Press Releases

CONTACT: Jeff Palmer or Gloria Royal

December 2, 2009

KALAMAZOO COLLEGE RECEIVES $2.1 MILLION GRANT
FROM ARCUS FOUNDATION
TO LAUNCH SOCIAL JUSTICE LEADERSHIP CENTER

[KALAMAZOO, Mich.] December 2, 2009 – Kalamazoo College has received a $2.1 million project grant from the Arcus Foundation to help launch the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College. The grant will fund the Center’s programming plans for the first two years of operation, as well as the hiring of an executive director, academic director, and support staff.

      The mission of the Arcus Center will be to support the pursuit of human rights and social justice by developing emerging leaders and sustaining existing leaders in the field of human rights and social justice, creating a pivotal role for liberal arts education in engendering a more just world.    

      As currently envisioned, it will offer an array of programs, including lectures by individuals who are recognized for their work in the field of social justice; short-term residencies for scholars, artists, and activists who will interact with the campus and the local community; opportunities for the development of new courses and leadership programs in the area of social justice and human rights; and conferences that address major issues related to the creation of a more just world.

      “We are honored by the Arcus Foundation’s trust in our vision and thrilled to be able to make this vision a reality,” said Kalamazoo College President Eileen Wilson-Oyelaran. “The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership will provide transformative experiences to our students and has the potential to bring national and global prominence to the College.”

      The Arcus Center will be located on the Kalamazoo College campus at the corner of Academy and Monroe streets in the building formerly occupied by the L. Lee Stryker Center.

      This $2.1 million grant was preceded by a $200,000 initial planning grant from Arcus announced in April 2009. In 2011, Arcus will likely consider an endowment request from the College to fund the Center’s ongoing operations.

      The vision for a social justice leadership center at Kalamazoo College closely aligns with the Arcus Foundation’s social justice mission. Founded in 2000 by Jon Stryker, a “K” College trustee and 1982 Kalamazoo alumnus, Arcus pursues its social justice mission locally and Michigan, as well as nationally and globally.

      “The establishment of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership in the city of Kalamazoo, where Arcus was founded, is an extraordinary highlight for the Foundation,” said Executive Director Urvashi Vaid. “Our unique and innovative collaboration with Kalamazoo College will combine the very best in higher education programs with a strong focus on developing the next generation of social justice leaders.”

      During this past summer, a committee of Kalamazoo College faculty, staff, and students met to establish working goals for the Arcus Center, outline its guiding principles and strategies, and determine responsibilities and requirements for staff members expected to be on the job by spring 2010.

      “The Arcus Center is consistent with Kalamazoo College’s mission to create enlightened leadership for a richly diverse increasingly complex world,” said Wilson-Oyelaran. “It will enable the College to integrate issues of social justice and human rights into its nationally recognized academic, service-learning, and study abroad programs.”

      Added Arcus’s Vaid, “We are confident the Arcus Center will be a place where inspired and passionate new leaders will discover, debate, and take action on the issues, approaches, challenges, and opportunities that will bring the nation and the world ever closer to the realization of human rights and social justice for all people.”

      The mission of the Arcus Foundation (www.arcusfoundation.org) is to achieve social justice that is inclusive of sexual orientation, gender identity, and race, and to ensure conservation and respect of the great apes. The Foundation works globally and has offices in Kalamazoo, New York City, and Cambridge, UK.