Volume 6, Issue 1: January 6, 2022
R.I.S.E.* Up Newsletter
*Reinforcing Inclusion through Skill-building and Education
Photo of Maya Angelou with quotation. My wish for you is that you continue. Continue. To be who and how you are. To astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness. Continue to dare to love deeply and risk everything for the good thing.
Happy 2022! Many good things await us in this New Year. It is an exciting time for our university, with many positive things ahead of us. We have much to look forward to in 2022!

Even as we look ahead with hope, however, we must pause to recognize that 2021 was a hard year for many, a year that we carry with us into 2022.

Exactly one year ago today, we watched in horror as an armed mob stormed the U.S. Capitol. Much ink has been spilled in recent days trying to make sense of that moment of political crisis one year ago, reflecting on various facets of it, such as statements from politicians, detailed retellings of the day’s events, updates on criminal investigations, and stories about the trauma experienced by police officers and lawmakers trapped in the Capitol, and the neighbors caught in the middle.

Other stories point to the role of racial and religious identity in these events. An article in Time magazine warns that "January 6th May Have Been Only the First Wave of Christian Nationalist Violence." The remarkable collaborative Uncivil Religion Project examines the religious symbols and rituals present on January 6. Others point out the pervasiveness of white supremacist rhetoric.  

Amid the many news stories about the January 6th anniversary, nearly all note that these events fit into a larger cultural pattern. "The bad news for 2022,” Daniel Byman wrote for the Brookings Institution, “is that violent rhetoric and threats are becoming normalized in everyday politics."

It is easy for even a casual observer of the daily news to notice how much American life over the past year has been affected by this rise in violence and the threat of violence – not only in politics, but in everyday life: from school boards and personnel subjected to death threats, to attacks on airline personnel, to record-high gun violence, to a surge in “homegrown terrorist” incidents. In a recent, widely reported PRRI poll, an alarmingly high percentage of Americans – 30% of Republicans and 11% of Democrats – agree with the statement “true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.”  

Amid this distressing reality, what can we do as a community as we enter into this new year? What is 2022 asking of us?

In our R.I.S.E. Up newsletter on January 7, 2021, we shared the public statement from our college and university presidents in the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, who denounced the violence that had “torn the fabric of our nation” the day before, and who called for “a recommitment to the ideals of fairness, justice, racial equity, and inclusion to which our nation aspires today."

I think we would do well, in this moment of entry into a New Year, to pause and examine our own commitments to these ideals. What did we do in 2021 to breathe life into this shared vision of fairness, justice, racial equity, and inclusion? What will we do to further these ideals in 2022? The New Year is a time for making resolutions, so I suggest this one: let us resolve together to set down this past year's weapons of rage, scorn, fear, and division, and pick up instead the tools of hope, courage, dialogue, solidarity, and love.  

Perhaps what this new year asks of us is no more than a new year ever asks: that we resolve anew to become better versions of ourselves, and commit to the work of making our world a more just and loving place to live. Welcome to 2022. I am glad to be embracing this year - and this hopeful vision - in your company.
Megan Wilson-Reitz

Sincerely,
Megan Wilson-Reitz
Administrative Coordinator for Diversity & Equity
Division Announcements
Welcome our new Wayfinders Program Coordinator!
Photo of Daniela Flores
The Center for Student Diversity & Inclusion's Wayfinders Program is pleased to introduce the newest member of our team: Program Coordinator Daniella Flores.

Daniella (she/her/hers) is a 2021 graduate of John Carroll, with a B.A in Communication and a concentration in Integrated Marketing. She is continuing her education at JCU in the Boler College of Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program. During her time as an undergraduate at JCU, she served as a resident assistant, orientation leader, MELT mentor, peer health advocate, and the President of the Latin American Student Association.

Daniella is from Cleveland, Ohio and in her free time she loves hiking, exploring, astrology, reading, listening to podcasts, fashion, and health and wellness. Fun Fact: She is Bilingual, fluent in Spanish.

Please join us in welcoming Daniella to the DEI Division!
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day @ Tower Time:
King in the Wilderness film discussion
Wednesday, January 19 | 2:00 pm | virtual via Zoom
All JCU students, faculty and staff are invited to join us for a community-wide virtual film discussion in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, during our university "Tower Time" on Wednesday afternoon, January 19th.

Our discussion topic will be the 2018 Emmy-award-winning HBO documentary film King in the Wilderness, which follows Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the volatile last three years of his life, from the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 to his assassination in April 1968. (Click above to view the film trailer.)

All participants will receive login information to access and watch the film in advance on their own time, and a Zoom link to join us for the meeting on Jan. 19. Click below to sign up today! (Faculty and staff participants will receive 45 DEI Champions points for this program)
Community Book Read: The Person You Mean to Be
Wednesdays, 2:30-3:30 pm, Jan 26 - Feb. 16
Image - cover of the book The Person You Mean to Be - How Good People Fight Bias - by Dolly Chugh
This January/February, please join us to read and discuss Dolly Chugh's book The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias.

