Welcome to the 21st Annual Shepard
Symposium on Social Justice.
This Symposium has deep roots in our community,
and was begun by Omowale Akintunde
and Margaret Cooney, from the College of Education
in 1996-97.
This Symposium was started as the Symposium
for the Eradication of Social Inequality,
and the mission was to start
a dialogue between faculty, staff,
students, and the greater community on
issues of social justice in the context
of education.
This Symposium brought hope to our community.
But in 1998, Matthew Shepard was beaten
and left for dead on the outskirts of Laramie.
Only days later would he pass away
as a result of his injuries.
The University of Wyoming, Laramie,
and the community were outraged
that this young man had been killed for
being himself...for being gay.
When Matt was murdered, the anonymous donor
who provided the endowment for the Shepard
Symposium was particularly disturbed by
the brutality and senselessness of the loss.
A few years later, he established
the generous gift to the University of Wyoming
to endow the Symposium in Matt's memory.
This donor worked, for many years,
for the Union Pacific Railroad,
and invested his money well.
He was not a graduate of UW.
He was a frugal man,
and sometimes lived in a small cabin on a
piece of land west of Wheatland, Wyoming.
He was a fan of film, Morris Dees,
and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
His first major gift to the University of Wyoming
was an addition to the original Fine Arts Center,
and his endowment to the Symposium
allows his concern for social justice to continue
to educate and touch us all.
This donor has since passed, yet
we remember and tell his story every year
in gratitude for his courage and compassion.
Matt Shepard is remembered as
being not only a UW student, but for
being a social activist.
In 2002, the Symposium for the Eradication
of Social Inequality changed its name
to bear his name, as a living reminder
that life is precious and meaningful.
It is in his name that we work every year
to build a program and continue the dialogue
around issues of inequality, social justice,
diversity, and change.
This year, our Symposium fits that
theme called Rebel Health: Wellness Without Borders.
Our Symposium looks to
deconstruct the definition of what it means
to be healthy, and for whom
that gift is reserved.
We will have many keynote speakers
and some incredibly special guests.
Dr. Robert Bullard, known
as the father of environmental justice,
will join us for our first keynote address.
We will also be visiting with
Dr. Alison Kafer, and talking about her
Crip Manifesto for Social Justice.
Dr. Drew Brown will be talking with us about
cultural ideas of race, sports, and
masculinity, and redefining our idea of sport.
We will also have the chance to talk with
Aparna Rajagopal-Durbin:
"Grappling with the unconscious bias
and navigating difficult conversations on campus."
We have many incredible sponsors for this event.
Many of them are listed here,
however we have several very special sponsors
and those who have worked very hard
to make this event one that is
both accessible and sustainable.
In the spirit of social justice in action,
the Planning Committee has worked
closely with two student groups,
the Abilities RSO and the Sustainability Club,
to make this symposium maximally
accessible and sustainable.
In addition to physical access, all non-workshop
presentations will have real-time captioning.
Audio description devices will be provided upon request,
and a low-sensory room will be available
for all conference attendees.
Additionally, presenters have been given guidelines
to better plan for accessibility.
In order to make this Symposium a zero-waste event,
all meals are totally vegan,
and the Sustainability Club is working with
Acres Student Farm to compost all materials.
These are exciting initiatives, and we hope to
continue to build upon them in the future.
But we want to recognize our student leaders
for their tremendous work in implementing
these elements into the Symposium this year.
We are committed to having an open,
accessible, and sustainable Symposium.
In order to be as welcoming as possible,
we also ask that you forego using fragrances.
Don't wear perfumes/fragrances,
and take down the scented products.
Please use the unscented pump soaps
that we will provide in the bathrooms,
and not the soap from the wall dispensers.
Most of the presentations in the Central Ballroom
will be live-streamed and captioned.
Please sit near the screen by the stage
to view the transcription during a presentation.
Some chairs have been purposefully pulled
for wheelchair access.
If you need assistance with seating
or you have any access requests,
please ask the registration desk
or ask committee members in the
black Shepard Symposium t-shirts for assistance.
We have a little more information
on our zero-waste event.
We don't want to be feeding the fill,
so our event is entirely vegan to meet those ends,
because those are the compostable wastes.
Well, what does it really mean to be zero-waste?
I mean, what in the world could that indicate?
Because of course we're still going to
be generating waste.
But what this means is that we're
designing products and processes
to systematically avoid and eliminate waste,
conserve and recover all resources, and
not burn or bury them.
The goal is to reach 90 percent diversion
through actions such as resource reduction, reuse,
recycling, and composting.
In our efforts to do this, we will be recycling,
we will be composting, and in fact
you may not know it, but Acres Student Farm does an
incredible job of composting a huge amount of waste --
not only from our event, but
throughout the Laramie community.
How can you help? Well, absolutely,
BYOE -- bring your own everything. [Laughing.]
Bring your Nalgene, bring your
reusable coffee mug, bring things that
are limited in the amount of packaging
that you will have to throw away.
Take your notes on a tablet or a laptop.
Go paperless, and if you're a presenter,
please consider sustainability along
with accessibility.
Sometimes this is a balance.
Sometimes we have to use paper
in order to increase access.
But wherever possible, please reuse,
and avoid bringing things that are non-recyclable
or non-compostable.
Sometimes it may seem confusing to relate
environmental justice and social justice.
That is, why does the health of the Earth relate to
the rights of those who have
been most disenfranchised?
Well, on an Earth with finite resources,
often the most marginalized groups benefit the least
from the wealth and resources on our planet,
and suffer the most from the environmental injustices.
Underprivileged communities are often
placed near waste-dumping zones of society,
experience the highest pollution rates,
or see rises in environmentally related
human health issues.
This is why we are striving to create an event
that encourages lifestyles where all beings
are given the chance to thrive.
How to continue zero waste efforts
after the Shepard Symposium?
This is something to do all the time, 24/7.
BYOE all the time.
Avoid using single-use, disposable
materials whenever possible.
And, look to buy, look to reuse, instead of
getting something new, or to buy used
instead of getting something new.
Start your own compost, or encourage your
community to collect household food scraps.
This is a little tougher in Laramie
than it is in some climates, but talk to us
if you want to know a little more
about composting in this dry environment.
And thank you so much for not feeding the fill!
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