Two new campus diversity initiatives, A.D.D.R.E.S.S. and the Inter-Group Dialogue Program, are gaining prominence at the College by trying to initiate open conversations about race.
A.D.D.R.E.S.S. is a currently unchartered student club that organizes programs to encourage dialogue about race. On Thursday, A.D.D.R.E.S.S. gathered students in Baxter House to discuss the group’s whiteboard campaign, which displayed portraits of students defining what race meant to them.
On September 11, A.D.D.R.E.S.S. held a similar event to promote discussion of the protests in Ferguson that occured in response to the shooting of Michael Brown.
The group intends to facilitate similar conversations on a monthly basis.
“For me, a big part of being a part of A.D.D.R.E.S.S. is bringing the conversations we have in our meetings to my friends, to my professors, to people I’m talking to on campus,” said Penelope Lusk ’17.
The Inter-Group Dialogue Program trains students to facilitate conversations about race. The first training session for accepted applicants occurred this Monday, and the training will continue for seven weeks.
“I think part of the reason that people are on such different pages often is that we just don’t talk about race. It’s uncomfortable,” said Catalina Gallagher ’16, who contributed to the development of the Inter-Group Dialogue Program.
Gallagher and Elina Zhang ’16, Student Director of Education Awareness, worked for Dean Leana Amaez over the summer to develop the Inter-Group Dialogue Program.
“Bowdoin, to many students, is not a very diverse campus, and oftentimes they can feel like they’re representative of their ethnicity or their race,” Zhang said.
Zhang and Gallagher modeled the Inter-Group Dialogue Program on a similar program at Hamilton. The program originated at the University of Michigan as a course students can take for credit.
“We need to learn how to create safe spaces for everyone to join the conversation and learn something from it, whether you’re a student of color or not,” Amaez said.
These initiatives began in response to a bias incident in April which involved a student wearing a Native American headdress as a costume. A.D.D.R.E.S.S. organized a teach-in event that included professors, Native American students and the student involved in the incident.
“There is something unique about the energy right now around this… There seems to be a willingness to enter into these conversations now,” Amaez said.
Amaez created an initiative this semester that gathers first-generation college students and professors who were first-generation students. This group has held one dinner so far in late September, which included about 15 staff and faculty members, some upperclassmen and about 35 first-years.
Other initiatives include a continuation of the annual retreat for first generation and multicultural first-year students.
“It’s been really valuable to me to get to have conversations about race on Bowdoin’s campus and also in the world,” said Lusk.