Volume 5, Issue 4: October 7, 2021
R.I.S.E.* Up Newsletter
*Reinforcing Inclusion through Skill-building and Education
Banner reads Welcoming October with pumpkins and candy corn on background. Four triangles in foreground read half of Hispanic Heritage month - LGBTQIA history month - Disability Employment Awareness Month - Domestic Violence Awareness Month
The month of October represents FOUR important heritage months for our DEI division, and we are marking all four with films, speakers, and workshops -- lots of opportunities to learn from one another and to grow in our awareness of others' lives, experiences, history and culture. See the newsletter below for more details on how to participate!

Hispanic Heritage Month
With the beginning of October, we are now in the second half of National Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15). Hispanic Heritage Month started in 1968 as a week-long celebration starting September 15, chosen because many significant anniversaries of Latin American independence fall in that week (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico and Chile). It was expanded to a full month in 1988.

In addition to this month's DEI Community Book read of Jennine Capó Crucet's essay collection, My Time Among the Whites, we will be celebrating the close of Hispanic Heritage month next week with a specially licensed campus screening of Lin-Manuel Miranda's summer blockbuster movie musical, In the Heights.

LGBTQIA+ Heritage Month
While most people are familiar with Pride Month in June, many are less familiar with October as the month when we celebrate LGBTQIA+ history and heritage.

Our own JCU history will be part of our celebrations of LGBTQIA+ heritage month AND our celebration of Coming Out Day on Monday 10/11, as we welcome author and JCU alum Christopher Drajem '90 for a virtual author event. Event registration is free and open to the public. Please join us!

Back in June, we hosted a professional-development program for faculty and staff on many points of LGBTQIA+ history, including the Stonewall Uprising, the symbolism and history of Pride flags, and many important early leaders in the movement for LGBTQIA+ Civil Rights, including Marsha P. Johnson, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, Brenda Howard, Bayard Rustin, Gilbert Baker and more. One additional such leader, who we did not learn about in that event, will be the focus of an upcoming campus screening of a new documentary: the groundbreaking legal scholar, teacher, poet, activist, leader and Episcopal priest, Pauli Murray.

Domestic Violence Awareness Month
Have you noticed the many strands of purple lights hanging in offices around campus this week? These are part of the Purple Lights Campaign, a campus-wide effort to raise awareness about domestic violence. In the Title IX office, we are working with partners across campus on a series of programs for Domestic Violence Awareness Month. See the full listing below.

Disability Employment Awareness Month
Did you know that only 17.9% of all Americans with disabilities were employed last year? This represents a significant drop in employment rates from 2019, largely due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a disproportionate impact on people with disabilities. We are raising community awareness on this and other disability access and equity issues this month with a workshop for faculty and staff and a campus screening of the documentary Crip Camp.

In the DEI Divison, we embrace these heritage and awareness months as opportunities to focus on particular issues affecting specific groups of people within our community and the larger society. We are grateful for the opportunity to amplify the voices and experiences of particular groups, and we are glad to share these many opportunities with you. I hope to see you at some of our programs this October!
Headshot of Tiffany Galvin Green
Sincerely,

Tiffany Galvin Green, Ph.D.,
Vice President for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Division Announcements
Announcing our new Assistant Director of CSDI!
Angela Aviquivil
We are delighted to announce that Angela Aviquivil has accepted a new role on the CSDI team. Please join us in congratulating our new CSDI Assistant Director!

Angela (she/her/hers) has been a crucial member of CSDI over the last two years as the office's Graduate Assistant. She focused on growing the M.E.L.T. Peer Mentoring program for our first-year students with the highest number of student participants year-to-date. We are in awe of her passion for helping support our students and can't wait to watch her excel in her career at CSDI. Congratulations, Angela! 
THIS MONDAY:
National Coming Out Day event: Wandering Close to Home
October 11, 7:30-8:30 pm | online via Zoom
promo image for October 11 event with image of Christopher Drajem and his book cover art
JCU alumnus and author Christopher Drajem ’90 will share his journey of coming out to his family as gay shortly after he graduated from John Carroll. His story is shared in a collaborative memoir, co-written with his mother, entitled Wandering Close to Home.

The program will be moderated by Tiffany Galvin Green, Ph.D., Vice President of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion.

Hosted by the Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Center for Student Diversity & Inclusion, the JCU Alumni Association, and the Office of Alumni Relations. All are welcome to join this program. (Faculty and staff can earn 20 DEI Champions points for attending!)
In the Heights campus screening
October 13, 5:00 pm | AD 226
Promo flyer for Movies with a Mission screening of In the Heights
Join the Center for Student Diversity & Inclusion and the Latin American Student Association for an on-campus screening of this year's blockbuster movie musical In the Heights to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. Snacks will be served and a brief discussion will follow. Open to all students, faculty and staff. (Faculty and staff can earn 15 DEI Champions points for attending!) No registration necessary to attend.

[Can't attend in person? Join us via Zoom! Meeting ID: 91753803982]
Crip Camp campus screening
Wednesday, October 20, 2-4 pm
Marinello Little Theatre
Movie poster for Crip Camp
Join Student Accessibility Services and the Center for Student Diversity & Inclusion in recognizing Disability Employment Awareness Month with a campus screening of the Academy-Award nominated documentary Crip Camp.

The film explores a groundbreaking summer camp for teens with disabilities, which connected a community of young leaders who would go on to found a national movement for civil rights and equal access for people with disabilities.

Activist Judy Heumann, whose story forms a major part of the film, says about this movement, "We demonstrated to the entire nation that disabled people could take control over our own lives and take leadership in the struggle for equality."

