In the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a group called the Social Justice Training Institute visited Colorado College to help the campus enact social justice within the community.
The Institute was founded on the group’s goal for “full and equal participation of all groups in society,” and their training sessions aim to take further steps towards achieving that goal. Over the past few weeks, CC has hosted their own sessions for the Institute, in which both faculty and students participated.
Pearl Leonard-Rock of the Butler Center played an important role in the organization, participating in the training sessions and providing more information about the event.
“[The program is] a forum that provides support for students and faculty across the globe with social justice issues,” said Leonard-Rock. “Social justice is a process and a goal and it [the training] provides for the psychological and physical safety of community members.”
Dr. Becky Martinez conducted the training at CC. Her work concentrates on using dialogue and reflection to destroy systems of oppression. The sessions at CC provided opportunities for self-awareness and gave participants the opportunity to gain more information and insight into other members of the community.
Activities and exercises at the training sessions alternated between dialogue and reflection. Identity work and storytelling was interspersed throughout. In addition to the regular sessions, there were specific training sessions for Resident Advisors. These training sessions taught the RAs about microaggressions and how to identify them, as well as recognizing and understanding bystander behavior.
This visit from the Social Justice Training Institute was a one-time event, but Ms. Leonard-Rock was willing to comment on the campus community dialogue about the racial climate at CC, held Jan. 18.
“This dialogue discussed how we will build upon the Social Justice Training Institute visit, because the sessions went really well,” said Martinez. She later added that she hopes CC will remain involved with the institution.
In addition to the training sessions, one of the co-founders of the organization paid CC a visit on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Rev. Dr. Jamie Washington gave the First Monday talk for Block 5. His presentation was a part of an entire day full of events on the CC campus that honored Martin Luther King, Jr. and the progress of social justice.