SUMA: Students United for Multi-Cultural Awareness

The Nichols School’s Response to Teaching Diversity

We have months, weeks and days set aside to honor, remember, educate and celebrate a whole host of causes, events, and extraordinary people. Oh, you know. Martin Luther King Day, Women’s History Month, Equal Pay Day (this year on April 20), and so on and so forth.

Today I was introduced to a totally new celebration of sorts. Civil Right’s Season. It begins on MLK Day and ends with International Women’s Day (March 8, 2010). I Googled the concept and found nothing about it, so I believe that it is a unique program developed by two teachers at the Nichols School of Buffalo. (If anyone out there can correct me on this, please leave a comment). From MLK day through March 8, International Women’s Day, the students exposed to the many faces of discrimination.

How did I come by such extraordinary information? Well, my friend and colleague, Ruth Meyerowitz, PhD at SUNY, Professor of American History, recommended me to Laurie Ousley and Caitlin Crowel, the two teachers at Nichols School who developed this program, now in its second year. Their program was developed in response to the recognition by the Board and the administration that the school had become more diverse and that they needed to pay serious attention to educating their students about one another and about the world. (It was also an accreditation requirement that they took seriously—kudos to them because so many educational institutions do not).

The students have studied literature written by women and persons of color. They have studied the history of the civil rights movement and the women’s movement. Many of the programs have been developed by the students themselves. I was very impressed that the students have considered children’s rights! (As I thought about that last one, I realized it wasn’t something that we have considered since the time of Charles Dickens and since child labor laws have become such a part of our society. But even in our own country, with the complexities of new social paradigms, there is room for a fresh look at this area, and certainly around the world, in “less enlightened” societies, children must not be forgotten.)

The season gala occurs at an assembly, this year March 12, 2010 at 8 am at the Glenn and Awdry Flickinger Performing Arts Center. I have been invited to speak about Gender Discrimination. I am honored by the recognition but more so by the responsibility of talking to a generation of children who did not and will not see the world through the same lens which I did.

So as I prepare for this challenging talk, I ask you to help me by suggesting some “dos and don’ts”. I already have lined up my Nichols student advisor (who will remain incognito) to make sure that I do not put everyone to sleep or deeply embarrass myself or my hostesses.