Audre Lorde Social Justice Living Learning Community
The Audre Lorde Social Justice Community (Audre Lorde SJ LLC) offers students a unique opportunity to develop their understanding and advocacy for intersecting identities, such as race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity through a social justice lens. Students who participate in the community will have the ability to engage in tailored co-curricular programs and a host of dynamic course offerings that help students reflect on their own identities and others’ experiences. Using Audre Lorde’s life as a template for social action, students in the Audre Lorde Social Justice LLC will interrogate their own intersecting identities as well as study the broader history and cultural context of social categories, develop a plan for identity-based social justice, and host programming that will educate themselves and their peers. Students will live in the same residence hall area and develop a set of community standards so that all members of the community feel supported.
Student Profile
The Audre Lorde Social Justice Living Learning Community is for first-year students who are interested in social justice advocacy for identities like race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity. The rooms in the Audre Lorde SJ LLC are gender inclusive.
Peer Mentors
The Audre Lorde SJ LLC will have two peer mentors that are upperclass-students. They will be helping to guide the students in the community as they transition into college. *If you are interested in becoming a peer mentor for the Audre Lorde SJ LLP please email lgbtq@uky.eduu with questions.* Here is the job description for the position.
Location
The Audre Lorde Social Justice LLC will be housed in Blazer Residence Hall, which has break housing during the academic year. https://www.uky.edu/housing/residence-halls/blazer-hall
Application
The application for the Audre Lorde Social Justice Living Learning Community is a part of the UK housing application. After being accepted to UK as an incoming student, students can complete the UK housing application starting at September 3 for the next academic year.
Program Benefits
Students who participate in the Audre Lorde LLC will live and learn in a community that is focused on inclusion for all people. They will learn about marginalized races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and gender identities. While using Audre Lorde’s writings as a template for activism, students will explore their own advocacy and create community standards for the LLC. The hall is open during breaks for the academic year and close to the new Gatton Student Center, which houses the MLK Center, Office of LGBTQ* Resources, and many other resources. The connected course will get students acclimated
to UK processes and help them expand their knowledge about social justice. Programming will be varied and will help to bridge the University and community resources in the greater-Lexington area.
*This picture is from
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Audre_lorde.jpg
Author - Elsa Dorfman