Fairfield University to conduct multicultural conference | Press Releases

The University will conduct its Second Annual Conference on Multiculturalism and Diversity in Catholic Higher Education on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 21 and 22, 1997. The conference will feature addresses by Dr. Mary Brabeck, dean of the School of Education at Boston College, and Dr. Diana Hayes, associate professor of theology at Georgetown University, as well as adjunct faculty in Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University of New Orleans.

Topics for this year are expected to include multicultural experiences on Catholic campuses, diversity in the curriculum, techniques for raising ethnic and cultural awareness, sexual orientation, women in Catholic education, and religious minorities on Catholic campuses, to be discussed in scholarly papers, workshops, roundtable discussions and by speakers.

Fairfield is entitling the coming session "Continuing the Dialogue." The Rev. Aloysius P. Kelley, S.J., president of Fairfield University, commented, "College campuses mirror the challenges and tensions of our times. Whether dealing with religious and political beliefs or issues surrounding ethnic and racial difference, intolerance can become an unfortunate part of the equation."

He explained that the conference will seek to identify strategies that will promote understanding of these issues by individuals and by institutions. "Together we can help make multiculturalism a value rather than a catch-phrase."

At the first conference held last year, some 300 faculty, students and administrators from Fairfield and some 40 other Catholic and non-Catholic colleges discussed topics dealing with ethnicity, the meaning of diversity at colleges, disabilities, college life, the curriculum, and gender issues.