Top 10 of 2021: #9 – CCSU Establishes John Lewis Institute for Social Justice

In February of 2021, CCSU created a new Institute for Social Justice, named in honor of the great Congressman John Lewis.

“The John Lewis Institute for Social Justice,” the Institute’s Mission Statement said, “seeks to empower a new generation of leaders to follow his call to build a better and more just world, one that is marked by hope and focused on liberation.”

As in every year, there was so much news that the New Britain Progressive covered 2021 that choosing our traditional Top Ten stories of the year is difficult. But creating a social justice leadership training institute in New Britain in the name Congressman John Lewis, one the most significant leaders and heroes of the Civil Rights Movement and, indeed, one of the greatest of American leaders, certainly made this one of the New Britain Progressive‘s Top Ten Stories of 2021.

CCSU Establishes John Lewis Institute for Social Justice

February 25, 2021

Central Connecticut State University in New Britain has announced the creation of the new John Lewis Institute for Social Justice to train leaders of the future.

“The John Lewis Institute for Social Justice,” the Institute’s Mission Statement says, “seeks to empower a new generation of leaders to follow his call to build a better and more just world, one that is marked by hope and focused on liberation.”

Democratic Congressman John Lewis was one the most significant leaders and heroes of the Civil Rights Movement, and his work is widely lauded as having led to significant progress toward equality and justice for all in the United States.

In July, the NAACP said that,

Along with Hosea Williams, John Lewis led over 600 peaceful, orderly protestors across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on March 7, 1965. They intended to march from Selma to Montgomery to demonstrate the need for voting rights in the state. Despite more than 40 arrests, physical attacks, and serious injuries, John Lewis remained a devoted advocate of nonviolent philosophy.

The NAACP said that, Congressman John Lewis, who represented Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District from 1986 to his passing in 2020, “was a national treasure and a civil rights hero for the ages,” adding,

He used every waking moment of his 80 years to push this country toward more representative democracy and left behind a remarkable model. It is up to us to pick up his mantle and carry on, and we urge the entire nation to join us. As people of all colors are in the streets seeking racial justice, we urge all that can to speak louder and stay a little longer to honor the best warrior for democracy our nation has ever known.

“We take as our mandate Rep. Lewis’s observation and challenge that ‘ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America,’” the Institute’s mission says, adding that its aim is helping, “participants develop as social justice leaders and advocates and helping them explore opportunities in public service.”

“As our society continues to struggle with the persistence of inequality,” said said CCSU’s President, Dr. Zulma Toro, “many of our students have proactively sought out ways to become more informed and involved in social justice initiatives.”

The John Lewis Institute says that its mission is, “to create intellectual and civic spaces to allow for a deeper understanding of the roots of injustice, while also fostering and nurturing efforts to eliminate it.”

“The founding of this Institute,” Dr. Toro said, “is yet another example of how we are creating innovative opportunities to help our students excel by providing them with learning experiences both in and out of the classroom.”

CCSU says that the first Executive Director of the Institute is Dr. Stacey Miller, “the University’s recently appointed Vice President for the Office of Equity and Inclusion,” and says its first Chair, Scott Pioli, “‘88, a longtime supporter of social justice initiatives, is the Institute’s founding donor.”

Dr. Miller said that, “Throughout his life of service in pursuit of justice, Rep. Lewis encouraged young people to get into ‘good trouble, necessary trouble,’ and this Institute will encourage our students to carry on his legacy and fight for social justice. Our hope is that this Institute will prepare a new group of leaders to fulfill his final request—that this generation becomes the one to help peace triumph over violence.”

Other members of the Institute’s Advisory are William Fothergill, Steven Kliger, Claudia Richards-Meade, Dr. Reinaldo Rojas and Dr. Jacob Werblow. The Institute’s Launch Committee included Carolyn Magnan, Dr. Evelyn Newman Phillips, Dr. John Tully and Pamela Whitley.

CCSU says that students of the John Lewis Institute, “will explore social justice in deeper context by delving into topics including public service, civil rights, environmental racism, food insecurity, social justice, mass incarceration and under-represented populations.”

CCSU says that,

undergraduate students in any area of study can become scholars of the Institute for a term of two years. The institute will select 12 to 15 student scholars for its first cohort set to begin in the fall of 2021. Students can find additional information by visiting www.ccsu.edu/johnlewisinstitute.

Students in the John Lewis Institute’s programs, CCSU says, “will also create, lead and participate in social justice initiatives both on campus and in the surrounding communities.”