Niagara University Holding Conference On Racial And Social Justice
Niagara University will host a Fostering Racial and Social Justice Conference on its campus April 15-16.
Among the 100 registrants for the two-day event are representatives from more than a dozen colleges and universities, as well as numerous community organizations, government officials and business leaders.
“The remarkable collaborative efforts that have taken place at Niagara to develop this conference – especially among students and faculty – reinforce the fact that enhancing the inclusivity of our campus environment is of critical importance to all of us,” said the Rev. James J. Maher, C.M., president of Niagara University. “In this Year of Mercy, Pope Francis has called upon God’s people to be builders of bridges. This conference reflects Niagara’s mission to build bridges of dialogue on diversity and social justice, to do so as St. Vincent reminds us by the rays of charity.”
The conference’s keynote speaker is Dr. Martha Biondi, chair of the department of African-American studies and professor of African-American studies and history at Northwestern University. Dr. Biondi is the author of The Black Revolution on Campus, which is described by its publisher as the definitive account of an extraordinary but forgotten chapter of the black freedom struggle at colleges and universities in the 1960s and 1970s.
Among the presenters will be United States Magistrate Judge Hugh B. Scott, a 1971 graduate and Trustee of Niagara University. Judge Scott was the first African-American to preside over the federal court bench in the Western District of New York, among many other notable achievements.
A full schedule of presentations and discussions, including on-campus locations, will be announced by the end of March.