Wesleyan University
PAE-T2-3: Student Training Opportunities

Wesleyan offers a range of student leadership opportunities including opportunities to serve as student representatives in the Wesleyan Student Assembly and numerous committees on campus. The Office of Student Activities and Leadership Development offers internships and opportunities to serve as peer advisors, including Wesleyan Diversity Education Facilitators (WesDEFs) and the Office of Student Affairs' Student Academic Support Network (SARN) Peer Advisors.

WesDEF (the Wesleyan Diversity Education Facilitation Program) is a student group founded in 2005 that leads anti-oppression conversation workshops. WesDEF students train throughout the year for their roles as community facilitators and educators. Selected first-year residential halls have workshops on social justice issues led by WesDEFs. WesDEF workshops may include a discussion of classism, a poetry exercise about the meaning of home, or an activity exploring the presence of institutional racism in our community. All workshops provide an opportunity for critical dialogue about the impact of oppression at Wesleyan and the larger world. The purpose of WesDEF workshops is not to provide answers but to elicit questions and to provide participants with the knowledge and tools to aid personal exploration and further social awareness. The WesDEF program aims to act as a resource for the Wesleyan community, developing space for social justice work, dialogue and understanding.

The Student Academic Resources Network (SARN) coordinates programs for intellectual enrichment and academic support. The Network's goals are to foster a community culture that recognizes the relationship between intellectual growth and personal development; to ensure that students know about and are encouraged to seek out appropriate services; and to share information among programs and constituents to ensure the provision of high quality and accessible services that facilitate academic achievement for all students.

Since 2006, Wesleyan's Martin Luther King Planning Committee has organized a series of events that celebrate the life of Dr. King and address systemic issues facing people of color at Wesleyan and beyond through a diversity training, keynote speaker, and Black History Month events. The training is open to all staff, faculty, and students. Last year's theme was ""Diversity University: Moving from Theory to Practice;"" this year's theme will be ACCESS. Other Black History Month events celebrate Wesleyan's diversity, offer connections between students and alumni, and address systemic issues of inequality, sexual and cultural identity, allyship, diversity, and challenges facing the students of color community. The Social Justice Leadership Conference (SJLC) is a part of Black History Month and is a collaborative effort that provides a space for students, student groups, community members, alumni, faculty, and staff to discuss social justice and to learn and refine leadership skills. SJLC seeks to empower its participants to create change by applying the skills and knowledge acquired during the conference. Participants facilitate sessions in their area of interest or expertise. Sessions focus on leadership skills that may be applied to any social movement and on the many manifestations of injustice and how participants can be involved in creating change. SJLC provides participants with resources and opportunities for engagement on campus, in Middletown, in Connecticut and across the globe.

WesDEF: http://www.wesleyan.edu/partnerships/mei/initiatives/wesdef.html
SARN: http://www.wesleyan.edu/sarn/
Black History Month Events: http://www.wesleyan.edu/mlk/related-events.html
Social Justice Leadership Conference: http://www.wesleyan.edu/sald/sjlc/index.html