Tag Archives: community

Environmental Justice

UPCOMING WORKSHOP — Weaving the Threads: Intersectionality, Sustainability & Environmental Justice

How do we identify and address intersectional concerns (e.g. from racism, to poverty, to militarism, to homelessness, and more) in our sustainability work and activism? How do we connect our various initiatives within a framework of environmental justice? How do we communicate these visions with others?
On Monday, November 20, join Peace and Conflict Studies and Environmental Studies for a workshop with Prof. Randall Amster, former Executive Director of the Peace and Justice Studies Association.Workshop Flyer

Weaving the Threads: Intersectionality, Sustainability & Environmental Justice

The confluence of contemporary crises represents a direct threat to human existence, yet also a remarkable opportunity to implement alternatives and cultivate visions for a more just and sustainable world. The framework of “climate justice” increasingly subsumes many of these issues and possibilities, providing a basis for transforming our thinking and acting in relation to essential resources including food, water, and energy production. Likewise, critical issues of equity, access, and distribution are brought to the fore, with the nexus of environmental justice and peacebuilding offering potential avenues for change. What theories and actions are informing current movements and responses? How can policymaking and the lived experiences of people and communities equally inform the discourse? How can we promote an ethos of responsibility in both senses of the word, as a form of accountability and a locus of empowerment? Drawing upon examples from local to global scales, this session will seek to spark a collaborative dialogue for cultivating resilient responses to today’s most pressing challenges.

Randall Amster

Randall Amster, J.D., Ph.D., is Director and Teaching Professor in the Program on Justice and Peace at Georgetown University. He serves as Editor-in- Chief of the Contemporary Justice Review. He teaches and publishes widely on subjects including peace and nonviolence, social and environmental justice, political theory and movements, and the impacts of emerging technologies. His recent books include Peace Ecology (Routledge, 2015), Anarchism Today (Praeger, 2012), Lost in Space: The Criminalization, Globalization, and Urban Ecology of Homelessness (LFB, 2008); and the co-edited volume Exploring the Power of Nonviolence: Peace, Politics, and Practice (Syracuse University Press, 2013). His current research interests include environmental peacebuilding, climate justice, intersectionality and ecology, community and sustainability, and the justice implications of contemporary technology.

 

Peace Ecology Book Cover

The workshop begins at 4:15 pm and will take place in Kohlberg Hall, Room 116.

This event is sponsored by Peace and Conflict Studies, Environmental Studies, the Provost’s Office, the President’s Office, and the Office of Sustainability.

Collection with Robert George ’77 and Cornel West

Collection with Robert George ’77 and Cornel West

Monday, February 10, 2014

4:30-6:00 p.m.

Friends Meeting House

From the campus calendar:  http://bit.ly/LDUwIz

Amid the difficult campus conversations at Swarthmore in Spring 2013, many students, alumni, faculty, and staff grew concerned about the ways in which community members were (and, in many ways, weren’t) engaging each other. Alumni and friends of the College expressed support, and a few offered to help in whatever ways they could. Princeton professor Robert George, Swarthmore Class of 1977, and fellow Princeton professor Cornel West talked about how they were teaching together and working with students to develop the skills of talking fruitfully across political, ideological, and other differences. Conversation ensued about the possibility of their discussing their experiences with our students, faculty, and staff. Professors George and West agreed to visit campus and help us think about what it means for intellectuals to learn from each other despite deep differences on important questions.

Robert_George_77_webDr. George is a professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University and “this country’s most influential conservative Christian thinker,” according to The New York Times. His books include Making Men Moral: Civil Liberties and Public Morality, In Defense of Natural Law, and, most recently, Conscience and Its Enemies: Confronting the Dogmas of Liberal Secularism. He is Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and previously served on the President’s Council on Bioethics and as a presidential appointee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He has been awarded the United States Presidential Citizens Medal, the Honorific Medal for the Defense of Human Rights of the Republic of Poland, and many honorary degrees. He is an accomplished bluegrass banjo player and finger style guitarist.

Cornel WestDr. West is a professor emeritus of African American studies at Princeton and is honorary chair of the Democratic Socialists of America. His books include The Ethical Dimensions of Marxist Thought, Race Matters, and Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism. He has taught at Harvard and Yale, as well as Princeton, and is currently a professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He has appeared as “Councillor West” in two Matrix films and has done hip hop, soul, and spoken word recordings. He holds more than twenty honorary degrees and has received special recognition from the World Cultural Council. He is co-host with Tavis Smiley, of the radio show Smiley and West, and is co-founder of the Network of Spiritual Progressives. His autobiography is entitled Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud.

Together, Professors George and West have co-taught seminars at Princeton and have built a close friendship. Recently, when Professor George was sworn in at the Supreme Court as Chairman of the U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom, Professor West accompanied him to hold the bible-a bible that had been owned by the great abolitionist Harriet Tubman. Professor West quipped that this was the first time he had been to the Supreme Court to do something other than be arrested in a protest! Despite their serious political differences, the two scholars and activists share a passion for pursuing truth, living with integrity, and engaging in honest, thoughtful self-critical dialogue.

The Institute for the Liberal Arts is pleased to welcome these two distinguished guests to campus to continue to help us think about who we are as a college and to help us talk fruitfully despite our differences of opinion. We hope to learn from them how better to learn from each other. They will visit campus twice, once to meet with smaller groups of students and faculty and a second time to participate in a community-wide Collection open to all students, faculty, and staff. Their visits to campus will help stimulate discussion on these and other important questions:

  • Why are we here at a liberal arts college?
  • What does it mean to be committed collectively to justice when we have different conceptions of justice?
  • What is our role in a changing world?
  • What should a Swarthmore education be? Job training? Education for citizenship? To be a learned person?
  • What does it mean to communicate across differences regarding what is “right” or “wrong”? How do we talk about ethics and morality without resorting to calling others stupid or evil?
  • How can we remain true to our own deep convictions while maintaining respect for, and civility toward, those who have reached sharply different conclusions?
  • Can reasonable, well-intentioned people disagree fundamentally on ethical or moral issues?
  • How do we maintain an intellectual milieu that welcomes dissent and is free from orthodoxies of opinion that stifle discussion and encourage conformity of thought?

