2020 was a remarkably challenging year for all of us and the Lender Center for Social Justice has been busy working to address some of these challenges. The end of the year saw the center coming to the end of our inaugural Lender Center Faculty Fellowship project and the beginning of our second one. As always, we continue our work to serve as a responsible site for dialogue about pressing issues related to social justice, inclusivity and equity.

Dr. Casarae Abdul-Ghani concludes her two-year tenure as our inaugural Lender Faculty Fellow with the Lender Symposium on March 4, focused on “The Social Justice #Hashtag Project.” Dr. Abdul Ghani and the team of four Lender Student Fellows will present their research findings at the symposium, along with a planned keynote by Dr. Mark Anthony Neal. Dr. Neal serves as Chair of the Department of African and African American Studies at Duke University, where he is also the founding Director of the Center for Arts, Digital Culture and Entrepreneurship. As is appropriate for the topic and current conditions, the symposium will be held virtually.

Our second Lender Fellowship project is now underway. Under the leadership of Dr. Jonnell Robinson, the “Food Justice Project” will bring five newly selected Lender Student Fellows together to collaborate with the Syracuse Onondaga Food Systems Alliance and other national and international experts to explore ways of making more equitable and inclusive food systems.

Finally, the Lender Center is planning a major national symposium to explore the current and long-standing issues surrounding justice and policing in our communities and schools. In collaboration with the School of Education’s Landscapes of Urban Education Lecture series and the Center on Disability and Inclusion, a group of nationally renowned experts and local stakeholders will gather virtually on April 16 and 17  to discuss ways of transforming policing and public safety.