INDIANAPOLIS ― It has become a recognized safe space where tough conversations about race and ethnicity can be had.
Tears sometimes flow, but hugs are also extended as faculty, administrators, staff and students from colleges and universities across the nation gather annually to discuss the tough issues of inclusion and diversity in higher education and beyond.
For nearly three decades, the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE) has been the go-to place to help rejuvenate those in the academy, whose daily work has focused on breaking down racial barriers while helping to push a social justice agenda forward that addresses a wide range of issues from mass incarceration to the challenges facing Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
“The conference has been eye opening for me,” said Matthew Nash, a student programming coordinator at the University of Oklahoma, which houses the Southwest Center for Human Relations Studies, the entity that launched the NCORE conference back in 1988. “We still have a long way to go, but I’m happy that the issues are being discussed.”
This year’s conference drew more than 2,300 participants to Indianapolis and included such high-profile speakers as Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, Cheryl Crazy Bull, environmental activist Vandana Shiva, and journalist Soledad O’Brien.
O’Brien, an award-winning journalist who left the cable network CNN last year to create Starfish Media Group—a production company committed to making documentaries that grapple with issues of race, class and poverty—encouraged conference goers not to wait for mainstream media to tell the important stories that involve people of color.