This is presented as part of CSDI's "Movies with Mission" film series. The film will be presented "movie theater" style, with popcorn, candy, and door prizes. It is open to all students, faculty and staff. (Faculty and staff can earn 15 DEI Champions points for attending!)
Professionals with Pride
virtual career fair
October 21, 3-7 pm
Professionals with Pride serves to connect candidates with employers who are passionate about diversity, inclusion and equity in the workplace. This is a free event for employers and students!
Image reads Professionals with Pride Virtual Career Fair on October 21 2021 from 3 pm to 7 pm in Handshake
Let's Talk is Back!
Logo for Let's Talk program - two blue and gold speech bubbles with the words Let's Talk in them
Need a counselor's perspective on something? Drop in to the "Let's Talk" open hours every Thursday from 2:30-4:30 pm in the CSDI Office (Student Center, Room 202).

Let's Talk is a drop-in program for all current JCU students that provides easy access to free, informal, confidential consultations with a Counseling Center professional. No appointment is necessary; just drop in!
Domestic Violence Awareness Month Events
close up photo of small purple decorative lights
The Office of Student Wellness, Title IX Office, and other departments across campus are collaborating to present programming throughout October to raise awareness of domestic violence and support those currently struggling with it.

HRT (Healthy Relationship Topics) Certification Programs
  • One Love Escalation Training, 10/4 at 7pm
  • Let’s Stay Friends…or Not: How to Break Up, 10/20 at 7pm
  • #Relationshipgoals, 10/27 at 7pm
RSVP here for any/all 3 programs.

Women’s Self Defense Classes, Sponsored by Student Government. multiple dates (Space is limited - Register here)

Clothesline Project, Presented by Kappa Delta,
11/5 from 3:00-5:00 pm

In addition to programming, offices across campus are displaying purple lights this month as a sign of solidarity with survivors of domestic violence. Contact wellness@jcu.edu with questions or to request lights for your own work space!
10 Years Ago, CSDI Changed their Name.
Did you miss Taylor Anthony's recent article in the Carroll News about the 10th anniversary of the Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion this year? Click below to read it now!
Non-Discrimination, Non-Harassment, and Bias-Related Incident Policy posted for review
image reads Policy Under Review
The University Committee on Administrative Policies has posted a revised Non-Discrimination, Non-Harassment, and Bias-Related Incident Policy for community review.

We invite the campus community to comment on the policy proposal. The thirty-day comment period is open until October 19.
Save the Date!
Disability awareness program for faculty and staff
October 25, 12-1 pm
Save the date Oct. 25 for a lunch-hour program for faculty and staff from Student Accessibility Services on how we can all become more aware of issues of disability access and equity. (Faculty and staff can earn 15 DEI Champions points for attending!) Watch our next newsletter for more information, coming soon!
R.I.S.E. Higher: Featured Article of the Week
70 years ago, Henrietta Lacks’s cells were taken without consent. Now, her family wants justice.
Emily Davies, The Washington Post, October 4, 2021

Descendants of Henrietta Lacks, the Black woman whose cells have been central to some of the most important scientific breakthroughs over the past 70 years, sued a pharmaceutical company Monday, alleging it profited off Lacks’s cells despite knowing that they were extracted and used for research without her consent.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Baltimore, accuses Thermo Fisher Scientific of using Lacks’s cells without approval from or payment to her family members — thus depriving them of billions of dollars and “the knowledge that a loved one’s body has been treated with respect.”

“This will not be passed on through another generation,” said Ron Lacks at a news conference Monday, exactly 70 years after his grandmother died. “We want the world to know that we want our family’s legacy back.”
Announcements from our network...
Register for "Week without Violence"
October 18-22, 2021
Banner reads Beyond Resilience - From Surviving to Thriving. Image of a woman's silhouette framing a photo of dry mud with a patch of flowers growing from it.
Each year, YWCA's across the country unite in the common goal to end gender-based violence during YWCA USA's Week Without Violence. The year, join us in a one-week challenge from October 18th to October 22nd. For 5 days, you will receive emails that will contain activities and challenges that empower you to take a deep dive into this important topic. Together, we have the power to end gender-based violence. Register for the Week Without Violence Challenge today and arm yourself with the tools needed to make our communities safe places.
ReelAbilities Cleveland Last Call Virtual Film Series:
Zombies, Thrillers And A Little Will Ferrell
October 15-30, 2021
The ReelAbilities Film Festival – Cleveland (RAFF-CLE), presents the final two weeks of its *FREE* 2021 virtual film festival this October 15-30.

Founded in New York in 2007, the ReelAbilities Film Festival presents award-winning films by and about people with disabilities. Post-screening discussions and other engaging programs bring together the community to explore, discuss, embrace, and celebrate the diversity of our shared human experience. Cleveland became a host city in 2017 with a goal to create more conversations around disability.
Power of Youth Challenge Mini Grants available!
Applications due October 15
Do you know young people who are working to advance racial equity and healing?

Is there a young person in your network who is working on an event, meeting, or resource to educate others about their race, heritage, or culture?

America’s Promise Alliance is looking for young people ages 13–19 with a great idea or plan to promote racial equity, healing, and cultural awareness in their schools or communities. Through the Power of Youth Racial Healing Challenge, young people across the country can apply for a $250 mini grant to help fund their project. 

Grants may be awarded for projects carried out by individuals, school clubs, youth groups, student councils, and other groups of young people. The deadline to apply is Friday, October 15th and the application takes less than 10 minutes to complete. 
Other articles we're reading this week ...