Multicultural day at LFA has been around for as long as faculty can remember. It is a day centered on leaning into our differences as well as exploring equity and social justice. This year, it will be a space to dive into deep conversations led by student and faculty advisors. With only one workshop slot this year and two discussion based ones, students will be able to communicate extensively about difficult topics and celebrate the uniqueness of our community.
Post-Covid, faculty made the decision to put a hold on the hard conversations of Multicultural day and focus more so on the workshop aspects of it. Being aware of the trauma Covid caused, faculty aimed to make this day a fun memory for students to share. This year we will resume the Multicultural day schedule with two slots of discussion to restore what Multicultural day looked like pre-covid.
With the 2024 presidential election coming up, LFA community members feel that having these deeper conversations are crucial to understand real life dilemmas and to make informed decisions and comments next fall.
Presidential candidate Nikki Haley shared her experience with conversations about race in her prep school and how that has affected her comments now in a recent article on the Washington Post. In highschool Haley switched to a majority white preparatory school. Here she was one of the only non-white students and watched as her peers were correctly educated on the events of the racial issues going on at the time [segregation]. In her recent statements she declared that “America isn’t a racist country”. Haley was not adequately instructed on conversations having to do with race. Throughout her highschool career those discussions were not present, however as shown, these conversations are required in order to direct the real world.
Lusanda Mayikana, the Dean of Pluralism and Multicultural affairs talks about the necessary need to alter this year’s Multicultural day schedule. When asked about the difference between this year’s schedule and the last two years’, she said, “The difference is that the first two workshops will be focused on equity and social justice and they will be student or faculty-led workshops, they don’t necessarily need to be dialogue the whole time, they can be activities, but it will be to raise awareness on equity.” In other words students can take part in activities hosted by the student/faculty advisor they sign up with and it doesn’t have to be all discussion.
Similarly, Multicultural prefect Advika Rangan ‘24 said that this year’s Multicultural day will be a lot more informative, and student-led based on current issues. She said, this schedule will incorporate similar aspects to that of the fire conference. Fire conference in years past has been a discussion based event having to do with issues in today’s society. In closing, this year’s Multicultural day will be a fun way to jump into spring break, while having positive discussions about equity and social justice that will help our community grow as a whole.
