Courage and Compassion: Celebrating Women's History Month

 

March is Women’s History Month. Growing up in a family with six sisters and a selfless, compassionate mother shaped my life beyond measure. I am forever grateful for their support, encouragement, and friendship. During my time as an undergraduate at Temple University I had the great fortune to meet my wife Deanna. She has been a constant source of love and inspiration. It has been the honor of my life to partner with her in raising our strong, confident, and caring daughter Lauren. I am enormously proud of the woman she has become.

I encourage you to use the occasion of Women’s History Month to recognize, celebrate, and thank the women in your life. Without doubt, there are influential women from family members to friends, teachers, professors, caregivers and countless other roles who have helped you become the person you are today.

This year’s official theme for Women’s History Month is “Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.” At Commonwealth University, we have many exceptional women working to promote and advance these ideals. I am grateful for the work they do every day in service to our students and our communities.

Women throughout history have been indefatigable champions for equality and fairness. Let us be reminded of their brave spirits as we continue the good work they started to ensure that our places of learning, working, and living are warm, welcoming, and open to all.

Inspirational leader and changemaker Malala Yousafzai said, “I raise up my voice—not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard…We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back.” To our students, I say keep raising your voice in support of your future and those around you. Use it to lift up the women in your life and look for ways to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in all that you do. You have the power to challenge and change the status quo—just as so many women before have done.

Finally, as we celebrate Women’s History Month take a moment to reflect on the women who have made a difference in your life and those who have made a difference in the world. Think about the courage and compassion they have shown in their support for you and through their efforts to make the world a little more kind and welcoming. Let’s challenge ourselves to follow their example and act with both courage and kindness. And remember that courage looks different for all of us. In the words of writer Mary Anne Radmacher, “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.”

Bashar W. Hanna, President 

 

Celebrating our Courageous and Compassionate CU Students 

A group of CU-Mansfield students in the lab

CU-Bloomsburg students volunteering at the annual Big Event. 

The talent of our CU-Lock Haven student-athletes shines on and off the field. 

 

Celebrating Juneteenth 2021

This Juneteenth, as we celebrate the significance of this historic day marking the end of slavery in the United States, may we also take a moment to reflect on the past year in our nation’s history. Since the senseless killing of George Floyd, we have witnessed an awakening of the ongoing need for our country to look inward, find our flaws and blemishes, and work to correct them through constructive dialogue and with a collaborative spirit and growth mindset. 

Here at BU, we will continue to strive for racial equality and justice for all. During our town halls for the BU community last summer and fall, we acknowledged that our campus is no different from many cities and communities across this country in that we have much work ahead of us in the areas of equity and inclusion. Thanks to the leadership of the co-chairs of our President’s Commission for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Dr. Shavonne Shorter and Ms. Maddy Rodriguez, we have held many training sessions and engaging discussions for faculty, staff, and students over the course of the past academic year.

While we as a campus community have made progress, we have more work to do and more progress to make. As we celebrate Juneteenth, let’s take some time to think about how we can make a difference as individuals to support our students, colleagues, and neighbors as we continue to build more equitable, inclusive, and welcoming communities at BU and across this great country. 

    Bashar W. Hanna, President

Celebrating Black History Month – and striving to become a better BU

While our nation has grappled with a global pandemic for most of the past year, we have also focused on the challenges of racial inequity and racism in our country, prompted in large part by the wrongful killing of George Floyd and the subsequent protests nationwide last spring. 

As we have acknowledged at our town halls for the BU community since last summer, our campus is no different from many communities across this country in that we have work to do in the areas of equity and inclusion. 

While we are proud of the events we have hosted for many years and the ongoing training sessions and programs we have instituted recently, we continue to strive to do more to develop a more welcoming, more inclusive and safer environment for all members of the BU community. As we celebrate Black History month and strive to become a better BU, I would like to highlight a few upcoming events this month that will feature speakers who will both challenge and inspire us:

An Evening Conversation on Equity, Inclusion, and Becoming a Better BU

This conversation will take place on Tuesday, February. 16, at 6:30 p.m., via Zoom. It will be moderated by BU’s own Dr. Shavonne Shorter (Special Assistant to the President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) and will feature Mr. Chad Dion Lassiter, a national expert on race relations and the executive director of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC). It will be my honor to take part in this discussion.

