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After a year of renovations, Ladd House reintroduced itself to students on Thursday evening with a welcome event, which took up the whole first floor of the building and spilled out onto the patio. The event was complete with music, affinity group stations and a formidable line in front of the Taco the Town food truck.
Bowdoin students gathered alongside students from Colby College and Bates College at Bayside Bowl in Portland for a multicultural bowling social. The event was sponsored by the Office of the Dean of Students and spearheaded by Assistant Class Dean Roosevelt Boone, who worked at Colby for two years before joining the office this past fall.
On Wednesday, the Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) hosted Director of the Rachel Lord Center for Religious and Spiritual life Oliver Goodrich who spoke about the “You Belong” initiative and a new position in the Rachel Lord Center focused on working with Muslim students.
On Monday, the College announced that Ladd House will close following the end of the academic year and will undergo renovations. The changes to Ladd are meant to create a space for students with a multiplicity of identities to explore themselves and their lived experiences.
Over the past few years, the Center for Multicultural Life (CML) at Bowdoin has experienced significant staffing turnover. Two years ago, the Inaugural Director of Multicultural Life Benjamin Harris left the College, and after her first semester as Director of Multicultural Life, Kyra Green departed from the College.
Jhon Narváez has made it his life’s work to re-center the history of his native Cartagena, Colombia around the Black population that defined its centuries-long history as Spanish America’s largest slave port. Through working in the film industry, as well as through activism and grassroots organizing, Narváez has worked tirelessly to subvert historical narratives.
The Office of Inclusion and Diversity is spearheading a new program this semester designed to educate student leaders in promoting social justice and equity. The eight-session Social Justice Leadership Institute incorporates elements of past student workshops and campus-wide dialogue initiatives.
On Saturday, the Student Center for Multicultural Life hosted a retreat for first-generation (first-gen) first-year students living on campus. The event, which lasted the better part of the day, took place in Farley Field House, where the 26 first-year participants, six first-generation upperclassmen discussion leaders and staff and faculty who participated in a panel and delivered presentations were able to safely gather while maintaining social distance.
Cara Drinan ’96, a professor of law at the Catholic University of America, joined Bowdoin students and faculty on October 7 for a virtual discussion titled “Race, Crime and COVID-19.” Drinan has become a prominent figure in the battle for criminal justice reform, specializing in the right to counsel and juvenile sentencing.
Last Friday, Taco the Town arrived at 30 College Street to kick off Latinx Heritage Month and Beyond. Students, faculty, staff and even President Clayton Rose joined the festivities. Although campus programming for the month has been significantly reduced since last year, this event marked the first of five programs scheduled for this year’s Latinx Heritage Month and Beyond.
Many talks around faith this year have involved violence, often focusing on shootings in places of worship. But at Bowdoin, around the couches in 30 College and through events all across campus, members of the Brunswick community have gathered to engage in interfaith dialogue in a collaborative and optimistic manner.
This Tuesday, members of the newly formed Multiracial Student Union (MRSU) crowded into a dining room in Moulton Union. Although club leaders Ayana Harscoet ’21 and Flora Hamilton ’21 came prepared with a list of discussion points, the group dwelled on one question for the entire hour: “When did you first realize you were mixed race?” for the entire hour.
This month, Bowdoin’s Asian Students Alliance (ASA) will host Asian Heritage Month, an opportunity to reflect on and discuss the importance of Asian and Asian American identities and to celebrate their diversity. Inspired by the nationwide observance of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May, which commemorates important dates such as the first arrivals of Japanese immigrants and the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, Bowdoin’s Asian Heritage Month will include discussions with artists, media icons and other prominent figures in the Asian American and wider Asian community.
