"Activism is my rent for living on this planet." ~ Alice Walker

Social Justice Education is a crucial role that many student affairs and higher educational professionals take on through their work.  Through education, training, inter-departmental collaborations, and programming, we try and help educate our students on issues of social justice, diversity, and create better communities as well as develop advocates for change amongst our students.  Yet we are frequently challenged in this process.  Despite the best planned program we can create often times we are faced with the dilemma that the students who attend the program and benefit from it are not necessarily the students who need the greatest amount of education on the topic.  Frequently we discuss  or attribute this to the challenges of engaging students, bringing them out of their rooms, getting them to communicate, etc.
While this is a constant challenge that many of us face, as educators we also need to examine our environment.  Recently I have been asked and will pose the question; how do we find ways to engage other staff and faculty on issues of social justice and diversity.  I have had the great fortune to undergo Intergroup Dialogue Training and have been left asking myself these questions.

If colleagues and peers do not find ways to incorporate, engage, and address social justice issues, how can we expect our students to do so?

How do we help social justice education become an interest and a priority in our respective departments, divisions and institutions?

While these may sound like large and ominous questions, these are the questions we must ask ourselves and others if we are to make substantial progress for the sake of our students, institutions, and greater communities.  For me the answer has become simple.  While as a young professional I do not have the ability to determine departmental/divisional/institutional mission statements, I have the ability to make this work a responsibility.  Through continually educating myself, my students, staff, and colleagues, I hope to make a change on small levels that will hopefully lead to other changes.  Additionally, I am committed to making this a priority as a white male, looking to encourage and engage other white males as well as other students and peers to become invested in this not just temporarily, not just on MLK Day, but as part of their life.