Fall 2008 Diversity Reading Group Program MEMORANDUM TO: Loyola College Faculty, Staff, and Administrators
FROM: Martha L. Wharton, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs and Diversity
SUBJECT: Diversity Reading Groups
DATE: September 15, 2008 Each year, the Diversity Reading Group Program offers a range of great reading opportunities designed to invite every member of the campus community into shared conversation about diversity issues with which they may or may not be familiar. The goal is to get a conversation going across campuses, in our offices, around lunch tables, about change, difference, and our own experiences. To date, we have had a wide variety of readers who have read in community and met new colleagues they may not have met otherwise. Our invitation to read and grow as a community with shared values is working! This year’s 2008 Diversity Reading Group selections are important. However, we are offering our engaging selections differently than we have in the past. You have already seen the posters and the table tents around campus and will soon see more advertisements for the Program. Nonetheless, a little explanation is required. This year, the Diversity Reading Group program is hosting conversations with profound purpose. We are heightening campus conversations around race, difference, and diversity. Using a black–and–white race model, we have designed three special reading/facilitated conversation groups. We know that a black–and–white race model is inadequate to the College and nation’s diversity. Nonetheless, such a model is an historic, classic, teachable, and useful model for understanding difference. Acknowledging and considering a difference that is currently before us in the news every day can help us understand differences and diversities and the consequences they have in our daily lives. The eight books are listed below with names of facilitators and group descriptions. Descriptions of the books and registration details are available if you click here . I hope you will take this opportunity to join a conversation that will make a difference in your life and the life of our diverse and changing campus.
Understanding White Privilege: Creating Pathways to Authentic Relationships across Race by Frances E. Kendall - a conversation primarily for white Loyola College community members. The group will discuss Dr. Kendall’s book and their own lives with those who share the racial experience for greater understanding and ease in conversations about difference. Facilitators for this group are Peggy O’Neil and George Casey. Race Manners for the 21st Century: Navigating the Minefield between Black and White Americans in an Age of Fear by Bruce A. Jacobs – a conversation for an inter-racial group of Loyola College community members. This group will discuss Mr. Jacob’s book, their experiences across racial, ethnic, and national “lines,” and how to live in our increasingly diverse society. Members can join this group and any other. The facilitator for this group is Doris Trainor. Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing by Joy Degruy Leary – a conversation for Loyola College community members of color, especially black community members. This group will discuss the impact history has on the experiences of blacks and people of color in their everyday lives. The facilitators for this group are Lovell Smith and Martha Wharton. ------------------------------------------------ The remaining books are great diversity reads, too! We invite you to join one of these groups. No Shame In My Game: The Working Poor in the Inner City
Author: Katherine S. Newman
Facilitator: Afra Hersi The Syringa Tree
Author: Pamela Gien
Facilitator: Candra Healy Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights
Author: Kenji Yoshino
Facilitator: Michael Puma Maniac Magee
Author: Jerry Spinelli
The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963
Author: Christopher Paul Curtis
Facilitator: Wendy Smith The reading groups meet for one hour on a weekly basis for six weeks, beginning the week of September 29 and running through the week of Nov. 3. Each reading group will have an organizational meeting during the week of September 22 to meet and determine a weekly meeting time. For more information about these selections, or to register for a group, please click here or call ext. 2988. All of these selected readings are aviable for purchase in the bookstore on the main campus. | 
