WSU Tri-Cities plans community virtual sessions on race and equity

Washington State University Tri-Cities will offering a “Community Classroom” series on issues of race, equity and engaged citizenship starting Sept. 30.

The free series will feature both presentations and discussion. The sessions are open to the public and will be available online via Zoom.

“We believe that together, we can become a community that is more empowered to lead anti-racist efforts,” said Kristine Cody, coordinator for the WSU Tri-Cities MOSAIC Center for Student Inclusion.

“We commit to doing this by investing in and establishing a shared understanding of who we have been and who we want to be around race relations in our community,” she said.

The sessions are:

▪ History of Civil Rights in the Tri-Cities – Past and Present

4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30, via Zoom

Robert Bauman and Robert Franklin, history faculty at WSU Tri-Cities, will give a presentation on the history of African-American activism in the Tri-Cities in the 1940s-70s, including efforts to end racial segregation in the Tri-Cities, including civil rights marches.

Panelists: Reka Robinson, life coach and 99.1 radio personality; Daishaundra Loving-Hearne, co-CEO of the Urban Poets Society and organizer with the Black Lives Matter Coalition: Tri-Cities; and Naima Chambers-Smith, CEO of the Tri-Cities Diversity and Inclusion Council.

▪ Digital Dissensus: Discovering Truth in an Era of Misinformation

4 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, via Zoom

Are conspiracy theorists and anti-maskers anti-fact? Or is there a deeper dynamic at play? Mike Caulfield, director of blended and networked learning at WSU Vancouver and nationally recognized digital literacy expert, will discuss the roots of current “digital dissensus” and explain how approaches to education may be making the problem worse.

▪ Dismantling Racism: The Game of Change

11 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, via Zoom

The workshop and discussion will offer language and practices to shift view points from a majority group’s perspective to that of the marginalized. Discussions will be led by Thabiti Lewis, professor of English and interim associate vice chancellor for academic affairs at WSU Vancouver, and Dr. Marie Theard, director of neuroanesthesia in the department of anesthesiology at Oregon Health and Science University. Will include how to identify issues of bias and structural racism and ways to reduce the systemic impact.

The WSU Tri-Cities Community Classroom events are presented by the MOSAIC Center for Student Inclusion, Office of Academic Affairs, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee at WSU Tri-Cities.

For more information, visit tricities.wsu.edu/community-classroom.

This story was originally published September 22, 2020 at 5:00 AM.