A new program offers Nazareth College students a chance to partner up and gain a deeper understanding of other cultures, and discuss racism in a proactive environment.
Student2Student is based on the YWCA program Person2Person, which paired community leaders of different racial and ethnic backgrounds for facilitated conversations about race.
President of Nazareth College, Daan Braveman, is an alumnus of that program, and was inspired to bring a version of it to his campus.
Miriam Moore-Burt is the Director of Racial Equity Programs at the YWCA and said these conversations are just a reflection of what’s going on in our culture currently.
"The world around us continues to give us clues that we're so far away from where we want to be, and we believe that we dispel these things by talking about them one person at a time."
Students are paired with another student from a different racial and/or ethnic background and will discuss a variety of topics over 5 facilitated workshops, including the presidential election.
"We wanted to get their take on where they thought the tension was stemming from. Was it the candidates themselves, perhaps it something that was born from the historical racial tension in this country."
34 Nazareth students participate in the program currently.