In the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream and Case Western Reserve University's vision to foster more diverse and inclusive environments, members of the Case and Cleveland communities are pledging to make extraordinary responses in their ordinary lives.

"I am choosing to not judge until I have the opportunity to know more," one person said.

"I want to contribute to a sense of hospitality at Case by engendering a warmer and compassionate atmosphere here," another wrote. "I want to organize places of safety and trust between community members.
I want to encourage our students to reach beyond themselves into the larger community of need."

Faculty, staff, students and Cleveland-area residents recorded their hopes for the Case community during the university's 2004 Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at Strosacker Auditorium. Some of these dreams submitted anonymously were shared with the more than 100 in attendance.

"I hope that we will all look at each other and not see class, race or gender but see other humans, who each deserve to be treated as individuals for who they are not what they appear to be," one person wrote.

"I want to see Case practice hospitality-an openness to itself as a diverse community and to the world around us," another said.

Members of the community also said they hope for more opportunities for students and faculty of diverse backgrounds to interact outside of classrooms, more active recruiting of underrepresented groups and a supplier diversity initiative active at all levels and in all areas of the university. And they pledged to assist with admissions, volunteer through the Case Office of Student Community Service and "ensure my encounters with people are much more positive than negative."

Another person wrote that a hope for the university is to see Case continue to engage in dialogue about diversity "so that all members of the community will feel inspired to be inclusive of those different than themselves and seek out ways to make our environment more welcoming to all its people."

At Case, this dream is already becoming reality. The celebration in memory of King—during which The Rev. Valentino Lassiter, author of books on King and the event's keynote speaker, shared his thoughts on the program's theme "Living the Dream: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives"—serves as the first in a series of events promoting discourse about diversity on campus.

The next will be a Black History Month celebration sponsored by the Case Office of Multicultural Affairs and the university's African-American Faculty and Staff Organization from noon to 2 p.m. February 20 in Thwing Center. Bishop Douglas H. Taylor of the New Covenant Christian Church in Cleveland will be the keynote speaker.

In the near future, the organization Case for Peace also will sponsor a showing of the film "Bonhoeffer," which chronicles the efforts of theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a voice of resistance to Hitler in 1930s Germany who also was a rare dissenter from the tacit collaborators of the era's Christian churches.

In addition to sharing hopes at upcoming events and during the celebration, faculty, staff, students and community members can share their dreams for Case by dropping anonymous notes today into "baskets of hope" at the Case Office of Multicultural Affairs in room 450 of the Sears Building, upper level of the bookstore in Thwing Center and the Center for Community Partnerships in room 324 of the Baker Building.

People also can submit their dreams online at http://ess.cwru.edu/vision. All ideas will be shared with university faculty, deans and administrators.

Return to the online edition of the 1-29-04 Campus News.