Lessons from the Later Dr. King

On Wednesday, February 17, at 6 p.m. we will welcome Dr. Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor and chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University. Presenting via Zoom, Professor Glaude will examine a period in Dr. King’s life that is not always highlighted: his later years, a time in which he was doubtful and felt that the country had turned its back on him.

Black in America

Finally, speaking of the late George Floyd, on Wednesday, February 24 at 6 p.m., we will welcome family members of Mr. Floyd as part of the keynote address at the annual Sankofa Conference (join via Zoom). The topic will be a conversation with Nyle Fort and George Floyd’s aunt and uncle, who will provide you a personal glimpse of the George Floyd they knew and loved. Fort is a minister, activist, and writer and the co-founder of The Maroon Project, an activist incubator based in Newark, NJ, that works with students, organizers and residents on issues of social justice.

I am grateful to all my colleagues who are members of our University’s President’s Commission for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and especially thank Dr. Shavonne Shorter and Ms. Maddy Rodriguez (co-chairs of the Commission) for their leadership. I also thank our guest speakers for sharing their wisdom and expertise with the BU Family. I hope you will plan to join these powerful conversations, as well as others planned for the coming weeks. For a complete list of BU’s events this month and the links to access them, please visit bloomu.edu/black-history-month.
 

Sincerely, 

        Bashar W. Hanna, President

Together as one BU Family

At noontime on Wednesday on our Quad, a student demonstration took place in response to a disturbing video that surfaced on social media this past weekend. In the 30-second video, a BU student was recorded while using a racial slur a few times.

As an immigrant who has been subjected to racist language during my own lifetime, I was appalled by the disturbing language in this video and felt compelled to share a message with the BU Family. Part of my message: “As a safe, inclusive and diverse campus community, we promote and value the human dignity of all each and every day. The actions and language in the student’s video do not represent Bloomsburg University and do not reflect our values.”

My sincere congratulations to our student leaders, who on Wednesday put together an impressive campus event that was well organized, collaborative, positive, and peaceful. Along with many of my colleagues, I joined our students and marched with them. As I said to the students at the event’s conclusion in front of Carver Hall, I am proud of all of them for having the courage to speak their minds, and for keeping the event peaceful. Our collective voice joined together in a unified way, is far more powerful and will accomplish so much more.

It is my pledge to our students to continue to work with them, to join our hearts, hands, and voices for the benefit of all our students – those who have expressed their concerns and those who have not. Together as one BU Family, we will make Bloomsburg University the model institution of which we can all be proud.

Bashar W. Hanna
President

Celebrating Black History Month

During the month of February we celebrate Black History Month. The story of Black History Month begins in 1915, half a century after the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States. It was in the fall of that year that Harvard-trained historian Carter G. Woodson and minister Jesse E. Moorland founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, a group committed to studying and promoting achievements by black Americans and other peoples of African descent.

Known today as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the group sponsored a national Negro History week in 1926, choosing the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black History Month in 1976, calling upon the public to "seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history."

Here at Bloomsburg University, I am proud of the programming we currently offer and hope that we'll be able to offer more in the years ahead.

We started BU's Black History Month with a lecture by Mr. Wil Haygood, a distinguished writer, author, Pulitzer Prize finalist and reporter. Mr. Haygood is best known for his book which was later turned into the critically acclaimed film, The Butler. Mr. Haygood gave an inspired talk to a large crowd on where we are as a society and how 'only light can drive out the darkness."

There will be several more lectures and presentations throughout the month in celebration of Black History Month.

But I want to highlight one very important discussion to be held on Friday, Feb. 16. Organized by CGA president Joar Dahn, "Beyond the Fountain", a discussion of racism in our community. It will be held in the Kehr Union Building, multi-purpose rooms A-B from 5 to 7 p.m. As Joar has said it is his goal is to bring people of all colors together to discuss diversity and how we can all learn from each other. This is a young man who cares deeply about this community and wants to make it a better place for all of us. I am so proud of him for what he is doing with this discussion and it is my hope that we come out and share our experiences. I'll be there and I hope you will be, too.

     Bashar