Contact Information:

Name: Pam Shropshire

Phone: 610-690-3560

Email: institute@swarthmore.edu

Martin Luther King Day: Local community events

With King Day coming up, we wanted to share this announcement that was circulated on the faculty-staff list today.

Range of Family-Friendly Events Planned in Chester for Martin Luther King Day on Jan. 20 and Jan. 21

Members of the community are invited to participate

CHESTER, PA – The Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Committee has planned a range of events to celebrate the legacy of the civil rights leader. Members of the community are invited to take part in a range of activities:

  • Jan. 18, noon to 2 p.m., throughout Chester. The Institute for Physical Therapy Education and the School of Nursing at Widener University will offer health and wellness clinics for residents at 12 different sites throughout Chester who are in need of blood pressure screenings, assessment of assistive devices, and educational resources for supporting healthy practices
  • Jan. 20, 4 to 7 p.m., YWCA, 4 E. 7th Street in Chester. The YWCA and Tau Delta Omega Chapter will host a Sunday Supper and Movie event. This fun event will include food, conversations, games, prayer and a presentation of the film “Half the Sky.” Reservations are encouraged; call (610) 876-2222.
  • Jan. 21, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., YWCA, 4 E. 7th Street in Chester: A range of free activities will be available for people of all ages, including:
    • Creation of personalized T-shirts. 
    • Stuffing of bags filled with personal care items for area needy. 
    • Collaborative art project: Led by representatives from the Community Arts Center of Wallingford, children and adults will color individual quilt squares that we will assemble on the wall in a collaborative design celebrating King’s connection to Chester. 
    • Presentations about safe medication use, financial management and gun violence prevention. 
    • Quilting, bib-making and dress-making for people in Haiti (sewing experience needed).
    • Collection and sorting of books to benefit incarcerated veterans (co-sponsored by Widener University and 
    • Live musical performances. 
    • Zumba workouts. 
  • Jan. 21, 1 to 4 p.m.., YWCA, 4 E. 7th Street in Chester: Children can enjoy a special “King’s camp” filled with a variety of fun activities, including a virtual tour of Chester, a movie, crafts, museum tour, snacks and more. Cost is $2.
  • Jan. 21, 1:30 p.m., Old Main Building at Crozer-Chester Medical Center, One Medical Center Boulevard, Upland: A wreath will be laid in front of the site of the former Crozer Theological Seminary, where King earned his Bachelor of Divinity in 1951. Rev. Dr. Bayard Taylor, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church (where Dr. King worshipped while he was a student), will deliver brief remarks.
  • Jan. 21, 2 to 2:45 p.m., Clark Auditorium at Crozer-Chester Medical Center, One Medical Center Boulevard, Upland: The public is invited to a celebration that will include speeches and musical performances.
  • 6:30 p.m., Alumni Auditorium, Widener University, 14th and Walnut Streets: Widener’s annual commemoration of Dr. King’s life, sponsored by the University’s Black Student Union. The program will include reflections from members of the Widener community about the significance of King’s life and work.

Since 1994, the Martin Luther King Commemorative Committee has worked to honor the memory and legacy of Dr. King in Chester, where Dr. King studied and preached before emerging as a civil rights leader on the national scene. As such, this holiday has always had a special meaning for Chester residents. In fact, it was the first community in Southeastern Pennsylvania to have a day of service on the holiday honoring Dr. King. Organizations involved in the planning and funding of the events include the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey in Delaware County, Widener University, the Chester YWCA, the Community Arts Center, Swarthmore College, Eastern University and Crozer-Chester Medical Center.

For more information about events at the YWCA, call (610) 876-2222.

For more information about Widener’s participation and the evening event at the University, contact Marcine Pickron-Davis at (610) 499-4566.

The parade, that starts at 1 P.M. from MLK Memorial Park, 7th and Engle sts., travels along 7th and 5th streets, and ends up around 2 P.M. at the Museum of the History of Delaware County, 408

For more information about the event at Crozer-Chester Medical Center, contact Grant Gegwich at (610) 447-6316.

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Collect Food for King Day

Pathways PA will be collecting food for families in crisis at the Center for Families, a residential facility for women and families transitioning from situations of homelessness and abuse. Cereals, snack foods and non-perishable items are being collected through January 21, at PathWays main office at 310 Amosland Road in Holmes. For more details, call Josh Glickenhaus at 610-543-5022.

 

Black History Parade

The Delaware County Historical Society (DCHS) will present the first-ever Black History Parade in Chester on Saturday, Jan. 26th to celebrate the legacies of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a former Chester resident; and Chester Clippers basketball. It also kicks-off its Black History Month exhibit.

Avenue of the States in Chester, will be followed by a special program celebrating the grand opening of the exhibit that runs until March.

The parade will feature members of the PA Buffalo Soldiers on motorcycles; re-enactors of the Civil War-era 3rd Regiment U.S. Colored Troops; Noah Lewis, the re-enactor of the Revolutionary War hero, Ned Hector; and locals including Kollective Talent Drill Team and other organizations.

Following the parade, the program inside the museum will feature singer Pam Gordon, the Gospel Disciples of Chester, an African dance presentation by Monika Rhoades and presentations from the Buffalo Soldiers, the Chester Clippers and others.