Six Woke Spaces on Campus
Many colleges are known for their emphasis on striving to create safe and welcoming spaces. Chatham student Chenoa Baker identifies six places on Chatham’s campus that, in her experience, allow for free expression and exemplify Chatham’s core values, including our commitment to social justice in a world that can be an oppressive space for many identities.
Learn more about the six places Chenoa identifies that encourage “wokeness” (we’re playfully using “woke” here to mean an awareness and focus on social justice issues) and some honorable mentions... because this list could go on for awhile.
1) Dr. Prajna Parasher’s office in the ADC
Dr. Prajna, as she is affectionately known, curates her office with intellectual collectibles. Vintage cameras, movie posters, an Urdu dictionary, vibrant colors, books, and DVDs fill her office. When I have a difficult day, I love coming into her office and discussing ideas, artwork, or just general stress. She is open to hear you and help you in any way that she can. Also, might I add, from her office I once picked up some of her homemade samosas, which were the best samosas that I ever had.
2) Laughlin Resident Hall Common Area
From the designated room of positivity, tea time in the living room, and the poster about new terms on gender and race to provide newcomers with language relevant to social justice work, the common area of Laughlin Residence Hall (home to the Women's Leadership Living Community) proves that it is built for these types of conversations and revolutionary thinking. Residents of Laughlin have all the tea— new, old, and simmering topics of conversation. Once, I remember watching Wonder Woman with the esteemed Laughlin ladies. At any given moment, the movie became a forum to interject “that’s a queen,” talk about representations of gender, share about protests we went to, or have tough conversations about being a Black woman in America.
3) Jennie King Mellon Library
Where else is woke, if not the library? Not only does the library hold a wealth of knowledge, conversations with librarians make this space special. Talk to librarian Jocelyn Codner for book suggestions, capstone ideas, dazzling book displays, the Edible Book Fair, and her love of the horror genre. Check out the displays honoring LatinX Heritage Month, Black women in history, and more. And stay tuned for a new project you’re sure to enjoy— student virtual artwork curation.
4) Susan Bergman Gurrentz ’56 Art Gallery
The art gallery at Chatham is a testament to social justice in the arts. I always find myself retreating to these type of spaces. Exhibitions cover everything from comic book art inspired by Holocaust survivors and heroes, the Cheryl Olkes collection of over 600 African art objects, migration stories through photography, and the art of students and professors. In each of the shows, they have an orientation that uplifts people and asks the right questions. Currently, the gallery hosts African art objects from the Cheryl Olkes collection, with a display intended to catalyze candid conversations about collection stewardship, provenance (origin of the collection), and how to equitably showcase the collection.
5) RISE Family Dinners at the Carriage House
RISE, a mentorship program and community of students of color, is a true family. No matter how much time we spend working on schoolwork and consumed in our lives, we come together like there was no time spent apart. During family dinner, Cards Against Humanity, solidarity of our minority experiences, good food, and creative expression bind us together. This is one of the places that I feel safe to be myself. That means sliding in many Beyonce references in conversation, priding myself on my Black identity, speaking in my own tongue, musing on the many cultural traditions of Black church, and enjoying the company of many people of color.
6) Eden Hall Campus
A major tenet of Chatham’s mission and values is sustainability. Eden Hall Campus embodies this value, from the activist conversations of students, the organic growing practices of the agroecology gardens, and the renewable energy and smart design that powers the campus. Sustainability cannot exist without a holistic view that acknowledges class differences and destructive power structures, while uplifting Afro-indigenous practices and women’s contributions. Along with the cute goats and the great food, I love Eden Hall for these reasons.
(very) Honorable Mentions:
Assistant Professor of Humanities Dr. Allie Reznik’s courses
Dr. Chris Murakami’s classes
Chenoa Baker is a student employee for the Marketing and Communications Department, as well as a Cultural Studies major. If you’re interested in Cultural Studies, check out our website here.
