Project Respect raises awareness

By Jenny Jones
Senior Writer

In an effort to spread diversity awareness, student organizations across campus will participate in Project Respect: Expressions of Human Rights this week.

This will be the third year the Project Respect committee has coordinated events to engage students in different aspects of cultural diversity. The committee is hoping that with an expanded list of student organizations on the agenda, it will be able to bring even more awareness to students and the community, said Sara Solloway, Purdue Student Union Board program director.

This year, 18 student organizations, including the Purdue Bahai Club, VOX: Voices for Planned Parenthood and the Student Union Board, are participating in Project Respect week, which will run from today through Saturday, by holding a variety of workshops and presentations around campus. "(The program’s) really expanded," Solloway said.

In addition to events held by student organizations, the Project Respect committee works hard to bring a well-known speaker to campus every year, said Solloway.

Last year, the committee hosted a lecture by Jane Elliott and the year before, Judy Sheppard. This year, the committee has chosen to bring Maya Angelou, a renowned author and poet, to campus. Angelou will present the values of human rights during her discussion at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Elliott Hall of Music. Tickets for the lecture are $5 for students and $10 for the general public.

Other events, such as a retreat being held by the Black Student Union from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday in Stewart Center, Room 214, are free to students. The retreat will give minority student organizations, including Women of Vision, the Black Graduate Student Association and Sigma Gamma Ro, the opportunity to come together to discuss issues such as campus resources available to minority students on campus, said Joi Warren, president of the Black Student Union.

"Because the minority student population is so small, we need to pull on each other and limit the separation among (ourselves)," said Warren, a senior in the School of Liberal Arts. "It’s just a time for us to get out and mingle with each other."

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