Education conference aims to increase diversity on campus
The event will address
affirmative action and
other minority issues
By Victor Runyan
Oregon Daily Emerald
Noted controversial speaker
and writer bell hooks will speak
tonight as part of the Education
2000 Conference, intended to ex
amine diversity at the University.
The Multicultural Center is
spearheading several student
groups helping to organize the
conference, which starts today
and ends Saturday evening.
The conference begins with a
rally in the EMU Amphitheater
from 11:45 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The conference features two
keynote speakers and workshops
on a wide range of topics aimed at
increasing diversity on campus.
The event is free and attendees
can register on-site.
The conference’s first keynote
speaker is hooks — who uses all low
ercase letters in her name to draw atten
tion away from the author and to the con
tent of her works—who will speak in
the EMU Ballroom tonight at 7 p.m.
She is a nationally recognized
speaker and writer on subjects in
cluding race, gender and academia.
She is “one of those amazing
speakers that is able to reach a di
verse group of people,” said Jessi
ca Billingslea, fund-raising orga
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nizer for the conference.
Billingslea said hooks is a noted
critic of academia, which hooks
feels excludes many walks of life
from its dialogues.
The last event of the conference
will be the keynote address by Tim
Wise at 7 p.m. Saturday in the
Willamette Atrium. Wise is a social
critic and has been an antiracism
activist since he was 14. He has de
fended affirmative action and been
involved in issues relating to the
poor and persons of color.
Wise is what Billingslea calls an
“ally for people of color.” She said
he is an example of a member of the
majority who feels that minority is
sues are important to everybody.
Both keynote speakers will speak
on aspects of diversity at universi
ties, including the need to increase
the number of minority viewpoints
presented on college campuses.
The conference centers around
four sessions of four workshops,
two on each day Friday and Satur
day. The workshops are organized
according to themes, said Javier
Hernandez, education organizer
for the conference. Issues include
affirmative action, crosscultural
education and building diversity
in the community as a whole. An
ad hoc collection of workshops
the conference organizers felt
were important but could not fill
an entire session will also be held.
Most of the workshops will take
the form panel discussions, but
some will involve direct participa
tion by the audience. Faculty and
staff members from the University
will compose the panels. Some
panels will also feature faculty
from other universities and mem
bers of community organizations,
The affirmative action panel Satur
day morning will include keynote
speaker Tim Wise, Hernandez said.
Breakfast and lunch speakers will
appear on Saturday. Breakfast
speakers include former ASUO
Vice President Glen Banfield and
ASUO President-elect Wylie Chen.
Chen will speak about increasing in
volvement of people of color to in
crease diversity at the University.
“I think it’s an amazing confer
ence and well needed,” Chen said.
Johnny Lake, a student activist
at Oregon State University, will
speak at a brown bag lunch.
The conference is “a call to ac
tion for the administration,” said
Sylvia Gil, publicity coordinator
for the conference. She said she
hopes members of the administra
tion will attend. She also hopes
people with differing opinions
will attend the conference and
stimulate a reasoned debate about
the issues.
The conference, which will cost
Education 2000
WHO: University student groups
WHAT: Education 2000 Conference
WHEN: 11:45 p.m. Thursday to Sat
urday evening
WHERE: EMU Amphitheater, EMU
Ballroom, Willamette Atrium
Calender of events:
Today:
Kick-off rally, 11:45 a.m. to 2 p.m.,
EMU Amphitheater
Opening keynote speaker: bell
hooks, 7 p.m.
Friday, May 14:
Workshops in various locations
around the EMU and Gerlinger hall.
Session 1:11 a.m. to 12:20 p.m.
Session II: 2 to 3:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 15:
Breakfast speakers: 10a.m. to 11 am.
Workshop Session 111:1130 amtol pm.
Brown bag lunch with spe^er 1 to2pm
Workshop Session IV: 2:30 to4p.m.
Closing keynote speaker: Tim Wise,
7 p.m., Willamette Atrium
For a complete schedule, contact
the Multicultural Center at 346-4207
or visit the conference’s welcome
table in the EMU lobby.
$14,000, is funded by donations
from a number of groups on and
off campus in addition to fund
raising, Hernandez said.
‘Momentum’ debuts this week
Tracy Vacura and Caitlin McKenney will dance in the UO Dancers presentation of ‘Momentum’ on May 13-15.
Catharine Kendall/Ememld
The dance event will
showcase the work of
student choreographers
By Serena Markstrom
for the Emerald
It’s 1945. World War II just end
ed and Americans are ready to
party. Swing dancing is hot and
so is The Red Door nightclub. That
is what senior choreographer Emi
ly Russell told her dancers to get
them into character.
“The Red Door” is a swing num
ber with 20 dancers and will debut
today at the department of dance’s
annual spring student dance con
cert, called “Momentum.”
For one of the 11 choreogra
phers, momentum has been build
ing for a year. Dance major Cari
Cunningham has been working on
her piece “The Body She Inhabits”
since last spring when she pitched
it for her Honor’s College thesis.
Cunningham’s senior project and
thesis was inspired by author Toni
Morrison. Morrison’s prose—deal
ing with identity and absences —
will be quoted throughout the piece
with voice-over narration.
Other seniors took a less dra
matic approach.
“Last year I did a really heavy
piece,” said Sara Jarrett, a dance
major. “I wanted this year’s to be
different and fun. ”
Jarrett choreographed her new
piece “Casio’s Colors,” to music
composed by her friend on a toy
Casio PT 80 keyboard.
“He is really excited to have an
audience hear his music,” Jarrett
said.
Though the tone of the piece is
whimsical, it was a challenge for Jar
rett to create it from the music. Nor
mally she choreographs the move
ments first and adds music later.
The six dancers represent pin
balls, each with distinctive per
sonalities. Some will dance as
mellow pinballs, while some will
dance as hyperactive pinballs.
“We are a community of pin
balls, all trying to win,” said dance
major Aimee McNally, one of the
dancers.
In contrast to Jarrett’s high-ener
gy, colorful dance, dance major Pei
Yi Cheng’s piece “Descendent”
portrays a common story of Chi
nese girls. Cheng is an international
student from Taoyaun, Taiwan.
She said she started out translat
ing a Chinese story into English,
but it eventually became her own
story about the inequality between
boys and girls in Chinese culture.
“A son is a gift from heaven,”
the narration for the piece said. “A
daughter is a curse.”
Cheng said that is still a common
belief in China. Her dancers wear
brown V-neck tunics with dark
brown sashes, much like a Chi
nese peasant.
“I wanted to see how American
dancers would interpret my
movements,” Cheng said.
The show is entirely student
produced, with the choreography
created by upperclassmen and
graduate students.
Momentum” runs Thursday,
Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. in
Gerlinger Annex’s Dougherty
Dance Theatre. Tickets are $3 and
available at 7 p.m. Show organiz
ers said seating will be limited be
cause of renovations. For more in
formation call 346-3386.