SEWANEE, Tenn. — The University of the South launched a new initiative this week, aimed at promoting frank discussions on racial issues and opening up new political possibilities.
Dozens of faculty members, administrators and students filed into a hall on campus Tuesday evening to mark the launch of the private school’s new Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Center.
The program, a version of which has been launched at dozens of universities around the nation, will not, for now at least, have a specific physical location at the school, known as Sewanee. It will be mainly programmatic in nature, said Sibby Anderson-Thompkins, the school’s vice provost for diversity, equity, and inclusion.
By phone before the launch, Anderson-Thompkins said the program will encompass the small private liberal arts school’s undergraduate side, its Episcopal seminary and, she hopes, the surrounding community.
Among these programs, launching next week, are what the university calls racial healing circles — intentional, facilitated group conversations on the dynamics of race that many people would rather leave undiscussed.