How Open and Sincere are People About Wanting to Change in a Direction That Will Make it Possible for Us to Live With a Measure of Peace

Access for All to Higher Education: Every Child Deserves an Equal Chance at Obtaining a Quality Higher Education

THURSDAY, MAY 29—2:00–3:30 P.M. 

Diversity and Its Discontents

Evelyn Hu-Dehart, Ph.D.

Go to full details »

Current Issues of Native Americans in Higher Education

Power is the Problem: White Students, Blackface, and the Failure of Mainstream Multiculturalism

Angela Oh, Esquire, Attorney, Teacher, and Public Lecturer.

Her law firm, Oh & Barrera, LLP is based in Los Angeles. The firm offers representation in state and federal criminal matters and civil rights.

Angela Oh, a nationally-recognized attorney, public lecturer, and community leader, is of Counsel to the Century City law firm of Bird Marella in Los Angeles, California. Formerly a name partner and trial attorney at Beck DeCorso Barrera & Oh, she has represented individuals and entities in all facets of state and federal court litigation.

During her years in public service and private practice, Oh has built a reputation as an effective advocate and negotiator, drawing upon a wide breadth of experiences in the community, legal, and political arenas.  In 1992, Oh gained national prominence as a spokesperson and mediator for the Asian American community in connection with the Los Angeles riots. Thereafter, she was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as one of seven Advisory Board Members on the President's Initiative on Race, which was charged with identifying and resolving problems relating to race relations in the United States. In 2002, Oh founded her own law firm, which focused on civil rights and criminal litigation.

Throughout her career, Oh has served in leadership positions in numerous select commissions and boards, including as Chairperson of United States Senator Barbara Boxer's Federal Judicial Nominations Committee for the Central District of California; a Member of the Los Angeles City Commission on Human Relations; a Lawyer Delegate to the 9th Circuit Judicial Conference; and Commissioner on the ABA Commission on Women in the Legal Profession. Previously, Oh was also a founding member of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and a recipient of its Trailblazer Award. In returning to the full-time practice of law, Oh's practice will focus on the litigation and criminal matters. In addition, she will continue her engagements as an independent monitor in matters involving the EEOC, by providing training, advice, and counsel to organizations on issues relating to race and gender discrimination in the workplace.

Oh's public lectures and writings reflect the opportunities and challenges that diversity presents. Her lectures have taken her into both national and international arenas, including China, Korea, the Middle East, Northern Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Her teaching appointments have been at UCLA School of Law, UCLA Asian American Studies Department, and UC Irvine School of Social Sciences and Political Science. Oh is also an ordained Priest, Zen Buddhist Priest - Rinzai Sect.

Ranjit Sidhu, Executive Vice President of the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships (NCCEP)—Washington, D.C.

Ranjit Sidhu in this role, has senior leadership responsibility for much of the organizations programmatic and policy initiatives, as well as the organizations staffing and operations.  In addition, he is active in building the organization’s capacity around corporate and community relations services in order to promote the council’s mission of forming partnerships between schools, communities and colleges for the purpose of helping minority and under-privileged children obtain a higher education. Prior to joining NCCEP, Mr. Sidhu served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for the National Association of Partners in Education where he oversaw external strategic alliance activity, as well as all internal operations. 

During his tenure at Partners in Education he also served as the Director of Field Services, managing the technical assistance and training operations for the Association. His professional background includes experiences as: a community/school partnership manager for the George Washington University; a high school social studies teacher in the District of Columbia and Prince Georges County (MD) public school systems; and as a policy analyst for the American Petroleum Institute. Mr. Sidhu holds Masters Degrees in Education, as well as Public/International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh and the George Washington University.

