UCCS hosts Social Justice Summit

UCCS recently hosted the highly anticipated CU System Social Justice Summit, bringing together students, faculty, community leaders and activists for a powerful day of dialogue, reflection and action. The event, held at the Ent Center for the Arts, provided a platform for participants to explore critical social justice issues and strategize collective solutions aimed at creating a more equitable and inclusive society.

The theme of this year’s summit, “Inclusive Leadership & Belonging,” was reflected in a diverse range of panels, workshops and keynote speeches. Over 600 attendees delved into topics such as mental health in marginalized communities, LGBTQ+ rights, equity in research and transformative justice, with the goal of fostering deeper understanding and collaborative approaches to social justice work.

The summit was headlined by Brandon Kazen-Maddox, GODA, Nonbinary, Black Indigenous Person of Color who highlights intersectionality through artistic performances. Drawing from personal experiences and their artistic style, Brandon challenged attendees to embrace discomfort and actively confront injustice in their communities. Brandon is an American Sign Language (ASL) Artist, choreographer, director, dancer, actor, acrobat and activist and has spent the last 10 years as a professional ASL interpreter. Brandon creates work with and for the Deaf and Disability communities, and highlights and empowers BIPOC and LGBTQAI+ artists, building bridges among people of all backgrounds and abilities.

Other Summit speakers included Chancellor Jennifer Sobanet, who encouraged all attendees to support UCCS’s commitment to creating inclusive environments. She shared, “Our collective pursuit of knowledge is not just an academic endeavor but a journey towards fostering empathy and a more interconnected world.”

Throughout the day, the summit fostered a sense of community and solidarity, with designated spaces for participants to network, share experiences and reflect on the information presented. One of the key takeaways from the summit was the importance of building coalitions across different social justice movements to amplify impact and create sustainable change.

The closing performance, delivered by UCCS alumna and Pikes Peak Poet Laureate Ashley Cornelius, included three pieces of poetry taken from her first publication “Translations from the Soul.” Her performance left attendees with a powerful call to action: “Our job is to break the system, to deconstruct foundations of oppressive cogs and wheels designed to harm us. This poem is a sledge hammer. Your engagement is a wrecking ball. Our presence is a demolition of this system.”

The CU Social Justice Summit served as a reminder that the path toward equity requires both individual and collective effort. It inspired attendees to continue the work beyond the summit walls, advocating for marginalized communities, challenging oppressive systems and, most importantly, creating lasting change.

With the momentum generated by this year’s summit, UCCS hopes to continue this vital dialogue and create even more opportunities for engagement and action.