BUCKHANNON, West Virginia—West Virginia Wesleyan College and the Center for Community Engagement & Leadership Development (CCE) are hosting the 15th annual Social Justice Week on campus March 20-24. 

The week will begin Monday, March 20, 2023, with The Oxfam Hunger Banquet hosted by the WE LEAD Human Rights Team. The event will take place at noon in the Side Dining Hall. The banquet will highlight the importance of food security while also bringing awareness of poverty across the globe. The event will give the participants an experience that will give them a deeper perspective into real individuals fighting these injustices. It is an afternoon for conversations about advocating for economic justice, gender equality, and climate action. 

The week with continue on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, with three events during the day. The first event is the Greater Calling/Children’s Hopechest Speaker at 11 a.m. in Hyma Auditorium. The event is hosted by the WVWC Great Calling Internship Immersion (Center for Professional Development). WVWC students will share their own experience with their remote internship in Guatemala, Uganda, to Ethiopia. These interns are learning about global development, economic justice, and the community thriving from their very own corner of WVWC’s campus.

The next event on Tuesday is the Restorative Community Policing: What it Means and How to Accomplish It conversation. It will be hosted by the Social Science Department in Haymond room 116 at 3 p.m. It is a circle discussion involving WVWC students, faculty, and local law enforcement officers to examine the practices of restorative community policing. We will discuss the challenges and potentials of these practices for the future of policing in America. The last event is the SJW Pop-up Exhibition from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Sleeth Gallery (Chapel Basement) hosted by the Art Department.  

On Wednesday, March 22, 2023, The Center for Restorative Justice (CRJ) is hosting a CRJ Circle about Community-Based Approaches to Social Change. The event will be at 8 p.m. in Reemsnyder 137. The CRJ will be collaborating with the CCE to host a circle conversation focused on community. The conversation will ask a series of questions relating to the community and the roles it plays in social change. The WE LEAD Youth Security Team will be hosting a Students First Event from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Martins Religious Chapel.

The week will continue on Thursday, March 23, 2023, with the WE LEAD Invisible Illness Team hosting a Social Justice Expression Night at 5 p.m. in the Reading Room on the 2nd floor of the Annie Merner Pfeiffer Library. The event is a space for community members and Wesleyan students to express themselves through various forms of art. After that event, there will be a speaker at 7 p.m. talking about the Holocaust & Cultural Genocide. This lecture is by Dr. Wesley Fisher which is an educational series increasing awareness about the topic in the state of West Virginia. 

In conclusion of the week, there will be four events on Friday, March 24, 2023. The first event will be focused on learning more about writing letters to legislators at 3 p.m. in the CCE hosted by the WE LEAD High Tunnel Team. Water Testing will be at 4 p.m. in the Switchboard hosted by TriBeta. This is an event where they will have water samples from different areas in the Buckhannon community. Students will be able to stop by and test the pH of the samples and also check out some agar plates showing the bacteria (if any) found in each sample. 

The next event on Friday will be the “How Can Faith Inform our Advocacy?” at 6 p.m. in the Wesley Chapel. This event is hosted by the Center for Community Engagement & Chaplin, Jonathan Acord.  There will be a speaker, Steve Eng, who will join the college for an important conversation centered on how a faith perspective may inform our efforts for advocacy in issues of justice. To top the week off, we will be concluding with the Peace Luminary Lighting at 7 p.m on the Wesley Chapel steps. 

All the events listed above are free and everyone is welcome to participate and learn about what impacts our community daily.  Campus participants will be able to use the #WVWCSJW2023 and post it on social media so capture and reflect throughout the week.

For additional information or questions, please contact Destiny Cochran at cochran.da.2020@wvwc.edu  or Jessica Vincent at vincent_j@wvwc.edu. 

ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN COLLEGE
West Virginia Wesleyan College (WVWC) is a private, four-year residential liberal arts college in Buckhannon, West Virginia. A tradition of excellence for more than 130 years, West Virginia Wesleyan is home to 14 Fulbright Scholars. The Princeton Review ranked Wesleyan one of its 2023 Best Colleges in the Southeastern Region of the United States. U.S. News & World Report’s 2022-2023 Best College Rankings designated Wesleyan seventh in Best Value – Regional Universities (South). WVWC offers students more than 40 majors and 40 minors; graduate programs in athletic training, business administration, creative writing, and nursing; 22 NCAA Division II athletic programs; multiple performing arts groups; and more than 70 organizations. Founded in 1890, the College is closely affiliated with the United Methodist Church and abides by the Wesley doctrine that emphasizes service to others. For more information, visit wvwc.edu.