UNC Greensboro students often praise the campus’ diversity and welcoming spirit. It’s an environment that produces community activism and leadership in its students and alumni.
This summer, a unique workshop organized by the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) program and funded by the Mellon Foundation’s Affirming Multivocal Humanities grant proved a perfect example of how UNCG celebrates diversity and community.
Scheming for Better Understanding
The workshop, SCHEME, took its name from an acronym of activities planned for the week – studying, challenging, healing, embodying and making every day.
Recruitment for the workshop targeted WGSS students from institutions all around North Carolina to converge at UNCG’s campus to build community learning within a feminist and queer politics framework.
“We hope that these students will share viewpoints and experiences and take what they learned at SCHEME to better serve their own home institutions and communities,” said Tiffany Holland, WGSS professor and co-organizer of the workshop.
Of the eleven attendees, six were from UNCG, but other participants represented Guilford College, UNC Asheville, and Appalachian State University. They ranged from a student who will start her first year at college this fall to another student who just graduated in the spring. Building community across campuses and breadth of the college experience made for interesting discussions and reflections.
Space for Expression
When Holland and other organizers were brainstorming how to structure the workshop, they wanted to make sure the participants felt empowered to help build the program to best serve their needs. Creative sessions with community members provided space for expression through art.
“We didn’t want to come down from on high about where we think the state of feminist and queer politics is now,” said Holland. “It was important to us for the student participants to be able to share what they have been creating and what they want to create.”
Throughout the workshop, thoughtful discussions and readings about how to facilitate open discussions were combined with sessions like printmaking and a Q&A with drag performers, which allowed the students to explore artful political expressions.
Luz Elena Borrayo graduated from UNCG in the spring with a B.A. in studio art. She joined the workshop to expand her advocacy skills but was surprised when SCHEME opened the workshop with a session for creating political prints.
“I was so excited to be creating with others! SCHEME allowed me to refocus my art and what my message is, speaking to my identity and perspective, in today’s society,” Borrayo said. “Even though I minored in WGSS, being a part of SCHEME helped me to feel more comfortable having conversations and asking questions.”
Basil Nelligan, a rising third-year art major from Guilford College, also enjoyed the way the workshop combined creative expression with leadership skills. “The interactive activities made the experience a lot more immersive,” he said. “As someone whose higher education experience is steeped in the Quaker tradition, I feel like I was able to contribute my viewpoint and also learn a lot from others who have wildly different experiences.”
The group also toured UNCG’s Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives with Stacey Krim, assistant professor and curator.
“It was amazing,” said Holland. “The students learned about local queer and feminist histories on our campus and in the larger community and they were introduced to the feminist and anti-colonial practices used by our university’s archivist to preserve and honor our community’s stories.”
A Scheme for the Next Phase
Organizers were pleased with how participants received the pilot SCHEME workshop and are looking ahead to how the program can expand. With the goal of providing resources to more students, they are considering a long weekend format open to students across the state, virtual and in-person workshops, and resources that can be offered online.
The inspiration Nelligan found in the pilot workshop drives the SCHEME organizers in UNCG’s WGSS program to continue to extend their leadership and reach even broader audiences.
“I’m already planning to bring back the information I gathered at SCHEME to the leadership spaces I’m involved in at Guilford College,” he said. “I’m using the information to help formulate plans for activities that will engage people.”
Story by Becky Deakins, University Communications.
Photos by Sean Norona, University Communications.
