Women in power on campus create an inclusive space amid political polarization
On Oct. 25, MSU Denver’s Gender Institute for Teaching and Advocacy (GITA) held its 3rd annual Women and Gender Equity in Leadership Summit.
The event was hosted at St. Cajetan’s, the former church turned campus event center, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. It took place at a time when some students are concerned about gender discrimination on campus.
The keynote speaker for the event was Danielle SeeWalker, who “is Húŋkpapȟa Lakȟóta and citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota. She is a fine artist, muralist, writer, activist, and boymom of two, based in Denver, Colorado. Her visual artwork often incorporates the use of mixed media and experimentation while incorporating traditional Native American materials, scenes, and messaging.”
The Metropolitan spoke to Lauren Coats, a Gender, Women’s, and Sexualities Studies major and student employee for GITA about the event. She said it was relieving to be in the same room with so many people who shared the same ideas about inclusivity.
“Seeing that on a large scale with multiple people with multiple identities, and how everybody is just kind of together, is just kind of affirming to me, because obviously we’re in a state of weirdness right now in the world,” Coats said.
She continued, “So knowing that there are still people that find those things important makes me feel a little bit more hopeful about humanity as a whole.”
Coats also spoke to the idea of work needing done, and progress needing to be made to make MSU’s campus more inclusive.
“There’s just still a long way to go before the entire campus and everybody on it has that acceptance.”
One issue Coats pointed out is the lack of understanding. “There’s just a lot of people higher up in administration and even some faculty that still sit in this position of power and privilege that they’re not recognizing.”
She continued, “I think recognition of the power and privilege that you have is so important because that’s how you do less damage with your power and privilege when you acknowledge it and you know the kind of harm or benefit that you can cause with it.”
