SBU Libraries hosts successful symposium on Advancing Equity in Higher Education on Long Island

Posted on April 16, 2021 by Shafeek Fazal

On April 9, 2021, Stony Brook University Libraries hosted an inaugural Symposium on Advancing Equity in Higher Education on Long Island. This event brought together 135 college and university community members and thought leaders from across the region in order to help develop inter-institutional connections and grow a regional community of practice around diversity work.

We were excited to welcome as keynote speakers Professors Kiersten Greene and Anthony Dandridge of SUNY New Paltz. Their talk—“Black Lives Matter at SUNY: Disrupting White Supremacy in the Classroom and on Campus”— situated the Black Lives Matter at School (BLMS) movement in a P-20 educational context. Drawing on their ongoing experience of establishing and growing the BLMS Collective at SUNY New Paltz, they reflected on the numerous obstacles and successes of their collaborative work over the past three years, and tied that work to their contribution to the text Black Lives Matter at School: An Uprising for Educational Justice.

This symposium also featured remarks from the Stony Brook University President, Dr. Maurie McInnis, the SBU Vice President for Equity & Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer, Dr. Judith Brown Clarke, and Interim Dean for University Libraries, Shafeek Fazal. We welcomed 15 speakers in sessions on topics such as Campus Climate, Pedagogy and Instruction and Post-College Transition.

This symposium was sponsored by Stony Brook University Libraries and funded in part by a Stony Brook University Presidential Mini-Grant for Departmental Diversity.

Recordings will be available soon on the SBU Libraries YouTube channel.