rain location: Cavalla Room). Following the lunch, a series of workshops focusing on domestic and international issues will be conducted:
- Belize It: Service Through Action
Led by Uchenna Duru and Rob Liao, Rider Community Scholar
1:10 to 2:40 p.m., Commuter Lounge in the BLC - Katrina Three Years Later: Where Are We Now?
Courtney Medley, president of Intercultural Greek Council, and Todd Stoner, The College of New Jersey Bonner Representative
1:10 to 2:40 p.m., BLC 257 - Privacy Issues: Facebook and Beyond
Jessica Bills, president of Gay Straight Alliance, James Castagnera, associate provost and associate counsel, and Larry Johnson, associate dean of students and Westminster Choir College student affairs
3 to 4 p.m., BLC 257 - Darfur: What Can We Do NOW For Darfur?
Matt Semel, Hillel board member, and Dr. Harvey R. Kornberg, associate professor of Political Science department
3 to 4 p.m., Commuter Lounge in the BLC
The Multicultural Food Fest, sponsored by the SEC, will be on October 15 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Cavalla Room of the BLC. Unity Days will culminate with Building the Dream Working Together for Social Change from 7 to 10 p.m. in the Commuter Lounge of the BLC. The event features speaker Arthur Romano, a certified nonviolence trainer and accomplished international educator who has worked globally to challenge violence and promote peace.
“We want students to leave the experience with knowledge and initiate ways that we, student leaders, can solve many of the issues that impact us domestically and internationally,” said Duru about the two-day event.
International Week 2008 is scheduled to follow Unity Days and runs from October 17 through October 24. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held for the Center for International Education, formerly the Office of International Programs. The event starts at 4:45 p.m. and Dr. Donald Steven, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, will cut the ribbon at 5 p.m. The center, located on the second floor of the BLC, in the same hallway as the World Resource Center, will focus on study abroad opportunities, services for international students and special events for exchange students.
