Community Week will kick off Thursday, featuring 30 virtual events that aim to foster conversations among the Ohio State community around solidarity, deconstructing oppression, restorative justice and justice education. Credit: Courtesy of Sri Vidya Uppalapati
After eight months of social distancing, Ohio State’s Community Week 2020 is bringing people together — albeit virtually — for constructive discussions.
Community Week will kick off Thursday, featuring 30 virtual events that aim to foster conversations among the Ohio State community around solidarity, deconstructing oppression, restorative justice and justice education.
Sri Vidya Uppalapati, a fifth-year in public policy analysis and co-chair of Community Week 2020, said they hope to create dialogue spaces around campus where students, faculty and staff can discuss the issues comfortably.
“It’s not a debate. We’re not trying to get you to agree with people you don’t or anything like that,” Uppalapati said. “This is a space where you get to learn about what other people think and where you get to bring your perspectives and experiences.”
Alex Hensley, a fourth-year in public management, leadership and policy and city and regional planning and co-chair of Community Week 2020, said the events span over a spectrum of communities. She said their goal is to broaden people’s concept of the Ohio State community.
“It’s all about providing both a mirror to validate someone’s experiences at Ohio State and beyond or a window into another kind of experience,” Hensley said.
Community Week 2020 begins Thursday at 7 p.m. with an event called “Prioritizing Pleasure” in collaboration with individuals and groups dedicated to sexual violence prevention and sexual health education, including pleasure-based sexuality educator Erica Butler, Take Back The Night, It’s On Us and #MeTooWeek.
Monday will feature a panel discussion from 6-7:30 p.m. titled Reimagining Public Safety at Ohio State, which will center around dismantling and defunding police systems and applying alternative community safety efforts.
Tuesday will host an Asian Pacific Islander Desi American discussion on diversity, equity and justice from 4-5 p.m. The event will feature students, faculty and staff sharing their experiences with diversity, equity and justice and how they apply to Asian Pacific Islander Desi Americans in higher education today, according to the event’s registration link.
A discussion about Judaism and race in collaboration with OSU Hillel, a Jewish student organization, will take place Nov. 12 from 4-5 p.m.
The American Civil Liberties Union, a nonprofit organization that works to “defend and preserve” peoples’ individual rights, according to its website, will be hosting an event titled “Know Your Rights” with Undergraduate Student Government Nov. 12 from 4-5:30 p.m..
USG will also host an event titled “Immigration Stories” Nov. 13 from 4:30-5:30 p.m. where immigrants will speak on how their experiences as immigrants shaped their identity, according to the registration link.
On Nov. 16, there will be a virtual event titled “Drug Policy Implications of the 2020 Election” from 1-2:15 p.m. The event will feature a discussion on what the results of the 2020 election are likely to mean for drug enforcement policy at state and federal levels, according to the sign-up sheet.
A list of all events and information can be found on the organization’s Instagram page.
Editor’s note: The featured image for this article was changed Thursday at 2:36 p.m.
