Announcing the CACP Beloved Community Initiative
September 30, 2021
Dear University Community,
The Committee to Advance Our Common Purposes (CACP) is the longest standing universitywide committee focused on diversity and inclusion. Our vision is to sustain and nurture a civil, compassionate, intellectually honest, and inclusive academic community that is respectful and fosters dialogue and interaction between those with differing views and belief systems.
We are pleased to announce, in partnership with the University Equity and Inclusion office, the launch of the CACP Beloved Community Initiative, which will engage the Rutgers community in a broad-based, creative process that will allow us to develop a shared definition of how to embody the beloved community at Rutgers.
Last fall, President Holloway shared his vision for a “beloved community” defined by a culture that embraces our differences and offers respect in words and actions. This community is, he shared, “a place of inclusion and equality, where everyone, from administrator to custodian, is recognized as integral to Rutgers’ success-where his or her voice is not only heard, but truly listened to.” It is in the spirit of hearing everyone’s voices that CACP is launching this year-long, three-part initiative.
- The Beloved Community Arts Project will solicit artistic expressions of how the beloved community is defined and expressed at Rutgers. The entries can include short essays, poetry, short videos, and visual artwork. The call for submissions will be announced in February 2022, and entries will be submitted through the CACP website and judged by a panel that includes faculty, students, staff, and alumni.
- The Beloved Community Grants Project will award funding to members of the Rutgers community to sponsor events that enhance our understanding of the meaning of beloved community at Rutgers. Grants can be proposed to bring in speakers, sponsor events featuring panel discussions, or develop performance art such as short plays, musical compositions, or dance programs that are tied to the concept of a beloved community. Events funded through this grant program will be featured on the CACP website. The call for proposals and directions on how to apply will be available on October 4 with a deadline of October 29. We anticipate funding approximately 20 grants ranging from $500 to $1000 by November 29. All grant funds must be expended by May 15, 2022.
- The Beloved Community Awards Program will recognize individuals (faculty, staff, and students) throughout the university who most exemplify the aims of our beloved community. These awards will be given in addition to the Clement A. Price Human Dignity Awards. A call for nominations will be advertised in February 2022.
- Finally, save the date for the Beloved Community Celebration event on April 20, 2022, where we will announce the award winners and arts project winners and showcase selected works including poetry, essays, and visual art projects.
As we strive to define and create a beloved community at Rutgers through this initiative, the CACP seeks to build upon its 30-year legacy of leading efforts to build a more expansive and inclusive community. This legacy of advancing and expanding the values that hold the university community together involves celebrating a diversity of people and ideas. The CACP also anchors this beloved community initiative on its record of encouraging lively, respectful debates, and recognizing and seeking to overcome the legacy of racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, xenophobia, and discrimination of all kinds that has disadvantaged many in our community.
We look forward to your contributions in this next phase of our journey to create a beloved community, and we commit to working to advance efforts that will make the shared definition we co-create a part of the university culture that serves as a foundation for inclusion and belonging.
Several prominent thought leaders have offered visions of a beloved community. We invite you to reflect on their words and take action to help us build this community at Rutgers:
“Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Beloved community is formed not by the eradication of difference but by its affirmation, by each of us claiming the identities and cultural legacies that shape who we are and how we live in the world.” From the book Killing Rage: Ending Racism by Bell Hooks
“The larger your beloved community, the more you can accomplish in the world.”
Thich Nhat Hanh
For more information about the CACP and the beloved community initiative please visit diversity.rutgers.edu/cacp.
Sincerely,
Denise V. Rodgers, Chair of CACP - RBHS
Ronald Quincy, Co-chair of the Beloved Community Initiative - Rutgers–New Brunswick
Enobong (Anna) Branch, Senior Vice President for Equity
On behalf of the CACP Committee
Nancy Cintron, RBHS
Mary Beth Daisey, Rutgers–Camden
Carlos Decena, Rutgers–New Brunswick
Javier Escobar, RBHS
Yvonne Gonzalez, Rutgers Central Administration
Ebelia Hernández, Rutgers–New Brunswick
Ji Lee, Rutgers-New Brunswick
Salvador Mena, Rutgers–New Brunswick
Edward Ramsamy, Rutgers–New Brunswick
Lisa Sanon-Jules, Rutgers–New Brunswick
Corlisse Thomas, Rutgers–Newark
Nyeema Watson, Rutgers–Camden
Bill Welsh, Rutgers Central Administration