Shakti Butler wants members of the Northwestern community to start talking to each other, and she wants them to speak from the heart.
Butler facilitated two programs Monday, one for faculty and staff, and one for students that gave attendees the chance to engage in dialogue about issues of diversity beyond racial discrimination.
“The heart has to support the intellect because if we get stuck in intellect, we start spinning around and around,” said Butler, the executive director of World Trust Educational Services, Inc., a group that funds programs created to educate people and promote social change.
In 1994 Butler created Heart-to-Heart Conversations, a program that asks participants to speak openly about racial issues, and began traveling across the country to foster dialogue between groups of different races, genders and ethnicities. Her programs are accompanied by two documentaries she produced and directed.
The faculty presentation took place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Ohio State Room of Norris University Center. About 40 members of NU’s staff gathered to share their personal experiences with discrimination and to view portions of “The Way Home,” Butler’s documentary featuring the commentary of eight ethnic women’s councils. The participants also received advice from Butler on how to further dialogue on campus.
Butler began by asking faculty members to share the meaning of their first names and a personal hero or “she-ro.” She said attendees needed to begin to get to know and listen to each other.
“Why on Earth should I confide in you if you don’t trust me and I don’t trust you?” Butler said. “How are we supposed to get through the times when we’re in conflict?”
The group also split into small clusters to discuss reactions to the video clips. Butler set up “A and B” conversations that forced participants to sit silently and listen to what their partner said. Then Butler prompted dialogue among the entire group by encouraging faculty members to ask questions of each other.
Catherine Whitcomb, assistant to the vice president of student affairs and one of the program’s staff participants, said growing up white in India let her see the “privileged white society” better.
“I know I have the blinders on,” Whitcomb said. “I know I have them, but I can’t see past having them on.”
Butler said she hoped attendees would continue to spread the dialogue on campus by asking questions that would make people think about the comments they make. Her approach stems from her education in Transformative Learning and Change, the field in which she earned her doctorate. Transformative Learning and Change focuses on using innovative education methods to prompt change in individuals and social structures.
Attendance at the student session was significantly lower than that of the faculty session. Only four students showed up for Butler’s 5 p.m. presentation, again held in the Ohio State Room. Butler said it was the smallest group she had ever had.
Attendees said poor advertising and holding the event on Halloween probably kept many students away. Weinberg senior Rosa Nguyen said the event might have drawn more people if it had been part of a diversity requirement, which the university eliminated this fall.
“Without diversity requirements, there’s only a certain number of people who are going to come even if you advertise,” Nguyen said.
But those who did attend took advantage of the opportunity to talk with Butler in an almost one-on-one setting.
Butler showed “The Way Home” again and asked students to share their responses. History graduate student Stephen Mak said he could still see issues of limited diversity on campus, especially in the history graduate program, where he’s the only Asian student. He said he sometimes doubts the sincerity of corporations looking to increase diversity in the workplace as well.
“Yes, they say they value diversity,” he said, “but does that mean you just have an office party where everyone brings their own ethnic dish?”
Reach Christina Alexander at [email protected].
