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  Proceedings of the 2021 Global Voices Symposium: Critical Examination of Our Times — The State of Race on the University of Dayton Campus

  Julius A. Amin

  Full proceedings document includes a summary of each session of the symposium held March 1-4, 2021. Most sections were composed from the discussion held over Zoom. They are not transcripts. Passages were edited for clarity and length.

  These proceedings are available free for download but also available for purchase in print for $6 plus tax and shipping.

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  Cover and Front Matter

  University of Dayton

  Cover, table of contents

  These proceedings are available free for download but also available for purchase in print for $6 plus tax and shipping.

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  Introduction

  Julius A. Amin

  In 2016, the first Symposium on Race on the University of Dayton campus arose within a historical context of several events, including the nationwide racial crises beginning with Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, and the subsequent emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement. Amid these “headline” events was a lingering dissatisfaction of Black students on the University of Dayton campus; an incomplete understanding of America’s racial past; the experiences of Black and white participants in the University’s African immersion program; and my belief as a faculty member and then-coordinator of Africana Studies that we were not doing enough to address the problems of race and racism on campus. That seems to have been a very long time ago; since then, racial issues have surfaced in rapid succession.

  Five years later, we are back in a similar situation. The 2021 symposium, like the first one, developed within a historical context of events that culminated in the protests of summer 2020. The headlines were many: Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, Jacob Blake and many more. The nature and persistence of the protests confirmed that something had changed. Students from our campus participated. There was national and international outrage.

  The goal of the 2021 Symposium on Race was to study the history of race relations at the University; to understand a sense of trends and attitudes; and to outline potential steps toward building a more inclusive and anti-racist university. The symposium challenged each of us to ask difficult questions about ourselves—what am I doing to end anti-Black racism?

  These proceedings are available free for download but also available for purchase in print for $6 plus tax and shipping.

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  Welcome Address

  Paul H. Benson

  We are on a journey as a university to make progress toward genuine inclusion, toward equity in the life of our campus, toward the building of a more welcoming and just educational, intellectual, and residential community that realizes more substantively the guiding values of the Society of Mary, which founded and sponsors the University. This journey is fraught with peril and risk. It is painful; it entails hurt; it will provoke misunderstanding; it will invite resistance; it supplies ample reason for skepticism and distrust. But this journey is what our mission as a university requires of us. The steps in this journey, as uncertain and sometimes misdirected as they may happen to be, can be occasions for renewed hope, for strengthened relationships and more resilient collaboration, for truth telling, for reconciliation, for restorative conversation and critically reflective imagination and agency.

  These proceedings are available free for download but also available for purchase in print for $6 plus tax and shipping.

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  Introduction of Keynote Speaker

  Amy E. Anderson

  It is essential that we understand and learn about the diversity of experiences within the church and its educational institutions—experiences that are either marginalized or completely hidden. It can be difficult to face the full truth about the role of the church and our institutions, including UD, as both liberator and oppressor. We need to understand and embrace both the liberatory power of the faith and the Church’s role in the histories of slavery, segregation, and white supremacy. Without this critical examination, we are not whole. Our speaker tonight will help us on our journey. She raises up the history and legacy of Black Catholics—lay and vowed, particularly women—for us to see the enduring innovation, courage, and resilience of these faithful. . She helps us see that Black Faith Matters. So without further delay, I’d like to introduce Dr. Shannen Dee Williams.

  These proceedings are available free for download but also available for purchase in print for $6 plus tax and shipping.

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  Keynote Address: Why Black Catholic History Matters

  Shannen Dee Williams

  To tell the stories of the nation’s Black Catholic sisters—accurately and honestly—I had to tackle four core myths about the U.S. Catholic experience that have been popularized and wielded to obscure the leading roles that European and white American Catholics played in the social, political, and cultural propagation of white supremacy in the church and wider society. This keynote identifies these four myths and counters them with the facts of Black Catholic history. My address builds on the intellectual and educational traditions of the nation’s Black Catholic sisterhoods, which were the first Catholic congregations to teach and institutionalize Black and Black Catholic history within church boundaries. Because many members of the Black sisterhoods during the Jim Crow era were the descendants of the free and enslaved Black people whose labor and faithfulness built the early American church, they recognized that teaching Black Catholic history was essential in the fight against racism in their church. Black sisters also fundamentally understood that Black history is, and always has been, Catholic history.

  These proceedings are available free for download but also available for purchase in print for $6 plus tax and shipping.

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  Setting the Context

  Julius A. Amin, Merida Allen, V. Denise James, Ashleigh Lawrence-Sanders, Thomas Morgan, and Joel Pruce

  Panelists were members of the planning committee of this symposium and began meeting in September 2020.

