Longwood University will hold its first annual Social Justice in Action Leadership Summit the weekend of Feb. 24-25. The summit is sponsored by the office of Leadership and Civic Engagement, Student Educators for Active Leadership (SEAL) and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
Unlike many events on Longwood's campus, students are being nominated to be a part of this free weekend. An email was sent to faculty and staff detailing this nomination process. "We didn't want students to sign up just because it seemed cool," Jen Rentschler, assistant director for Leadership and Civic Engagement, said. Instead, faculty and staff were asked to nominate students who they thought would find the summit most useful.
"Our goal is to have around 80 students nominated," Rentschler added. She said those students would be contacted via email sometime after the nomination deadline, which is this Friday.
"We really want to make sure we had a captive audience of students," said Dr. James Riley, director of Diversity and Inclusion. Riley said the nominations are due this Friday.
"Our goal is to bring in students from all different levels of understanding," Rentschler said. She said many people think only in terms of race and gender when it comes to diversity, but many other diverse factors affect the Longwood community. "We don't always recognize different things like socioeconomic status," she said.
Rentschler said part of this summit is designed for people to recognize that we are not always inclusive individuals. She used an example of people isolating themselves in Dorrill Dining Hall. Rentschler said people who are not a part of that particular group might be hesitant to approach that group.
An outcome of the summit, Rentschler hopes, is for people to realize they can make a difference. "Students can come out of this saying, ‘Now that I have that self-awareness, what can I do to be someone who fights for diversity and social justice.'"
Rentschler said, "One of SEAL's goals was to offer something in the spring that focused on leadership and was more accessible to students." In the fall, the group hosts the annual Mountain Lake Leadership conference. "I really want to take a group of students who know something, but not a lot … about advocating social justice and help them learn new things about themselves and their peers."
On Friday evening from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., students will get together and do a team building exercise that will feature experiences and discussion centered around diversity. Riley said the activities are meant to be "really interactive."
On Saturday, the students will be broken into smaller groups that will go through a number of sessions. Each session is a workshop facilitated by various Longwood faculty and staff members.
Riley said the emphasis of the summit will be placed around Longwood's ideal citizen. He said, "As a citizen, you take a vested interest and commitment to your community." With an ever-growing population of more diverse individuals, Riley said it is crucial for Longwood students to understand the importance of acting upon advocating social justice. "Longwood has done a good job of emphasizing what citizen leadership is," Riley said.
"I just think it's really special that we can bring these people together. I am excited to see what these students who come out of this are going to do and how they are going to move forward in promoting social justice," Rentschler added.
