Hello! My name is Alex Leffers, Manager of Communications and Community Engagement for the Division of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.  I’m here to tell you about the Bison Circles: Affinity Groups that I’ve created.  I created several events on the events page related to the different affinity groups. 

These circles are intended to discuss racism, other isms, like audism, and many other -isms on campus. It’s an opportunity to unpack and get things off your chest.  Affinity groups are a great way to get support from each other, discuss and unpack, and just listen to each other.  The purpose of the circles is to connect and build better relationships and a better community. 

The reason we have different affinity groups is because … often black students need to have a space for themselves. Latina/o/x and hispanic students need to have a space for themselves. White students are encouraged to have a space for themselves to unpack, discuss and understand racism and understand -isms in general. There’s a need to understand how white privilege and white identity can impact these things (-isms).

That is why we have these different group. We also have a group for Asian Pacific Islanders. We have an Indigenous group and we have a mixed group for ALL students to come together, with different backgrounds and perspectives. Share, talk — to again, start connecting and building better relationships.

So, I hope you will come and register and join groups that fit your identity.  You can chose to join whatever racial group you  belong to, plus the mixed space. And if you are LGBTQ+, we have a group for you as well. So, the groups are set to fit your identities.  Again, the mixed group is for ALL students to have the opportunity to share ideas. 

Please register!!  I will share more information about the registration in the next vlog. OK, thank you!