Caitlin Lezell
Journal Contributor

This fall, various organizations across Suffolk University are joining together to bring students the Social Justice Series, a three-part event dedicated to educating today’s youth on such matters of equity and education, and the surrounding issues. Craig Cullinane, associate director of Diversity Services, explained this to be a “supplemental education experience.”
“As Diversity Services is a pillar of Student Affairs, part of our duty is to focus on social justice and education,” he said.
This is a timely topic that affects all students living in the United States, andthe entire Suffolk community is encouraged to attend, as well as the general public outside of Suffolk.
Cullinane also explained how it feels that the Suffolk campus is too separated across the different schools (business school, arts and sciences and NESAD), residence halls and commuter students. The program was purposely designed in an attempt to bring all of these different sections of the university together, right down to choosing to host the three events in three different venues across the campus.
The first part of this series occurred yesterday at Sargent Hall. It was designed to serve as an introduction to the program, a form of training students and faculty to think about what the meaning of social justice is, and how to apply such a question to the issue of education in the United States, its quality and its accessibility. Factors such as race, social class, and nationality were all discussed in this context.
Students and faculty can still attend the next two parts of the series. The second event will be a showing of Waiting for Superman, a documentary by filmmaker Davis Guggenheim. The story of five American families and their struggles to enroll their children in preschool challenges America’s declaration of “no child left behind,” while calling for change within our education system. The showing will be on Thursday, October 20 at the Modern Theatre.
The third part to this Social Justice Series will be a special lecture conducted by Dr. Ronald Ferguson of Harvard University. Ferguson is a senior lecturer in education and public policy, and he will be discussing topics from his book, Toward Excellence with Equity: An Emerging Vision for Closing the Achievement Gap. Ferguson will be at Suffolk University on Wednesday, November 16th, at the C. Walsh Theater.
Created in part by Diversity Services, the Center for Teaching Excellence, the Department of Residence Life and Housing, the Office of Academic Access and Opportunity, the Office of Student Affairs, S.O.U.L.S., the Office of CAS Dean Kenneth Greenberg, and the Office of Vice President of Academic Affairs Janice Griffith, this series of important events aims to include the entire university. For more information regarding any part of this series, contact Diversity Services.