Social Justice and Recreation

1. Social Justice and Recreation Larry D. Roper Oregon State University

2. Social Justice • Believing in the inherent worth of each person, our mutual interdependency, and the need to create a world in which each person has the opportunity to flourish. • Social justice is the view that everyone deserves equal rights and opportunities. • Should aim to open the doors of access and opportunity for everyone, particularly those in greatest need.

3. Social Justice • Life and dignity of the human person • Providing support for the poor and vulnerable

4. In the Recreation Context • Examining our knowledge of institutional culture, structures and systems and how we use our knowledge and skills to ensure equity, dignity, worth, learning and healthful development of students and staff • Developing Awareness, Enhancing Knowledge, Cultivating Skills (engaging, diagnosing, intervening), Taking Action* • Looking at organizational policy decisions in terms of how they affect the poor and disadvantaged * Adapted from Dr. Jamie Washington

5. In the Recreation Context • Ensuring that all students receive the health benefits of attending college that are rightfully theirs. • Applying social-justice principles to structural problems • Learning and carrying out organizational ethics to ensure that students are treated respectfully by staff • Examining the organization’s policies and the impact they may have on people from different backgrounds

6. Questions • What are tangible examples of Social Justice work you are currently doing in your organization (whether you have named it so or not)? • How do issues of class influence your policies, programs and services? • What intentional messages do you send to communicate to your community that you are committed to social justice?

7. Questions • How can you use your leadership to influence more conscious efforts towards social justice? • With whom might you partner to initiate a social justice agenda? • What role can NIRSA play in enhancing your capacity to advance social justice?

8. Social Justice Leadership Declarations Educational relationships are rooted in care – for the condition of the mind, spirit, life circumstance, and future journey of the learner. Leadership is a generative activity – it connects faculty and students as living links in our history and our destiny. The scope, condition and permeability of our learning environments are the most profound expressions of our commitment to social justice.

9. Social Justice Leadership Declarations • The strength of our collaborations is a powerful indicator of our commitment to serve. • Learning serves to heal, repair and reconcile social ills by empowering individuals and groups. • Stories of transformation provide potent evidence of the strength, power and substance of our learning environment. • Teaching is an act of responsibility, facilitating learning is an act of social justice.