Evelyn Hu-Dehart, Ph.D., Professor of History, and Director-Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, Brown University—Providence, Rhode Island

For decades now, almost all universities have professed a commitment to something called Diversity and touted their success with regards to Diversity.  But what in fact have they accomplished, and how exactly have they accounted for their progress?  How sincere is this commitment, and how honest and transparent are the procedures and practices? What are some best practices, and what are some of the scams and shams? In this conversation, Evelyn will share her three decade-long experience with Diversity from the late 60s to the present day, the good and the ugly, the sincere and the corrupt, and invites the participants to share their own experiences at their respective institutions, towards the goal of attaining a deeper and broader understanding of the Diversity Project in Higher Education for all of us. She promise a honest, direct, and no-hold barred conversation because it is time we take a cold, hard look at what we have been doing in the name of Diversity, acknowledging to be sure the progress made and some of the best practices we have helped put in place, but also confronting, however painfully, the corrupt practices we may have chosen to ignore, or even have been complicit in perpetuating or covering up, in order to protect our institutions and higher ups, or to project the illusion of advancing Diversity. In short, this conversation is about the Politics of Diversity, and therefore about Power: Who wins, who loses, who makes decisions, how are the resources distributed, who gets to speak--in whose name and for whom, and who is silenced?

Evelyn Hu-DeHart is Professor of History and Ethnic Studies, and Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America at Brown University. Her current research focuses on Asian diasporas in Latin America and the Caribbean, and she speaks and writes on the politics of race and multiculturalism.

Winona LaDuke, Anishinaabekwe (Ojibwe), Leading Native American Environmentalist, Activist and Author—Ponsford, Minnesota

Winona LaDuke is an Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe) enrolled member of the Mississippi Band of Anishinaabeg. An internationally respected Native American, environmentalist, activist and author; and Program Director of Honor the Earth and the Founding Director of White Earth Land Recovery Project in Ponsford, Minnesota.

Her many honors include the Reebok Human Rights Award (1989), Time magazine’s fifty most promising leaders under forty years of age (1994), the Thomas Merton Award (1996), the Ann Bancroft Award (1997), Ms Woman of the Year Award (1997), the Global Green Award (1998), International Slow Food Award (2006), among others. Last year, LaDuke was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. In both 1996 and 2000, LaDuke ran for Vice-President on the Green Party ticket with Ralph Nader. 

A graduate of Harvard and Antioch Universities, she has written extensively on Native American and environmental issues. Her most recent book is Recovering the Sacred: The Power of Naming and Claiming (South End Press). Other books include Last Standing Woman (fiction), All Our Relations (non-fiction), In the Sugarbush (children's non-fiction), and The Winona LaDuke Reader (a collection of essays).

Vivian Shuh Ming Louie, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education-Boston, Massachusetts; Visiting Scholar, Russell Sage Foundation—New York, New York

Vivian Louie is a sociologist who studies education and identities in the diverse migratory flows occurring with globalization. In one line of inquiry, she studies immigrant families, who have settled in the United States, investigating how the incorporation of immigrant parents influences their children’s high school to college transition and identity formation. A key interest is how the views and experiences among immigrants and their children intersect with and are distinct from the native-born population in these domains. In a second line of inquiry, she studies how migrants from developing Asian nations negotiate the cultural, language, and learning divides in American graduate programs emphasizing the development of global leaders, and their decision-making about whether to settle in the United States or return to Asia.

In addition to her first book, Compelled to Excel: Immigration, Education, and Opportunity among Chinese Americans, she has a second book manuscript in preparation, focusing on Dominicans and Colombians, and several articles and book chapters. She has been awarded postdoctoral fellowships from the Social Science Research Council, and the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation, and a position as visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation. A native of New York City, Louie received her Ph.D. in sociology from Yale University, M.A. in Communication from Stanford University. She previously worked as a newspaper journalist, editor and teacher for a youth publication, and a lecturer in sociology at Harvard.

