News Release — Johnson State College
Jan. 5, 2017
Contact:
Melissa Weinstein, Johnson State College, 802-635-1247, Melissa.Weinstein@jsc.edu
JOHNSON, VT — Penny Patch, who was active in the 1960s with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), a civil rights group, will be the keynote speaker at Johnson State College’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance Jan. 16.
The event, which will include remarks by JSC President Elaine Collins and a performance by the JSC Chorale, will begin at 11 a.m. at the Dibden Center for the Arts. It’s free and open to the public.
Patch, a longtime nurse midwife, became the first white woman to work on a SNCC project in the South in ’62, while she was a student at Swarthmore College.
The King day event reinforces the campus commitment to diversity and inclusion, social justice and community service.
President Collins was among the state education and business leaders who signed a statement to affirm Vermont’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusiveness.
Related initiatives this academic year include the college’s 1% Challenge, which encourages JSC community members to commit to donating 1 percent of their average work time – about 10 hours a semester – to community service.
And last semester, flags were installed on campus in support of several social justice causes.
“Understanding diversity is important because our community — on campus, in Johnson, in Vermont, in America — is made up of many histories and perspectives which deserve equal consideration,” JSC Director of Residence Life Jeff Bickford says.
He co-chairs the campus Diversity Task Force, which is coordinating the King day event with the support of JSC’s Office of First-Year Experience.
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