What’s Up with “What’s the Tea?”: Starts, Stops & Lessons Learned in Social Justice Work

By Lisa Gray, Assistant Director of Student Life, Cultural and Spiritual Diversity.  Earlier this year, Joakina Stone, then a Res Life colleague and collateral work staff with Student Life’s Mosaic Center, along with an amazing group of students, staff and faculty, helped us to co-create our new Mosaic Social Justice discussion series. We exchanged a bunch……

Guest Post: Black Lives Matter and Mental Brave Spaces

This guest post was written by Ty Philip and was originally featured on the Women’s Center blog.  When discussing the concept and implementation of brave spaces, a lot of the conversation revolves around the idea that these spaces are inherently physical. We speak of transforming places into brave spaces, designating that certain locations at certain……

How to Plan a Social Justice Event in 6 Steps

By Jasmine Malhotra, Graduate Coordinator for Cultural Programs with Student Life’s The Mosaic: Center for Culture & Diversity UMBC’s Critical Social Justice (CSJ) Week 2015 will be February 16 -20th. As we get closer to the week and all the exciting events that will take place, you may be wondering how you can participate. What……

Critical Social Justice Keynote Speakers Reflections on Ferguson

There have been so many blog posts written within the past three months since Michael Brown’s murder and especially within the past 48 hours documenting the anger, the sadness, the rage in the aftermath of what has (and is) taking place in Ferguson (read this or this or this just for starters).  There is nothing that I……

Announcing CSJ 2015!

The second annual Critical Social Justice campaign will be held February 16th-20th, 2015! This year’s theme is “Creating Brave Spaces,” inspired by the essay “From Safe Spaces to Brave Spaces” by Brian Arao and Kristi Clemens. Our keynote speaker will be comedian and social justice blogger Franchesca Ramsey (a.k.a. Chescaleigh), who’s perhaps best known for……

Why Equality Isn’t Fair: A Lesson from Fourth Grade

This post is written by Madison Miller. It was originally featured on the Women’s Center WordPress, which you can find here. With much discussion in Women’s Center staff meetings about actively applying our work in the Center as student staff members to other areas of our lives, I have recently been thinking a lot about……

Guest Post: Honoring Stonewall, LGBTQ History Month, and Reina Gossett

This guest post was written by Women’s Center student staff member Ty Philip.  In celebrating LGBTQ History Month, it’s important to remember those who don’t fit into the mainstream representation of the LGBTQ community. As the LGBTQ community has made gains in society, it is important to recognize that the face of the movement is……

LGBTQ History Month Keynote Speaker: Reina Gossett

“Towards a Queered Understanding of Critical Social Justice” UMBC celebrates LGBTQ History Month with this Critical Social Justice campaign speaker. The lecture is scheduled for Tuesday, October 21st at 7:30pm in the University Commons (UC) Ballroom. A trans woman of color, hearing Reina Gossett’s lived experience is enough to captivate. Add to this her years of meaningful experience in activism……

Guest Post: Male Privilege in Women’s Spaces

This guest post on privilege and critical self-reflection comes from Women’s Center staff member Daniel Willey. When I was asked if I would be interested in joining the Women’s Center staff, my first reaction was, “HELL YES.” The Women’s Center had very quickly become my favorite place on campus, and I was excited to jump……

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Critical Social Justice: Creating Brave Spaces will be held   February 16th-20th, 2015. Follow #CSJ2015 for updates!