West Virginia Wesleyan College and the Center for Community Engagement & Leadership Development (CCE) is hosting the 14th annual Social Justice Week on campus, March 12-21.
The week will begin Friday, March 13, with a showing of “Inside/Outside,” a film about women and mass incarceration in the United States. The director of the documentary, Nandini Sikand, will be there to answer your questions at the end of the film. This event is hosted by PRISM, Wesleyan’s Queer/Straight Alliance Group, and will take place at 7:30 pm in the Culpepper Auditorium of the Virginia Thomas Law Center for the Performing Arts (PAC).
Following the weekend, Social Justice Week will resume on Monday, March 16, from 7- 9 pm in the PAC with motivational speaker Diana Patton. Although this year’s Social Justice Week events don’t have a theme, we would be remiss not to highlight the Diana Patton event as a standout. Her speech entitled “Social Justice Warriors Need a Love Narrative” will share step-by-step instructions needed to be effective in the world of social justice.
Tuesday will feature another speaker, Olivia Gatwood, who is renowned for her slam poetry and focus on relations – seeing others and our connections. She will be visiting Wesleyan’s Loar Auditorium on Tuesday with a writing workshop from 4:30 to 5:30 pm. Later in the day, she will share her work featuring ideas about womanness and social justice, beginning at 8 pm. Please come with an open mind and a readiness to feel creativity flowing.
On Wednesday, there will be a reception for the weeklong Social Justice Art Exhibit in the Chapel Gallery, located in the basement. The exhibit will feature art offering awareness on a variety of global current social justice issues, such as Middle Eastern injustice, Australian wildfires, and many other specific ideas. The reception, Wednesday night from 7-8 pm, will include a presentation from the artists who contributed and opportunities to speak with them about their work.
Wesleyan’s Poverty Reduction and Animal Welfare & Sustainability WE LEAD teams are hosting a fun, informative event called Cardboard City on Thursday from 8- 10 pm in the Social Hall. During the event, participants will be exposed to information about the misconception that homelessness looks like cardboard houses, and what it looks like in our communities. In this event, students will be building cardboard houses using given materials and judged based on the creativity of their cardboard masterpiece.
Peer leaders on campus, including Black Student Union (BSU) and HerCampus, will take the stage on Friday with events that appeal to different groups on Wesleyan’s campus. BSU will start the day off in the Oval at 11 pm with “What Happened to Me?” which details the lives of black girls and women in America who are facing the horrific realities of human trafficking. Following this interactive event, HerCampus is hosting “How to Navigate College Nightlife” in the Social Hall from 6-7 pm. During the presentation, students can learn about protective measures such as the buddy system and awareness about drugs in circulation.
Saturday will conclude the week with the Suicide Prevention Walk in the Oval, with registration and raffles at 11 am and the walk beginning at noon. The event, hosted by WE LEAD Invisible Illness, will raise money to help students have access to counseling services and raise awareness about an issue important to the Wesleyan community. Following the walk, the WE LEAD Animal Welfare & Sustainability team will be showing “The Devil We Know” in Hyma Auditorium of Christopher Hall of Science from 6-8 pm. The documentary highlights concerns with the chemical industry and how to protect you and your family while answering the question of the event “What is Environmental Racism?”
All the events listed above are free and everyone is welcome to participate and learn about what impacts our community daily. Campus participants will be able to enjoy a #MeToo mattress and “A Glimpse Into the World of Sex Trafficking” brothel simulation as additional events occurring throughout the week.
For additional information or questions, please contact Leanna Barkley at barkley.lm.2016@wvwc.edu or Jessica Vincent at vincent_j@wvwc.edu.
