ETSU’s annual Civility Week begins today, March 25, with two events centered around this year’s theme of “Dialogue Across Division.”
Monday’s Civility Week events start at 10 a.m. with an interactive booth on the Quad that hopes to start conversation around disabilities and what could/should be changed in how they’re treated and looked at. The booth will be open until 2 p.m.
Monday night there will be a storytelling concert intended to help promote an understanding between differing viewpoints. That event is scheduled from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
“We condensed [Civility Week] back to a week, and we really wanted to focus on the idea of civil discourse – actually having a conversation, rather than proving a point,” said Student Government Association President Megha Gupta.
Undoubtedly, the highlight of Civility Week comes on Thursday night, as NBA Hall of Famer, author, film-maker and activist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will be speaking at a moderated Q&A at 7:30 p.m. inside Brooks Gym. Tickets for the event are free for students, faculty and staff, but you must have a ticket for entry. Public tickets are $15, and tickets for a private meet and greet can be purchased for $75.
“We really need to have a bigger name with smaller-scale events to have an impact, and I wanted to target groups that wouldn’t normally come to a Civility [Week] event,” Gupta said. “I don’t just want people who are already passionate about civility to be there when we can have other people to have that experience.”
Events are scheduled throughout the week of March 25-30, culminating in Saturday’s Student Organization Pride Walk painting from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Other events include: Crisis and Conflict Simulation and Town Hall Debate on immigration on Tuesday, a supportive space to explore and share vulnerabilities and a student interfaith panel on Wednesday, privilege walk on Thursday and an inspirational show narrating the experience of a black man in America since 1960 on Friday.
For more information, visit etsu.edu/sga/civility.php.
