Tears sometimes flow, but hugs are also extended as faculty, administrators, staff and students from colleges and universities across the nation gather annually to discuss the tough issues of inclusion and diversity in higher education and beyond.
For nearly three decades, the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE) has been the go-to place to help rejuvenate those in the academy, whose daily work has focused on breaking down racial barriers while helping to push a social justice agenda forward that addresses a wide range of issues from mass incarceration to the challenges facing Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
“The conference has been eye opening for me,” said Matthew Nash, a student programming coordinator at the University of Oklahoma, which houses the Southwest Center for Human Relations Studies, the entity that launched the NCORE conference back in 1988. “We still have a long way to go, but I’m happy that the issues are being discussed.”
