Duck Race to End Racism June 10

Duck Race to End Racism June 10June 02, 2006Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

Community-Wide Dialogue to End Racism, a project of the InterReligious Council of CNY, will hold its 4th Annual Duck Race to End Racism Saturday, June 10, from noon-4 p.m. in Syracuse?s Inner Harbor. Syracuse University and National Grid are presenting sponsors of this year?s event.

The family and community event is free and open to the public, and will include food, music, games and free ice cream provided by Byrne Dairy.

Ducks are on sale for $5 at the Office of Multicultural Affairs, located in Room 105 of the Hildegarde and J. Myer Schine Student Center. For more information, contact Josie Otero at 443-9676 or jaotero1@syr.edu. Ducks are also available at KeyBank locations and at the “Duck Stand” on the day of the race.

The Community-Wide Dialogue Program was established by the InterReligious Council of CNY in 1996 to provide a safe and effective process for young people and adults from a variety of racial, ethnic, religious, socio-economic and ideological backgrounds to talk about and work on issues of racism and race relations. At the heart of the CWD is the dialogue circle?a group of eight to 14 people who meet for six consecutive weeks for two-hour sessions led by a team of two racially diverse, trained facilitators using a discussion guide that provides structure for the session. CWD offers dialogue circles throughout the year, reaching more than 800 people per year.

“The creativity and commitment of the Community Wide Dialogues team have been vital to the success of our own dialogue circle programming at Syracuse University, helping to spark campus-wide interest,” says Barry L. Wells, senior vice president and dean of student affairs. “By offering intergroup dialogue in our classrooms and residence halls, and facilitating it in the community, we not only afford our students a valuable extension of their learning experience, we help them critically and productively engage with the community around issues such as race and ethnicity.”

At SU, the Office of Residence Life and the Office of Multicultural Affairs, in collaboration with Gretchen Lopez, faculty associate for diversity and assistant professor of education, held the inaugural Raising Our Voices Diversity Institute this spring, in which SU students, faculty and staff worked with 55 students from Fayetteville-Manlius and Nottingham high schools and provided the basis for a semester-long Intergroup Dialogue Program.

This was an extension activity for students and staff who have been involved with intergroup dialogue at Syracuse University, such as Conversations About Race and Ethnicity in the residence halls. Eighteen dialogue circles were offered during the fall and spring semesters in residence halls heavily populated with first-year students. All resident advisors (RAs) and a total of 180 students participated.

SU has also offered intergroup dialogue in its curriculum, through courses in the women’s studies and sociology departments, and to SU staff through dialogue circles sponsored by the Office of Human Resources.