Lessons learned at Ally Conference

UW-Green Bay’s first-ever Ally Conference on Friday (Nov. 7) drew more than 100 guests who learned about acceptance, understanding and allyship.

The Ally Conference featured sessions on white privilege, Wisconsin hate groups, allyship, hate crimes vs. bias incidents, GLBTQ allies, shifting racist ideologies, advantages of being male and women’s rights.

Keynote speaker Tim Wise, who has spoken in 48 states and on more than 400 college campuses, talked about the methods he describes as necessary to “uproot institutional racism.”

Wise is the author of “White Like Me: Reflections on Race From a Privileged Son,” a book that takes a provocative look at the concept of white privilege and institutional racism. Wise argues that racial privilege shapes the lives of most white Americans — whether they hold racist views themselves or not — to the detriment of people of color, themselves and society.

UW-Green Bay faculty and staff, as well as community leaders and colleagues from Lakeland College, were presenters at the various discussions.

The conference was sponsored by the American Intercultural Center, the Office of Student Life, the UW-Green Bay Diversity Task Force, and the Social Change and Development, Women’s Studies, Psychology and Human Development academic units. Harmony Café, a program of Goodwill, was a community partner for the conference.

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Photos by
Mike Heine
University Communications