‘Celebration of our humanity’: Chapman hosts fifth annual Education and Ethnic Studies Summit
Chapman University’s Ethnic Studies Society hosted the fifth annual Education and Ethnic Studies Summit from April 30 to May 8, bringing together students, faculty and local educators and performers for online interactive and community-building events. Above, President of Ethnic Studies Society Molly Weitzman posts flyers on Chapman’s campus to protest white supremacist group appearances. SAM ANDRUS, Photo Editor
On February 25, Chapman students, faculty and staff received an email from Public Safety warning that white supremacist group DesertKreig might be coming to campus March 3 to protest the university’s annual Education and Ethnic Studies Summit. The event had been canceled in fall 2020 due to COVID-19 concerns.
The group never showed up on campus. But the summit, eventually, did.
The Ethnic Studies Society hosted a rescheduled version of the event from April 30 through May 8. Five days of wide-ranging events like student panels, education workshops and performances occurred via Zoom. Ethnic Studies Society president Molly Weitzman was happy with the reach of the summit, which garnered approximately 400 registrants from the Chapman and broader Orange County community.
Weitzman, a senior peace studies and integrated educational studies (IES) double major who is also on the Ethnic Studies Curriculum Task Force, spoke at the summit’s first event April 30.
“Today’s summit kick-off is a celebration above all else,” Weitzman said at the event. “A celebration of our humanity, of our hope, of our struggle, of our stories. With poetry and music from our own students, alumni and local educators, we invite you to engage your heart, spirit, body and mind in understanding and celebrating ethnic studies with us today.”
The kickoff featured keynote speaker Christine Sleeter, a longtime education activist and Professor Emerita in the College of Education at California State University, Monterey Bay. Sleeter told The Panther the goal of her speech was to give attendees a greater understanding of the necessity of ethnic studies.
“I want people to understand that the curriculum is biased, and students, especially students of color, notice,” Sleeter said. “Sometimes as early as elementary school ... they notice. We’re really talking about the whole curriculum, because all of it — even math and science — is constructed through the lenses that white people use to see the world.”
“I want people to understand that the curriculum is biased, and students, especially students of color, notice ... We’re really talking about the whole curriculum, because all of it — even math and science — is constructed through the lenses that white people use to see the world.”
Weitzman told The Panther she hopes to be a teacher and to implement ethnic studies into her own curriculum. As she reflected on the evolution of her relationship with ethnic studies, Weitzman looked through her social justice notebook, aptly decorated with stickers of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and LGBTQIA+ rights graphics.
Weitzman became involved with ethnic studies at the end of her first year at Chapman, when she attended a workshop at the annual summit and realized they offered the connection she’d been seeking between her two majors. This year, she played a major role in planning the same summit that introduced her to topics she would eventually write her peace studies thesis and IES capstone about.
“I’ve attended the Ethnic Studies Summit twice, but I was only ever there for the final product. It was really interesting to see the behind-the-scenes: emailing (the Student Government Association), making Google Sheets and organizing people, having two to three meetings a week every week leading up to the summit,” Weitzman said. “I have never emailed so much in my life, but it’s been a really good experience. It’s hard work and I definitely feel the burnout, but I have an incredible team.”
Weitzman’s team hosted a variety of featured guests over the coming days, welcoming Pete Simi, Chapman’s resident expert on extremist groups, and a group of student leaders for a May 1 event that used ethnic studies as a lens to examine how white supremacy affects Chapman students.
Among those on the student panel was junior sociology major Victoria Mas. As Wilkinson College’s Student Government Association senator, she sees the student demand for ethnic studies curriculum and supports the recently approved minor.
“I put out this Google Form asking students what they wanted to see and how we could make Wilkinson a better place,” Mas said. “I had so many responses from people asking for more diverse classes. A lot of students don’t know that’s an option. That’s really important within Wilkinson, because their motto is that they’re ‘the heart and soul of Chapman University.’ Without ethnic studies, there can’t be any ‘heart and soul.’”
“I had so many responses from people asking for more diverse classes ... That’s really important within Wilkinson, because their motto is that they’re ‘the heart and soul of Chapman University.’ Without ethnic studies, there can’t be any ‘heart and soul.’”
When reflecting on the student panel, Mas said that ethnic studies is about more than just heart and soul — it’s about safety.
“I can’t stop thinking about this one question,” Mas said. “‘Do you feel safe on campus?’ was asked to all the students on the panel, and every single person said, ‘no.’ We were all women of color, and I think that’s really telling of how white supremacy affects our students on campus. It’s scary that students don’t even feel safe where they’re paying to go to school.”
Weitzman emphasized the same moment, citing incidents of white supremacist flyers at Chapman as contributing factors to student fear.
“A lot of people don’t realize how just a flyer on a campus can have such a huge impact on students,” Weitzman said. “It’s not just, ‘Oh, I don’t want those people around me,’ it’s, ‘I’m scared for my life.’ And there could be people on our campus who are being indoctrinated with that and brought into that mindset.”
At a May 1 summit event, participants took action against extremist groups by participating in an art project to draft flyers that directly counter those white supremacist group Folkish Resistance Movement posted around campus April 9.
“We created our own posters, and I’m planning on posting those up on campus with approval,” Weitzman said. “That’s going to be our protest art — putting those words of the students out there.”
The creative response, symbolic of the Education and Ethnic Studies Summit as a whole, is another demonstration of Weitzman and her team advocating for ethnic studies even amid adversity.
“We’re going to continue to push forward, because ethnic studies needs to happen,” Weitzman said. “We can’t just say, OK, we’re gonna take a step back and step down.’ That’s just not an option.”