Previous Programs

Dr. Adjoa B. Asamoah is known internationally as the CROWN (Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) Act Champion. She developed legislative and social impact strategies to combat hair-based discrimination and continues to lead the groundbreaking CROWN Act movement nationwide.

The event was held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, February 20, 2024 in the Campus Center Ballroom.

Political Scientist Terri Givens, renowned political scientist, thought leader, and the author of Radical Empathy: Finding a Path to Bridging Racial Divides (paperback, 2022) addressed the global problems of hatred and xenophobia through a focused program teaching empathy.

Dr. Givens offered a revolutionary approach to ending racism—moving beyond an understanding of others’ lives and pain to recognize the origins of our own biases, including internalized oppression.

This event was held at 7 p.m. on February 21 at the Campus Center Ballroom and was sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Student Association, and Honors College in collaboration with the NYS Writers Institute.

Cathy Park Hong is the author of three books of poetry and Minor Feelings (2020), an autobiography of ruthless honesty, emotional and completely original exploration of Asian American consciousness. She won the Pushcart Prize for her first book of poetry, Translating Mo'um (2002), and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Minor Feelings. She is a poetry editor for The New Republic and a professor at Rutgers-Newark University. Co-sponsored by Office of Diversity and Inclusion and Multicultural Resource Center, in partnership with the NYS Writers Institute.  

Watch a video of the ODI Speaker Forum with Author Cathy Park Hong that was held virtually at 7 p.m. on Thursday, September 15, 2021.

University at Albany's Race for Equity 5K celebrates social justice accomplishments in the United States, raises awareness about current injustices, and educates participants as our nation forges ahead in the Race for Equity. Thirty "social justice stations" were posted along the racecourse that had giveaways (Equity 5K Bags provided) were dedicated to memorializing a social justice accomplishment, recognizing civil rights leaders, or raising awareness about a current inequity.

“Building Capacity for African Freedom in the Americas and Beyond” 

Juneteenth is the oldest commemorated celebration of the abolishment of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger and his Union soldiers landed in Texas with news that the war had ended and that enslaved persons were free – two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. For many, this marked the true end of slavery in the United States.  

This virtual conference ended with an in-person Sleep-out for Social Justice. The sleep-out took place on UAlbany's Uptown Campus from 9 p.m. Friday, June 18, to 6 a.m. Saturday, June 19. Read the complete conference agenda.  The goal of this inaugural conference was to yield a significant increase in the awareness of and appreciation for African freedom movements in the United States and support for Sickle Cell Disease Research.

Anti-Asian racism during the COVID-19 pandemic is the latest iteration in a long and violent history of dehumanizing and degrading our Asian and Pacific Islander heritage communities.

The term “Yellow Peril” — once a slur used against 19th-century Chinese immigrants in the United States — was reclaimed by Asian American activists in the 1960s. The phrase went from being associated with disease and contagion to being known for the iconic slogan, “Yellow Peril Supports Black Power.”

Today, “Yellow Peril” expresses the AAPI community’s concerns with being associated with a pandemic and their commitment to building coalitions with communities more heavily impacted by racist violence.

We invite you to read the article, "Unmasking Yellow Peril."

LaTosha Brown, the co-founder of Black Voters Matter and a fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, was the keynote speaker. Her remarks focused on racial and social justice in public policy, including voter rights and the power of coalition building.

UAlbany President Havidán Rodríguez made opening remarks. There was also a recorded message from Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.

Watch a video of UAlbany's Black History Month Virtual Celebration Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that was held virtually at 7 p.m. on Monday, February 22, 2021.