March 04, 2004

Conference to explore prevention of hate crimes

by Tom Woolf

CARBONDALE, Ill. - A three-day conference later this month at Southern Illinois University Carbondale will help administrators, student affairs professionals, faculty and students learn new methods of preventing and combating bias and hate crimes.

SIUC's Student Center and the Division of Student Affairs are sponsoring the "Stop The Hate/Train The Trainer" program. The conference's opening session is Monday, March 15 from 1 to 6:30 p.m. Conference hours on Tuesday, March 16 are 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and on Wednesday, March 17, hours are 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. All sessions take place in the Student Center Video Lounge.

The Association of College Unions International developed the program, the only resource of its kind specifically for college campuses, in partnership with the Anti-Defamation League, Tolerance.Org of The Southern Poverty Law Center, the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence and the National Center for Hate Crime Prevention.

SIUC, a member of the association, is one of only three institutions nationwide that is hosting the conference during the remainder of this academic year. Cost for SIUC students, staff and faculty is $295, which includes the 230-page curriculum manual and program materials. Cost for non-members of the college unions association is $395.

For more information, contact Christin K. Dalaviras, assistant University Programming coordinator, at 618/453-1315 or by e-mail atdalavrs@siu.edu.

Enhancing the diversity of the campus and producing citizen-leaders with a global perspective are among the goals ofSouthern@150, the blueprint for the development of the University by the time it celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2019.