Holy Cross to Participate in Student Diversity Effort

WORCESTER, Mass. – On Saturday, Oct. 14, Holy Cross ALANA (African American, Latino, Asian American, and Native American) students will participate in Crossing Boundaries at Clark University. The event will provide students with an opportunity to meet and share ideas with other ALANA students at colleges and universities in Worcester.

Crossing Boundaries is sponsored by the Worcester ALANA Consortium Support Network, a group of administrators from eight of the colleges and universities in the Consortium: Assumption College, Becker College, Clark University, College of the Holy Cross, Nichols College, Quinsigamond Community College, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Worcester State College. Made up of administrators from varied departments, the Network has been meeting since the fall of 1999 to initiate a concerted effort to support the recruitment and retention of ALANA students.

The event will begin at 3 p.m. in Room 320 of Jefferson Hall. It will include a buffet dinner, a keynote address from author and award-winning journalist, Helen Zia, at 6:30 p.m., in the Atwood Auditorium, and will conclude with a social gathering for participants.

Crossing Boundaries will continue with a monthly gathering of ALANA students throughout the academic year on the various campuses of the colleges and universities of the Worcester Consortium.

Helen Zia is journalist and contributing editor to Ms. Magazine, where she was formerly executive editor. Her articles, essays and reviews have appeared in numerous publications nationwide. She is the author of the book, Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People.

Zia is an activist for social justice on issues ranging from civil rights and peace to women's rights and countering hate violence. In 1997 she testified before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on the impact of the campaign finance hearings on Asian Americans. Her work on the Asian-American landmark civil rights case of anti-Asian violence is documented in the Academy Award-nominated film, Who Killed Vincent Chin?