{"id":37947,"date":"2015-09-03T10:26:40","date_gmt":"2015-09-03T14:26:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=37947"},"modified":"2015-09-03T10:27:01","modified_gmt":"2015-09-03T14:27:01","slug":"year-of-the-active-bystander-designated-as-theme-at-wright-state-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2015\/09\/03\/year-of-the-active-bystander-designated-as-theme-at-wright-state-university\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Year of the Active Bystander\u2019 designated as theme at Wright State University"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kimberly<\/a>

Kimberly Barrett, vice president for multicultural affairs and community engagement<\/p><\/div>\n

The school year at Wright State University has been designated the Year of the Active Bystander as part of stepped-up efforts to help students, faculty and staff respond productively to prejudice they encounter in their daily interactions.<\/p>\n

The designation by Wright State\u2019s Division of Multicultural Affairs and Community Engagement<\/a> comes in the wake of the public and the federal government\u2019s increasing calls for accountability in making universities free from violence, harassment and discrimination.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone familiar with the research on bystander behavior knows that its focus is trying to understand why people witnessing others in distress don\u2019t act,\u201d said Kimberly Barrett, vice president for multicultural affairs and community engagement. \u201cWe hope to take this a step further by applying this research in ways that clearly identify the benefits to both the individual and community when people take even small actions to confront bias when it occurs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Year of the Active Bystander will feature programs focusing on bias in the university workplace and classrooms, specifically implicit bias, micro-aggressions and stereotype threat.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Sept. 22, a kickoff event titled \u201cA Community Conversation on Modern Racism: Roots and Remedies,\u201d featuring opening remarks by Wright State President David R. Hopkins, will be held in the Millett Hall Atrium beginning at 6:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

Later in the school year, the university will host guest experts, including Elaine Diaz Rodriguez, a Cuban academic and blogger who teaches digital journalism and technology and society at the University of Havana.<\/p>\n

Jackson Katz, internationally recognized educator, author and filmmaker whose work focuses on bystander intervention and men\u2019s roles in preventing gender-based violence, is also scheduled to speak.<\/p>\n

And Sarah Gervais, associate professor in social and cognitive psychology and the law-psychology programs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln whose research focuses on prejudice and violence, is part of the program.<\/p>\n

In a blog post for Psychology Today magazine titled \u201cSpeak Up or Stay Silent? 5 Reasons to Confront Prejudice,\u201d Gervais said social science research suggests that taking a stand against bias helps prevent future acts of prejudice by both the perpetrators and the witnesses. In addition, taking such a stand increases a person\u2019s self-esteem and sense of competence, prevents feelings of guilt and becomes easier and easier to do over time.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing part of what I have come to know as a deeply caring community, I am certain that the activities we are emphasizing this year will be very important to each of us as we strive to avoid and effectively address the mostly unintentional acts of bias that negatively affect the success and well-being of our students and colleagues,\u201d said Barrett.<\/p>\n

A full calendar of events related to this year\u2019s theme is available on the Division of Multicultural Affairs and Community Engagement website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wright State steps up efforts to help students, faculty and staff respond productively to prejudice they encounter in their daily interactions. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":34816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[729,711,725,715],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-around-campus","category-faculty-staff","category-home-news-sidebar","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37947"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37950,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37947\/revisions\/37950"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}