Honors College expands its anti-racist discussion initiative intended to build community

Colleen Rich — Fri, 03 Sep 2021 16:46:50 +0000

Honors College expands its anti-racist discussion initiative intended to build community Colleen Rich Fri, 09/03/2021 - 12:46

The “Honoring Our Community” program provides opportunities for students to have honest conversations about racial and social justice with the goal of cultivating an anti-racist culture and tighter sense of community. Photo courtesy of the Honors College

George Mason University’s Honors College has expanded an initiative launched last year to help cultivate an anti-racist community through discussion groups. The program, called “Honoring Our Community,” provides opportunities for students to have honest conversations about racial and social justice with the goal of cultivating an anti-racist culture and tighter sense of community.

“This program is important because, as a society, we desperately need more people who understand how to engage with others who don’t see the world as they do,” said Zofia Burr, dean of the Honors College and associate professor of English.

The initiative started last year, with about 40 participants from the Honors College that met once a month. This year, the program has expanded with an estimated 100 Honors College participants, all of whom will be divided into small groups of about four students. Each group will meet biweekly and have several facilitators trained to encourage student dialogue."

“Because the program is designed to be for a year, students, with the help of facilitators, have time to develop trust with each other.”

Galilea M Sejas-Machado, a junior majoring in criminology, law and society, said last year was a great experience because of how accepting her group was.

“That helped me be more vulnerable when talking about racism and oppression,” she said.

Honors College participants are divided into small groups of about four students to encourage dialogue. Photo courtesy of the Honors College

Johan Jeson, a sophomore who also participated last year, said that the program helped students learn to look within themselves.

“We thought about how we can activate change and promote a safe space for students at Mason,” said Jeson, an information technology major.

This year, facilitators include Honors College leadership, students who went through the program last year and graduate students from the College of Education and Human Development’s Diversity Research and Action Consortium.

Sam Steen, associate professor and co-academic program coordinator for Mason’s Counseling Program and director of the Diversity Research and Action Consortium, got involved last year, as he reflected on how the consortium could contribute. Last year, CEHD graduate students training to be therapists volunteered to co-facilitate groups. This year, through funding, facilitators are getting stipends.

Steen said the initiative is in its pilot stage and that they are creating a loose curriculum to help guide the sessions.

“It’s a more robust initiative this year, but we’re not finished,” said Steen. “We’re still developing it, flying the plane while building it. We’ll keep growing the initiative because it offers an important opportunity for racial healing that can happen in group spaces.”

Lauren Kane, a master’s student in Mason’s Counseling Program, helped facilitate a small group last year and signed up again this year.

“I had a really positive experience last year,” Kane said. “I was able to help students with important conversations about anti-racism and white privilege. These groups give opportunities for people to hear different perspectives on these issues which doesn’t always happen in day-to-day life.”

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President's Task Force on Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence

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anti-racism

Mason’s Honors College pursues anti-racist community through discussion program

Colleen Rich — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 09:00:12 +0000

Mason’s Honors College pursues anti-racist community through discussion program Colleen Rich Fri, 10/23/2020 - 05:00

“Honoring Our Community” is an Honors College initiative that promotes ongoing conversations among groups of students. Photo provided.

George Mason University’s Honors College launched a program this year to help cultivate an anti-racist community by creating a space in which students can discuss issues of racial and social justice. The program, called “Honoring Our Community,” involves encouraging honest conversations among groups of four or five students working with a facilitator. Students who volunteer for the program meet once a month during the academic year.

“Our goal in creating these small communities was that students would have nine months to talk to each other, ask questions of one another, and begin to understand each other’s differences,” said Honors College Dean Zofia Burr.

Burr added that to have honest conversations, “there has to be a trust built first. The students get to know each other in small groups to build that trust.”

Valentino Bryant, director of development in the Honors College, said the “Honoring Our Community” program allows for “meaningful conversations around inequality, inclusion, privilege and systemic racism.

“The Honors College is a strong community doing communal work hand-in-hand with each other, having the hard conversations,” said Bryant. More than 30 students are participating in the program. So far, the groups have met once for about an hour and a half.

President Gregory Washington has made anti-racism efforts a major goal of his tenure at Mason. In September, he announced the members of a newly formed Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force.

Bryant said that the Honors College hopes that their anti-racism program could serve as a model for anti-racist work in other areas at Mason going forward. He said that some of the students in the program this year were preparing to be facilitators next year.

Karmen Perry, University Scholar and Honors College senior majoring in sociology, said she went into the first meeting “with an open mind and heart, ready to learn from people and hoping that they could learn from me.

“We started talking right away, jumping to police brutality,” Perry said. “We ended up sharing resources with each other. I’m looking forward to watching us blossom together as a group as we learn from each other and build an environment in which we can have difficult conversations.”

Johan Jeson, a freshman majoring in information technology, agreed that the first meeting was “fruitful.”

“I’m hoping that we can continue to talk and use these programs to work on promoting change on issues of race and social justice in our community,” said Jeson.