MISSION and MEANS
Our mission in this program is to help new students develop multi-dimensional understandings of their new communities in Ithaca, and to help them experience firsthand and develop full and personal understandings of (1) the value of social action, (2) the definitions and mechanisms of social issues, and (3) our responsibility to build and maintain social consciousness through action and personal openness and reflection.
We believe that these three types of knowledge complement and derive strength and meaning from one another, and are inextricably connected. Through these three aspects of our program, students will be empowered to take leadership in social justice work and important conversations about diversity throughout their time at Cornell.
Social action, as we define it, is a broader definition of community service work that includes work relating to discussion on and organization around issues of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability, religion, class and other social identifiers, work that aims to make the community more fair and equal, work that contributes to supporting and representing minority or oppressed groups within the community, and work that shares our privileges and resources as Cornell community members.
Students in our program will take social action in the Ithaca and Cornell communities by participating in service projects, attending lectures and presentations and learning about activist and advocacy organizations, and visiting sites of activism or inequality. Their involvement in social action will demonstrate to them the value of understanding and connecting with the place that they will spend several years of their lives. See section on Community Involvement for more.
Social issues, as we define them, are matters that directly or indirectly affect all members of the community, and pertain to social differences and the privileges that result from them.
Students in our program will examine social issues such as race and ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation, religion, ability, class, privilege, and social construction theory. Students will do this by reading essays, watching films, reflecting in journals, and discussing their learning with each other, gaining theoretical, factual, historical and current knowledge of these social issues. We hope to give students a strong framework for teaching, learning, and talking about issues of diversity during their time at Cornell. See Framework of Social Issues Programming for more.
Social consciousness, as we define it, is an understanding of social issues and privilege and an openness to the perspectives of other people. Social consciousness is simultaneously an understanding of the inequalities and issues in today’s society and in our communities and a vision for a more equal and safe society or community.
Students in our program will be inspired to create and maintain social consciousness through personal and community reflection on the work that we do together. Students will keep journals, reflect during community time, and build intimacy with one another through discussion and group activities, and thus both reflect on their experiences, and keep in mind ways in which they can work and act to make our society and community more safe and equal.
Taking leadership in social justice, as we define it, is combining social action, knowledge of social issues, and responsibility to social consciousness to create a powerful and personally derived desire to spread and act upon our knowledge of our community’s current needs and inequalities and our vision of Cornell and Ithaca as a community that is equitable and safe for all members.
Students in our program will be given opportunity to take leadership in social justice throughout the program (in their journals), and at the end of the program, through writing personal statements and articulating goals for personal action and/or institutional change.
LOGISTICS, LIVING, and COSTS
Staff: 5-8 sophomore, junior, or senior facilitators, and 2-3 staff members for additional support. Selection/recruitment process TBD.
Participants: 10-15 incoming students, freshman or transfers. Selection/recruitment process TBD.
Dates: Facilitators arrive on August 10. Participants arrive on August 11. Program ends August 21.
Housing Plan and Cost: TBD. We are hoping to rent out an on-campus co-op for approximately $10/night per person. Therefore, we project that housing will cost between $1,650 (15 people for 11 nights) and $2,530 (23 people for 11 nights).
Dining Plan and Cost: TBD. We have not yet determined whether we will eat in dining halls on campus or cook in our house, but it is likely that we will decide on a combination of both.
Transportation: TBD.
Supplies and Cost: Journals for participants and facilitators, folders, pens, living necessities, etc, TBD.
Framework of Social Issues Programming:
The program will be divided into an introduction, a final seminar or conclusion, and four units of approximately equal length: gender/sexuality, ability/religion, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic class. The order of these units is based on our belief that many social issues are intertwined, including religion and race, and race and socioeconomic class.
· Introduction: This segment of the program will include icebreaking activities, privilege activities (that are not issue-specific), and readings that will help us create a common vocabulary and framework. We will discuss the issues of privilege, social constructions, and work to define words/phrases such as diversity, social justice, social action, social responsibility, etc. We will also introduce the journals.