Previous campus book reads of this title have provided helpful grounding for many of our community's conversations on topics of diversity, equity and inclusion. If you've missed out on these conversations in the past, now is your chance to catch up!

We will meet on four consecutive Wednesdays from 2:30-3:30 pm to discuss the following topics:
  • Jan. 26 - Part I, "Builders Activate a Growth Mindset"
  • Feb. 2 - Part II, "Builders See and Use Their Ordinary Privilege"
  • Feb. 9 - Part III, "Builders Opt for Willful Awareness"
  • Feb. 16 - Part IV, "Builders Engage"

Meetings will be held on campus as public health protocols allow; a Zoom option will also be available for those preferring to participate remotely. Open to all faculty, staff, and students. (Faculty and staff participants will receive 60 DEI Champions points for this program.)

All participants will receive a copy of the Kindle ebook by email upon registration.
seamless_pattern_books.jpg
Host a DEI book read for your team!

Staff are available to facilitate small-group book reads of this or other DEI titles for your department, division, student organization, or athletics team. Please contact diversity@jcu.edu for details.
Mental Health First Aid Training
January 14 and March 25, 2022 | 9:00 am - 3:00 pm
Image of Mental Health First Aid promotional flyer
Learn how to identify, understand, and respond to the signs of mental illness and substance abuse disorders in this one-day certification training in Mental Health First Aid.

Two training opportunities will be offered in the spring semester. Click below to register for either one. (Note: in response to changing public health protocols, the January training will be held virtually on the Zoom platform.)

This program is sponsored by the Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion and the Office of Student Wellness. (Faculty and staff participants will receive 100 DEI Champions points for participating in this program.)
Photo of Ramona J Smith with fists raised and the words What's YOUR 2022 Vision - followed by registration information
Wayfinders Workshop:
What's YOUR 2022 Vision?
January 26 | 5:30 pm | virtual via Zoom
All are invited to join CSDI's Wayfinders Program and the Graduate School for a virtual workshop entitled "What's YOUR 2022 Vision" on January 26 at 5:30 pm.

This program will feature motivational speaker Ramona J. Smith, the 2018 Toastmasters World Champion of Public Speaking.

Open to all members of the JCU community. Please join us!
Help us find our next VP DEI!
We are currently searching for our next Vice President to oversee the work of our terrific team here in the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The committee is now accepting applications. Please spread the word in your networks and encourage strong candidates to apply! Share the link below with anyone who may be interested.

To nominate someone who you think may be a strong candidate for the role, or to ask questions about the search process, please contact the chair of the search committee, Dr. Edward Peck, Vice President for University Mission & Identity, at epeck@jcu.edu.
R.I.S.E. Higher: Featured Article of the Week
How to Tackle Inequity in Higher Education Head-On
Clusters of institutions are collaborating to achieve lasting change in the key areas of affordability, teaching and learning, and holistic student support.
Julia Michaels, Inside Higher Ed, January 5, 2022

The pandemic has illuminated the challenges facing college students who are low income, first in their family to attend or a member of a racially minoritized group. From affordability to improving the learning environment to supporting students outside the classroom, the long-standing issues facing such students have been magnified. It’s not just hard to afford college. It’s difficult to stay enrolled and learn while juggling a myriad of academic and personal concerns.

Higher education is at a critical turning point. The pandemic and a long-overdue racial reckoning have highlighted the urgency of tackling head-on the structural barriers driving inequity. While colleges and universities have been grappling with these challenges for some time, the pandemic and racial reckoning have expanded the scale of what’s needed and accelerated the timeline for change.
Announcements from our network...
The University of San Diego Center for Restorative Justice presents:
HeArtful Journey to Allyship
January 12, 19 and 26 | 9:30-12:30 am PST (12:30-3:30 pm EST)
virtual via Zoom | $325 / person
This unique workshop combines creative expression, narrative, and restorative practices to explore issues of personal identity, culture, and privilege, using arts-based tools to safely dialogue about our challenges and discover how to practice allyship as a way of life. This workshop will be delivered remotely over three (3) weeks via live, 3-hour Zoom sessions on consecutive Wednesdays.
The City Club of Cleveland presents:
Good Medicine: A Conversation with Robin Wall Kimmerer
January 13, 12:00-1:00 pm | virtual form
Join the City Club of Cleveland in a virtual conversation, in partnership with Holden Forests & Gardens' NEA Big Read Northeast Ohio with Kent State University. We will hear from Robin Wall Kimmerer on how we can repair not only ecological communities, but also the reciprocal relationship humankind has with land.

(Many members of the JCU community will remember that we featured Kimmerer's book Braiding Sweetgrass as a DEI community book read last year!)
What would it be like.. to follow back the thread of life in everything and pay it respect. Once you start it's hard to stop and you begin to feel yourself awash in gifts. - Robin Wall Kimmerer - Braiding Sweetgrass
Other articles we're reading this week ...