Inclusiveness Week Expands to Year-Long Program

What used to be known as Inclusiveness Week is becoming more ... inclusive. "Highlighting one week means heightened attention, but it could be interpreted as the only time we're concerned about inclusiveness, and that would be an inaccurate picture of this institution," says Madelaine Marquez, who directs the inclusiveness program and is special assistant to the president for educational and academic affairs. "At our best, we're inclusive every day." Now inclusiveness events will stretch over the entire academic year, beginning with Anna Deavere Smith's performance on September 20 (at 7:30 pm in Chapin Auditorium).

Events are still being scheduled, but those already confirmed include discussions in student residence halls on September 24 to 26 about issues raised by Smith's presentation; an October 27 concert by The Klezical Tradition (which performs traditional Jewish and Eastern European folk music); an October 28 lecture by art historian Frances Pohl on the work of Chicana artist Judith F. Baca, who will visit in person October 28-31 and involve students in creating a huge mural on campus; a reading by Nobel Prize-winning Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka (along with MHC faculty and students) on November 1; and an early November discussion of what the presidential elections portend for social policy issues. Second semester events will probably include a dialogue on affirmative action and a theatrical performance, Marquez said.

This year's inclusiveness events address "issues that have been percolating to the top in society," according to Marquez, and were chosen by a faculty/student/staff committee assisted by representatives of the campus cultural organizations and other interested students. She hopes the programs will "encourage all of us to reach out for each other and find ways to work together to make things better for us all."