· Units: Each unit will have four components. (They are listed in approximate order of occurrence.) These components will also be supplemented by learning from and with the Ithaca community through service, lectures or presentations, and so on (see below).
o Theoretical and factual learning: We will join Cornell faculty in introducing the topic(s) in a theoretical or abstract way, developing common and educated vocabulary, and presenting historical, statistical, or other facts pertaining to the topic. For example, for the topic of race, we might join a sociology professor to discuss what race is, what the major races in the US are (or what we think they are), the history of the conception of race, the racial makeup of the US, the correlation between race and incarceration, etc. We will also discuss how a topic relates to and is addressed in the Ithaca and Cornell communities, and discuss what sort of organizations or issues exist pertaining to the topic.
o Case study learning (films, readings): This component will expand our understandings of the topic as we look at some personal or collective experiences with it. For example, for the topic of sexuality, we might read and discuss the Heterosexual Questionnaire, an excerpt from Two Teenagers in Twenty: Writings by Gay and Lesbian Youth, or watch a film such as Angels in America or Transamerica.
o Personal learning and identity building: This component will ask participants and facilitators to take part in and use their own experiences to learn about and discuss the topic. We might hold an open discussion with a question box, or participate in exercises. For example, for the topic of gender, we might run the Internalized Gender Role exercise (see Exercises) and then continue to have discussions about other ways that gender is part of our lives.
o Group and individual reflection: This component will help us make sense of and move away from the work that we have done on a topic. As a group, we will have debriefing exercises to discuss what we’ve learned, what we were surprised by, what hurt us, what gives us hope, etc. Individually, we will write in journals over the course of the unit. Participants and facilitators have specific prompts and will be asked to write at least 3 pages of reflections or other impressions, and will then turn the journals in to be read. (If there are portions that participants would like to keep private, they may indicate so or fold over the page.) Facilitators will take turns reading the journals (facilitators and participants’) and choosing anonymous excerpts to share with the group. Sharing will take place at the end of group reflection in a peaceful manner (darkened room/heads down/before bed), and will be used to build the sense of common experience and community between participants.
· Conclusion: The program will culminate in participants and facilitators using their journals to write a personal statement about their experience, and a personal action plan or change plan. This action plan may have to do with attending a club at Cornell, keeping an open mind while meeting new people, taking a class on a new issue, using respectful language, etc. We will hand out “goodbye packets” on the last day with details on reunion events, and times when facilitators will check in on students throughout their freshman year and help them evaluate their progress or write new action plans (which may be personal or institutional). We will also go through a few exercises on appreciation and closing thoughts of reflections.
Potential Sites for Community Involvement
· Tour of Cayuga Correctional facility, MacCormack and Gossett juvenile facilities
· Visit to Cayuga American Indian community (race/ethnicity)
· Volunteer work and information session at Loaves and Fishes Food Bank (class)
· Panel of Green Guerillas student activists
· Presentation on the Village at Ithaca and educational equity in Ithaca public schools
· Hike, trailbuilding and/or information session with the Cayuga Trails Club
· Presentation on AIDS and public health with the Southern Tier AIDS Program (gender/sexuality)
· Volunteer work and tour of the Women’s Opportunity Center (gender/sexuality)
· Presentation or talk by international refugees living in Ithaca (religion)
· Presentation with Challenge (ability)
· Presentation by American Indian Program faculty on Lake Mohonk “Friends of the Indian Conference”
· Visit to Seneca Falls Women’s Rights National Historic Park, presentation on the first women’s rights convention, discussion on the intersections of racism and sexism (gender/sexuality/race)
· Presentations or discussions led by Cornell student organization/advocacy leaders
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to acknowledge and thank the following organizations and individuals for their contributions to this program proposal, and their support and guidance during my own journey.
Milton Academy Diversity Office
Milton Academy’s Common Ground
Heather Flewelling and Christine Savini
Harvard University First-Year Urban Program
Tara Venkatraman
Boston Center for Community and Justice
Todd Fry, Karla Acevedo, Barbara Johnson, and everyone at BCCJ
New England Chinese Youth Summer Camp
Anne and Andy Wang
Office of Minority Educational Affairs
Ginger Sparks and Moji Olaniyan
Jen Majka and Mary Ann Krisa
Cal Walker
Troy Richardson
CRESP Center for Transformative Action
Anke Wessels
Laura Kohler
Brown University Leadership Institute
Robin Rose
