On Thursday, Sept. 1, Syracuse University will host the inaugural Fall 2016 Symposium on Race and Our Communities: Race, Justice, Violence and Police in 21st Century America. The symposium will provide an opportunity for candid conversation about racial inequality, community relations, police brutality and other forms of violence. The event begins at 5 p.m. in Goldstein Auditorium, Schine Student Center, and will include student speakers, a keynote address by Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, and an esteemed panel of scholars, activists and experts.
The panel includes:
Keith Bybee
Keith J. Bybee, Ph.D.
Professor Bybee is the Paul E. and Hon. Joanne F. Alper ’72 Judiciary Studies Professor at the College of Law and a professor of political science in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. He is also the director of the Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics, and the Media, a collaborative effort between the College of Law, the Maxwell School and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
Bybee also serves as a senior research associate with the Campbell Public Affairs Institute. Bybee’s research interests include the judicial process, legal theory, political philosophy, LGBT politics, the politics of race and ethnicity, American politics, constitutional law and the media.
Tony Callisto
Tony Callisto
Anthony “Tony” Callisto Jr. is the senior vice president of safety and chief law enforcement officer at Syracuse University, overseeing the Division of Campus Safety and Emergency Services. Previously, Callisto served as the chief of public safety with the Department of Public Safety (DPS).
Prior to joining DPS, Callisto had a long career in law enforcement, spending 25 years with the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, the last 10 years as chief deputy. Callisto is a regional and national public safety, criminal justice and law enforcement expert and leader, both in government and higher education. He has also served for the past 13 years as an adjunct professor of criminal justice at Columbia College and Keuka College.
Bea González
Bea González
Bea González is the dean of University College and special assistant to the Chancellor, bringing more than 38 years of experience in higher education. She also has a long and distinguished record of public service having been elected to public office three times. In 2001, she became the first Latino/a to be elected president of the City of Syracuse Common Council and served two terms. She also served on the Syracuse City School District’s Board of Education.
During her career at Syracuse University, González has served in numerous roles, including an academic advisor, executive director of the Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program, director and associate dean of Student Support Services at University College.
Benjamin Jealous
Benjamin Jealous
Benjamin Todd Jealous is the former and youngest-ever president and CEO of the National NAACP. Under his leadership, the NAACP grew to be the largest civil rights organization online and on mobile, experienced its first multi-year membership growth in 20 years and became the largest community-based nonpartisan voter registration operation in the country.
As a civil and human rights leader, Jealous has been at the forefront of successful state and local movements to ban the death penalty, outlaw racial profiling, defend voting rights, secure marriage equality and free multiple wrongfully incarcerated people. Prior to his presidency, Jealous spent 15 years as a journalist and community organizer.
Currently, Jealous is a partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kapor Capital, where he invests in high-growth companies that have positive social impact. Throughout his career, Jealous has earned numerous awards and recognitions, including Fortune and TIME magazines’ “Top 40 under 40” lists and World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leader. He is the author of “Reach: 40 Black Men Speak on Living, Leading, and Succeeding.” He will have a book signing following the panel in the Syracuse University Bookstore.
Jordan Shelby West
Jordan Shelby West
Jordan Shelby West is a doctoral student in the Cultural Foundations of Education Program in the School of Education, graduate assistant for the Conversations About Race and Ethnicity dialogue circles and a research associate with Rankin & Associates Consulting. She also recently earned a Certificate of Advanced Study in Women and Gender Studies. West is involved in the American College Personnel Association and serves on the Directorate Board for the PAN African Network within the Coalition for Multicultural Affairs.
Her experience and continued research interests focus on critical pedagogy, campus racial climate, narrative and storytelling as a method, and racial violence on people of color in higher education. As an alumna of the Social Justice Training Institute and faculty member of the Student Social Justice Training Institute, West spends a lot of time focusing on the racial climate for students of color within settings of higher education.
Tickets for the symposium are available at the Schine Student Center Box Office; students, faculty and staff must present valid Syracuse University I.D. The box office is open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday, and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Thursday.
American Sign Language (ASL) and Communication Access Real Time (CART) interpretation will be available for each event. If you have requests for accessibility and accommodations, please contact the Equal Opportunity, Inclusion and Resolution Services (EOIRS) office at 315.443.4018.
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