The MSU Womxn of Color Initiatives (WOCI) is an effort to organize events for womxn of color and their allies on the MSU campus and in the greater Lansing community. In doing so WOCI aims to create spaces for students to be in conversation with each other and engage with women of color faculty, guest speakers, staff, and community members.
Our Mission:
- Create a space for Women of Color to focus on, learn about, and build community in relation to pressing sociopolitical issues.
- Cultivate community-based self-care practices.
- Bring together undergraduates, graduates, staff, faculty, and community members in the greater Lansing area.
- Build a robust and diverse network of support for WOC
We carry out our mission in a variety of ways. We have hosted a speaker series that has brought nationally recognized women of color academic, creative, and/or political speakers to the MSU campus each semester. Our artist-in-residence program has hosted a variety of artists from muralists to podcasters to poets. They have come to campus to engage with our MSU community and the greater Lansing area. WOCI’s health and wellness workshops offer cross-disciplinary and open spaces for dialogue that address issues of representation, graduation, and retention at the undergraduate and graduate levels while offering community-building opportunities womxn of color across ranks.
By bringing together speakers, artists, workshop leaders, and community members we hope to strengthen the community of womxn and allies working toward social and racial justice and equity. In doing so, we can make MSU a Midwest hub for womxn of color intellectuals, artists, activists, and thinkers.