Unity Week holds five days of events devoted to exploring the diversity and connections we have as a community. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Coach and Student Support Specialist Monique Nunes (affectionately known as “Ms. Mo”), was part of the Students Affairs committee who decided to begin Unity Week last school year. 

This year, from Mon., Sept. 20 through Fri., Sept. 24, Nunes organized and led conversations on campus including: “Talk It Out Tuesday,” “Words of Wisdom Wednesday” and “Thoughtful Thursday.”

Nunes said her motivation for Unity Week was, “to have civil dialogue with students. We are all made in the image of God; therefore, we need to treat individuals with dignity and respect.” As a Concordia alumni herself, and holding previous roles as Associate Director of Multicultural Programs and Campus Ministry at another university, Nunes has “a passion for Diversity and healthy civil dialogue with people.” 

Conversing about current events and student’s unique cultures and relations is the goal for each event held during Unity Week. Joshua Burns, a junior and a member of the Diversity Awareness committee said, “[I] loved the conversations that this week-long event sparked.” Burns added, “It allowed for students to become knowledgeable and educated on so many things.” 

“Words of Wisdom Wednesday” allowed students to obtain knowledge about their surrounding peers. In this activity, students were challenged to “have a dialogue about what it means to be a neighbor,” according to Nunes. “More importantly,” she added, “how and what can we learn from our neighbors [and] what can they learn from [you].” 

With nearly 850 students living in the housing dormitories from countries far and wide, students are given a unique opportunity to be neighbors with someone from a completely different part of the world. “Words of Wisdom Wednesday” guided students to understand how they can make the most of their neighborhood relationships. 

Nunes has often encouraged students to respectfully have “tough conversations” with one another in hopes that students would learn from each other. “Talk It Out Tuesday” had students move from table to table discussing different topics to spark conversation. “The table talks,” according to Nunes, “ranged from ‘What would you do,’ to ‘Where do we go from here?’” This will cause students to engage with other students and learn how to verbally think in a group setting about a variety of topics. “Thoughtful Thursday” built upon this event and made students unpack important questions and thoughts with one another. 

“Our hope [from Unity Week] is that you learned how to engage, explore, empower and expand your thinking about how different and similar we all are,” Nunes added. In a society with constant unrest, unity seems to be a challenging pursuit. A clear takeaway from Unity Week is the necessity of open dialogue and active listening for any unified community.

For more information and contact information, visit www.cui.edu/aboutcui/diversity/unity-week

Tags: community, peer health, leadership

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