Sut  Jhally, Ph.D., Professor of Communication, University of Massachusetts and founder and Executive Director of the Media Education Foundation (MEF)—Amherst, Massachusetts

Sut Jhally is one of the world's leading scholars looking at the role played by advertising and popular culture in the processes of social control and identity construction. He is the author of numerous books and articles on media(including The Codes of Advertising and Enlightened Racism), he is also an award-winning teacher (a recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award at the University of Massachusetts, where the student newspaper has also voted him "Best Professor"). In addition, he has been awarded the Distinguished Outreach Award, and was selected to deliver a Distinguished Faculty Lecture in 2007.

Professor Jhally is best known as the producer and director of a number of films and videos (including Dreamworlds: Desire/Sex/Power in Music Video; Tough Guise: Media, Violence and the Crisis of Masculinity; and Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire) that deal with issues ranging from gender, sexuality and race to commercialism, violence and politics. Born in Kenya, raised in England, educated in graduate studies in Canada.

Role models help keep American students inspired. Through their words and action, they encourage students to strive for higher achievement. But many Hispanics are hard pressed to find true Hispanic role models. Fortunately, Hispanics who attend some of the America’s Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) need to look no further than their own college president for a role model. Although Hispanics represent only three percent of all presidents/CEOs of colleges and universities nationwide, a number of America’s HSIs have Hispanics at the helm. The NCORE Conference has invited Dr. Polonio to share her success stories, her education philosophy, and her thoughts on whether it is important that an HSI be run by someone Hispanic.

Narcisa A. Polonio, Ed.D., Vice President, Board Leadership Services, the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT)—Washington, D.C.

Francis Tafoya, Director, Eight Northern Indian Pueblo Higher Education Program—San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico; Chairman, Board of Regent, Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, Eight Northern Pueblo

Francis Tafoya, from Santa Clara Pueblo, has painted since he was a sixth-grade student. he studied at the Institute of American Indian Art and at Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico. He has taught art at Española High School but at present is Educational Planner at Santa Clara Pueblo where he has executed two murals for the Neighborhood Facility Council Chambers. he has exhibited at the Heard Museum, the New Mexico State Fair, and at the Eight Northern Pueblos Artists and Craftsmen Show, where he won several awards.

Tim Wise, Leading Anti-Racism Educator, Activist, and Author—Nashville, Tennessee

Tim Wise is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and activists in the U.S. He has spoken to over 300,000 people in 48 states, and on over 350 college campuses. Wise has provided anti-racism training to teachers nationwide, and conducted trainings with physicians and medical industry professionals on how to combat racial inequities in health care.

He has trained corporate, government, and law enforcement officials on methods for dismantling racism in their institutions, and has served as a consultant for plaintiff's attorneys in federal discrimination cases in New York and Washington State. In Summer 2005, Wise served as adjunct faculty member of the School of Social Work at Smith College, in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he taught a Master's level class on Racism in the U.S. In September 2001, Wise served as adjunct faculty at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he trained journalists to eliminate racial bias in reporting.

Wise was an advisor to the Fisk University Race Relations Institute (1999-2003), and in the early '90s was Associate Director of the Louisiana Coalition Against Racism and Nazism: the largest of the many groups organized for the purpose of defeating neo-Nazi political candidate, David Duke. Wise is the author of two books—White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son (Soft Skull Press) and Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and White (Routledge).

He has contributed essays to a dozen books and anthologies including White Privilege: Essential Readings on the Other Side of Racism and Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations. Wise is also featured in White Men Challenging Racism: Thirty-Five Personal Stories (Duke University Press). Wise received the 2001 British Diversity Award for best feature essay on race issues, and his writings have are taught at hundreds of colleges and have appeared in dozens of popular, professional and scholarly journals.

Wise serves as the Race and Ethnicity Editor for LIP Magazine, and articles about his work have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and San Francisco Chronicle. He has been a featured guest on hundreds of radio and television programs, worldwide. He appears regularly on the ESPN program "Quite Frankly, with Stephen A. Smith" to discuss racial issues in the world of sports. Wise has a B.A. in Political Science from Tulane University, where his anti-apartheid work received international attention and the thanks of Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He received training in methods for dismantling racism from the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond, in New Orleans.