Swarthmore Hosts
Black and Latino Males Conference

by Anita Pace
11/08/2007

This weekend, Swarthmore will host the 7th annual Black and Latino Males Conference, sponsored by the Consortium on High Achievement and Success (CHAS). More than 100 students, faculty, and administrators from 15 schools are anticipated to attend the conference, which will explore "The New Danger: Black and Latino Men Facing Evolving Challenges to Their Scholarship and Community." Swarthmore's ABLLE (Achieving Black and Latino Leaders of Excellence) is co-hosting the conference.

"There continues to be a need for black and Latino students to come together, network, and get support from each other and explore how to be successful at private liberal arts colleges," says Associate Dean for Multicutural Affairs Darryl Smaw, a member of CHAS' steering board. "They need to understand that despite the myriad challenges they face, they can be successful. This conference confirms for them there's solidarity and brotherhood. And when the conference is over, it's not the end. They stay in touch, and that's the best thing."

The conference will feature a series of workshops and speakers, including a keynote address by political scientist Luis Ricardo Fraga, who directs the University of Washington's Diversity Research Institute. Also appearing are Maurice Wallace, the author of Constructing the Black Masculine: Identity and Ideality in African American Men's Literature and Culture, 1775-1995, and Lamont Toliver, the director of the University of Maryland's Meyerhoff Scholars Program.

A screening of Byron Hurt's "Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes"  will also take place and will be followed by a discussionled by hip hop scholars and performers, including Temple University's Marc Lamnot Hill, James Peterson of Bucknell University, and  Tariq Trotter of  The Roots.