BUILDING JUSTICE

The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (ACSJL) at Kalamazoo College was established in 2010, after two years of research and planning. In 2020, the last of the three founding directors had either retired or left; and the former President of the College, for whom the ACSJL is one of her legacies, had also retired. Thus, it seemed fitting to mark the impact of the first 10 years of the ACSJL. We do this for historical and archival purposes but also in honor of a decade of leadership development toward individual, institutional, and collective liberation.  

This is “not your mama’s” assessment account. While there are quantitative data, there is more qualitative evidence of what we valued, how we measured success, and our depth of impact. The ACSJL believed in collaboration and community-building, understanding that strong relationships are fundamental to the work of advancing equity and justice. Not only did we bring grassroots movement leaders to campus regularly to engage our campus and community, but we also made it possible for students, staff, and faculty to travel to sites of historical and current struggles. Our goal was to educate and build the capacity of ourselves and all with whom we interacted. This two-way engagement led to student internships, faculty projects, and global partnerships that continue to reverberate to this day. 

We also strived to center the voices of those most impacted by injustices. We offered advice, encouragement, and strategic assistance to leaders and projects that sought visibility and deserved a platform, including students, staff, faculty, and local and global organizers. So many of the people who worked with the Center collaborated with us on multiple projects, attended several events, and remained engaged in our work year after year. People often told us that they felt valued and welcomed in our space, a fact of which we are deeply proud. Whether we were supporting young leaders on campus, in the Kalamazoo area or seasoned activists visiting from across the country who were writing their books, all were welcomed and embraced at the ACSJL.

Further, our compass always pointed to the transformation of institutions and systems. In contrast to “diversity and inclusion” models now embedded in higher education, the Center’s mandate was significantly different: we were charged with transforming the College across all disciplines and departments and embedding the idea that all lives are of equal value across our campus and the globe. Ergo, our practices constantly strived to examine and balance power, to relinquish long-held ways of operating that unconsciously held to racist, sexist, and queerphobic thinking and structures. With each endeavor, we challenged ourselves and others to address the roots of oppressive practices, to be fearless in strategies to shift culture and to imagine and build systems that put people before profit. The report that follows is a reflection of our efforts and aspirations to live into our values as we work to create a more just world. While Dr. Lisa Brock, former Academic Director for the ACSJL, has served as the curatorial lead on this report, it has truly taken a village. 

Below you will find a video commissioned a few years ago by the ACSJL to highlight our work, followed by three sections. The first section details how the ACSJL came about and its foundational structure. Also, there are examples of strategic plans and outcome reports.  

The second section describes the construction process and the impact of our spectacular building. 

The third section is a collection of candid shots of many (not all) of those who staffed or played key roles at the ACSJL. (Apologies to those we missed. Many of you are represented on the other web pages). This section also includes videos made for this study by the Founding Directors and the president emeritus, along with student survey data. Because of the pandemic, and our inability to get into a studio, they are rough—not polished, but important to include.

Our work was broad because it had to be. Thus, the rest of the report is organized by our Impact Loci (eleven pages) and our Geographic Reach (four pages). All can be accessed by the drop-down menu at the top of this and each webpage. 

It should be noted that an intersectional framework undergirds these pages, as all of the social justice loci happened across our geographic reach and vice versa. However, we worked hard not to repeat the same pieces of data on more than one page. Appreciatively, the abundance of our work made this easy. 

Included on each webpage is a brief description followed by texts, photographs, quotes, and videos, along with hyperlinked data, surveys, syllabi, memos, and reports. We have presented primary documents. Thus, they were not changed or made more polished for this study. They are what they are. In addition, we have too many images to indicate all by name. However, all images were taken by the ACSJL, for the ACSJL, or were donated to the ACSJL for this study or our online Praxis Center, unless otherwise noted.

On the many quotes: some are signed and some are not. Those that are not signed were pulled from anonymous evaluations we did after events and surveys we conducted for this study. Those that are signed were culled from surveys and the result of requests.

We hope you enjoy what you see and are inspired by our praxis. For instance, if you look at our Global Engagement Map you will see that the ACSJL has impacted and been impacted by social justice leaders from all over the world. If you look at Arts and Justice, you will see that one of the founders of the #hashtag Black Lives Matter, Patrisse Khan-Cullors, spent considerable time at the ACSJL before this movement launched and the term became the fulcrum of our nation’s struggle for racial justice. If you look at Regional, you will see how our relationship with Michigan’s indigenous clans and tribes transformed government and institutional policies.  

As Ed Menta, theater professor emeritus said: Because of the ACSJL, “I read books I never would have read, I attended lectures by speakers I never would have heard, and I saw documentary films I never would have seen. In short, I was introduced to the world of current social justice activism. There is no doubt in my mind that my experience is a microcosm of both the college and greater Kalamazoo communities.”