  These proceedings are available free for download but also available for purchase in print for $6 plus tax and shipping.

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  Student Voices

  Maleah A. Wells, Amira Fitzpatrick, Kaitlin Hall, Joshua Chambers, Christopher Jones, and Nyah Johnson

  This session began with reflections from student research assistants who moderated the session. This session introduces the major issues addressed during the symposium.

  These proceedings are available free for download but also available for purchase in print for $6 plus tax and shipping.

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  Alumni Voices

  Lawrence Burnley, Daria-Yvonne Graham, Merida Allen, Angela Heath, Darius Beckham, Lisa Rich-Milan, and Marcus Smith

  Session was facilitated by Dr. Lawrence Burnley and moderated by Dr. Daria Graham ’92 ’01 ’18, associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students at California State University, San Bernardino. Panelists included Angela Heath ’78 ’80; Darius Beckham ’19; Lisa Rich-Milan ’85; and Dr. Marcus Smith ’08 ’10.

  These proceedings are available free for download but also available for purchase in print for $6 plus tax and shipping.

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  Testimonies

  Joel Pruce

  The testimonies session was an interactive listening and dialogue event in which attendees listened together to stories submitted in advance that documented the Black student experience on campus. The goal of the session was to convene student staff and faculty to engage in a generative and critical conversation motivated by actual experiences. In attendance were students, staff, and faculty; together, we listened to four audio clips submitted by current and former students who narrated campus experiences. We listened together to cultivate a shared experience and baseline understanding to motivate the discussion. After each story, attendees met in smaller groups to react to what they heard, and they captured key takeaways. The resulting discussion succeeded in making connections across generations of students, identifying the essential nature of support services for Black students in their time at UD and demonstrating the necessary resilience exhibited by Black students in their efforts to merely make it through college.

  These proceedings are available free for download but also available for purchase in print for $6 plus tax and shipping.

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  Research Assistant Reflection

  Jalen Turner

  This experience has been the highlight of my time at UD because of the work I was able to do in helping the University reflect on its past. It is especially important to understand where we come from and who created the paths before us. If it wasn’t for the Black students at UD who first attended and graduated, my graduating class of Black students could have been smaller.

  These proceedings are available free for download but also available for purchase in print for $6 plus tax and shipping.

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  Faculty and Staff Perspectives

  Thomas Morgan, V. Denise James, Jalen Turner, Andrew Evwaraye, Donna M. Cox, Herbert Woodward Martin, and Kathleen Henderson

  University of Dayton is an employer across all sorts of levels. We are citizens of the University in lots of ways, and what we contribute as faculty and staff creates the place. We have longevity that students do not have. We hope that this will develop into a deeper dive into the University of Dayton's past and thinking about the lives of Black faculty and staff. This isn’t the culmination of a project but rather a beginning of thinking about learning from and remembering that past because if we don’t cultivate these things, we lose them. This is what we’re doing today. We’re going to feature the voices of Black faculty and staff who have contributed to the life of our University, many of whom keep the University running and going.

  These proceedings are available free for download but also available for purchase in print for $6 plus tax and shipping.

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  Symposium Conclusion: Gradualism Is No Longer Workable in the Anti-Black Racism Struggle

  Julius A. Amin

  Though American colleges have wrestled with a variety of challenges at different times, the one constant problem has been anti-Black racism. It is a focus at the symposium. University of Dayton alumni articulated many challenges faced by Black students on campus. Representing different generations, speakers discussed their UD experience, and irrespective of the decade in which they were students at the University, their descriptions of marginalization were strikingly similar. Currently enrolled Black students told similar stories to those discussed decades ago. Unable to fully integrate themselves into campuswide culture, Black students easily found solace in the multicultural office. Alumni spoke of feelings of loneliness, isolation, and marginalization on campus. Given that campus values are driven by institutional structures, as long as those structures remain unreformed, little will change. The administration must be bold, vigorous, and result-oriented in its anti-Black racism actions.

  These proceedings are available free for download but also available for purchase in print for $6 plus tax and shipping.

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  Video: Donna Cox, Andrew Evwaraye, Herbert Woodward Martin, Kathleen Henderson

  V. Denise James and Thomas Morgan

  Video features interviews with four Black faculty and staff members at the University of Dayton:

  • Donna Cox
  • Andrew Evwaraye
  • Herbert Woodward Martin
  • Kathleen Henderson

  Following the video, faculty and staff examined their experiences over time addressing peak and low moments and how they navigated different situations. It concluded with a set of recommendations on how to make UD become a genuine anti-racist university.