SUNY Cortland multicultural life and diversity office has 3 upcoming workshops planned for this semester. They are called Safe Zone Workshop, Understanding and Advocating for Racial Injustice and Re-thinking abilities. These will all be held virtually and are open to anyone. SUNY Cortland students, faculty, staff, alumni, and even local community members involved with campus can attend.
AnnaMaria Omilanowicz Director, Multicultural Life and Diversity Office shared why these workshops are so important, “These workshops help people who have a fear of getting involved.” She went on to say, “People worry they may say or do the wrong thing, the purpose of this is to provide basic knowledge and to make people feel more confident and become allies.”
The original workshop on our campus was the Safe Zone workshop, created by a student who took the initiative. They added the other workshops shortly after. The multicultural life and diversity office updates the workshops ever so often to keep up with changes.
Each of these workshops have a sticker attached to them. Individuals can stop by the multicultural life and diversity office and pick up a sticker. Many offices and faculty of campus have these stickers on their office doors. Omilanowicz also stated, “The stickers help people who may be fearful about whether they will be accepted or supported in space.”
Each of the three workshops have one session left for the spring semester.
Here is brief introduction and details on each workshop:
Safe Zone Workshop:
The Safe Zone workshop is a program designed to help identify, educate, and support Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, and Pansexual allies (LGBTQIAP). This workshop is meant to expand SUNY Cortland campus knowledge. During this workshop they will be teaching and demonstrating how to make a “Safe Zone” and explaining why it is important.
This workshop also expands an individual’s knowledge by providing terminology and information about sexual orientation and gender identity. They also highlight being an ally, they discuss the importance of it and how you can be an ally.
This workshop will be taking place Monday, March 6th from 4:00pm to 6:00pm.
Understanding and Advocating for Racial Justice Workshop:
The Understanding and Advocating for Racial Justice Workshop focuses on understanding and how to be an ally for people of color. They provide terminology, highlight key terms, and focus on racialized identities. There is open discussion during the workshop, people can share as much as little as they want about their own experiences and thoughts. This workshop helps individuals gain knowledge and tools to be more comfortable and confident about having conversations focused on race/racism.
This workshop is scheduled for Tuesday March 21st from 3:00pm – 5:00pm.
Re-Thinking Abilities Workshop:
The Re-Thinking Abilities Workshop purpose is to provide knowledge and show support to individuals/students with all different abilities. All students with abilities on campus should have been treated with equality and fairness. The knowledge and terminology shared in this workshop can be used everywhere during daily life, not just on campus.
This workshop is scheduled for Monday April 10th from 4:00pm – 6:00pm
How to register for these workshops:
Here are the links to registers for the workshops:
Safe Zone Workshop
https://sunycortland.formstack.com/forms/spring_2023_safezone_workshop_2
Racial Justice Workshop
Re-Thinking Abilities Workshop
https://sunycortland.formstack.com/forms/spring_2023_rethinking_abilities_workshop_2
These links have also been posted on SUNY Cortland’s website.
Multicultural Life & Diversity Office Programming contact information and social media:
Email: multicultural.life@cortland.edu
Phone number: (607) 753-2336
Instagram: SunyCrtMLDO
Twitter: SunyCrtDiverse
Facebook: Diversity Cortland
If you have any questions, please email the Multicultural Life and Diversity Office at multicultural.life@cortland.edu.