Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE-The University of Wisconsin-Platteville's Diversity Office will be sponsoring several events from March 31 through April 5 for Unity Week 2008. Chair member of the Student Senate's Diversity Committee and key event planner Devine O. Nzegwu feels that Unity Week is a particular stand out amongst the multitude of other events held on campus.

What she attributes to Unity Week's distinctiveness is its near exclusive conception, development and planning by students.

"There were no faculty members on our committee," she comments.

"The goal of Unity Week is to get as much interaction as possible, " Nzegwu says. "We want to change people's minds in a positive way about diversity and being united."

Activities commence on Monday, March 31, with Advocates Day, during which individuals may meet in the Pioneer Crossing to discuss issues of personal importance to them and what they do to advocate for these issues. The discussion will be held in an "open mic" style format addressing many concern topics of local, national and global magnitude. The speeches will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and everyone who speaks will receive a free unity band. Later that day, there will be a Music Forum held in Lundeen Lecture Hall at 7 p.m. The forum will feature a discussion on hip-hop music from around the world.

The Walk-A-Mile event will be held on Tuesday, April 1 from 2 to 6 p.m. during which the Black Student Union, Student Organization of Latinos and Alliance will display the pictures and slides encouraging reflection on past civil rights movements in their respective rooms. The highlight of the event will be a reverse discrimination demonstration of the Jim Crow Laws fueled event of the 1960s in which four blacks students were tormented by their white peers. The demonstration will be followed by a viewing of the Academy Award winning documentary "The Children’s March," which aired on HBO is 2005.

On Wednesday, April 2, distinguished lecturer Herman Boone will speak at 10 a.m. at Williams Fieldhouse. Game and Trivia Night will be held on Thursday, April 3 in the Pioneer Haus from 6 to 8 p.m. The "Jeporady" style games will quiz contestants in such topics as gender relations, race relations, and world cultures. Friday, April 4 will feature the Silent March starting at 1 p.m. on the Pioneer Student Center patio.

Activities will conclude on Saturday, April 5 with two events: a performance by the UW-La Crosse student group Awareness Through Performance, which will be held at 1 p.m. in the Center for the Arts and Taste of Nations at 5:30 p.m. at St. Augustine's Church in Platteville. The Taste of Nations event will feature a buffet style sampling of appetizers and desserts from the African, Mediterranean, Latin American, European, and Asian cultures. An international tea table and chocolate tasting is also in the works and donations are welcome.

All events are free and open to faculty, students and the public. However, attendees are asked to pick up tickets in advanced from either the Pioneer Involvement Center located in the PSC or the Multicultural Educational Resource Center. Raffles will be held at every event and attendees are advised to come to at least three events in order to have a chance at winning a grand prize, which is currently a surprise.

Nzegwu stresses that participation, and especially student participation is key to Unity Week's success and hopes to get feedback, good and bad from all.

Anyone wanting more information about any of the events mentioned here may contact Nzegwu at (608) 348-3344 or nzegwud@uwplatt.edu.

Contact: Devine O. Nzegwu, (608) 348-3344, nzegwud@uwplatt.edu Written by: Sunshine Street, UWP Public Relations, (608) 342-1194, streetsu@uwplatt.edu