Common Ground http://blog.richmond.edu/commonground diversity • inclusion • community • justice Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:25:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=wordpress-mu-1.2.5 en Diversity: A Dirty Word? http://blog.richmond.edu/commonground/2009/11/20/diversity-a-dirty-word/ http://blog.richmond.edu/commonground/2009/11/20/diversity-a-dirty-word/#comments Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:25:14 +0000 Glyn Hughes http://blog.richmond.edu/commonground/2009/11/20/diversity-a-dirty-word/ John L. Jackson Jr. raises some provocative questions in a recent contribution to the Chronicle of Higher Education:

  • What’s wrong with diversity?
  • Are academics still fighting for a version of diversity with real institutional teeth?
  • Has that battle already been lost?
  • What do you think?
]]> http://blog.richmond.edu/commonground/2009/11/20/diversity-a-dirty-word/feed/ Obama signs bill that broadens the definition of hate crimes to include sexual orientation and gender identity http://blog.richmond.edu/commonground/2009/11/01/obama-signs-bill-that-broadens-the-definition-of-hate-crimes-to-include-sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity/ http://blog.richmond.edu/commonground/2009/11/01/obama-signs-bill-that-broadens-the-definition-of-hate-crimes-to-include-sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity/#comments Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:27:39 +0000 Lisa Miles http://blog.richmond.edu/commonground/2009/11/01/obama-signs-bill-that-broadens-the-definition-of-hate-crimes-to-include-sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity/ Last month Pres. Obama signed the Matthew Shepard - James Byrd jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act which extended the definition of federal hate crimes to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Matthew Shepard died as a result of a brutal homophobic attack in Laramie Wyoming in 1992. James Byrd Jr., and Afircan American, died in June of 1998 in Jasper Texas when he assaulted and dragged behind a truck for threee miles until his death.

Read about the bill in this article on the NAACP website, and here in the Washington Post.

]]> http://blog.richmond.edu/commonground/2009/11/01/obama-signs-bill-that-broadens-the-definition-of-hate-crimes-to-include-sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity/feed/ Inclusive Community Fund supports campus projects http://blog.richmond.edu/commonground/2009/09/27/inclusive-community-fund-supports-campus-projects/ http://blog.richmond.edu/commonground/2009/09/27/inclusive-community-fund-supports-campus-projects/#comments Sun, 27 Sep 2009 17:10:26 +0000 Lisa Miles http://blog.richmond.edu/commonground/2009/09/27/inclusive-community-fund-supports-campus-projects/ Formerly known as the Common Ground Small Grants program, the Inclusive Community Fund provides funding for campus projects designed to promote an inclusive community on campus and create learning opportunities across differences. Students or employees may apply for funding for projects that enhance classroom learning, explore different cultures,  or investigate issues of social justice. Past funded projects have included theatre productions, student or faculty-promoted cultural events, class field trips, or guest speakers. Your innovative and challenging ideas are welcome! For more information go to the Common Ground website or contact Lisa Miles at 484-1655.

]]> http://blog.richmond.edu/commonground/2009/09/27/inclusive-community-fund-supports-campus-projects/feed/ The Meaning of Gender, and the story of Caster Semenya http://blog.richmond.edu/commonground/2009/09/15/the-meaning-of-gender-and-the-story-of-caster-semenya/ http://blog.richmond.edu/commonground/2009/09/15/the-meaning-of-gender-and-the-story-of-caster-semenya/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:52:27 +0000 Lisa Miles http://blog.richmond.edu/commonground/2009/09/15/the-meaning-of-gender-and-the-story-of-caster-semenya/ South African runner, Caster Semenya, who recently won a gold medal at the World Track and Field Championships, has had her gender tested on order of the International Association of Athletics Federation, and reports are leaking out of Australia that she may be intersex, exhibiting both male and female physical characteristics.

Raised in a poor village in South Africa, it is very possible Caster herself, who has lived her life as a woman, did not know this fact.

What can be learned from Caster’s story? Read here to learn more about the current controversy over her testing. Click here for noted sociologist Mike Messner’s thoughts from a post to the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport. For more about what intersex means, click here.

]]> http://blog.richmond.edu/commonground/2009/09/15/the-meaning-of-gender-and-the-story-of-caster-semenya/feed/ Cool Video of MLK Day 2009 http://blog.richmond.edu/commonground/2009/08/27/cool-video-of-mlk-day-2009/ http://blog.richmond.edu/commonground/2009/08/27/cool-video-of-mlk-day-2009/#comments Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:06:13 +0000 Lisa Miles http://blog.richmond.edu/commonground/2009/08/27/cool-video-of-mlk-day-2009/ Common Ground student employee Mario Villalba, along with the help of a few friends, made this great video of the events associated with the University’s commemoration of Martin Luther King day, 2009. Note the presence of Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Rogery L. Gregory as the main speaker, and performances by students. The planning is just beginning for MLK Day 2010. Contact Common Ground if you would like to be a part of the planning.

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