MOUNT VERNON - A multicultural conference Saturday, Nov. 18, at Cornell College will feature workshops on topics from rock music and racism to white privilege and leadership, plus live entertainment including a drum demonstration, belly dancing and slam poetry.
Titled “Celebrating Diversity, Discovering Unity: A Global Imperative,” the conference goal is to create a forum for exchange and learning about diversity in all its dimensions.
“Our vision is to bring together individuals and organizations focusing on the challenging issue of diversity and how it affects our society, both domestically and abroad, in an effort to move us closer in order to see the many ways we are all alike, and value the ways we are different,” says Ken Morris Jr., director of the Office of Intercultural Life at Cornell.
The conference will be held in The Commons. Highlights include a keynote lecture, “Dimensions of Diversity,” at 10 a.m. by Rita Ali, executive director of diversity at Illinois Central College in Peoria. Workshops led by Cornell administrators, faculty and students, and guest speakers are scheduled at 11 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. in several rooms of The Commons. Following lunch in the Cornell dining halls, there will be live entertainment on the Orange Carpet from 12:30 to 1 p.m.
Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. The conference is open to the public and registration is free. Lunch is $5 for guests of the campus.
For more information on the conference, call Cornell’s Office of Intercultural Life, (319) 895-4484, or e-mail Ken Morris, kmorris@cornellcollege.edu.
