The Racial Issues Colloquium at St. Cloud State University endeavors to be a positive model to other campus communities seeking to combat racism, discrimination and other forms of oppression. By means of curricular design the Colloquium contributes to the critical examination and transformation of campus culture as we teach to a generation of students that need to understand each other in a global society. We challenge our students to critically examine power relations while deepening and strengthening a commitment to racial and social justice.
The mission of the racial issues curriculum is to ensure that there is a place within the general education curriculum where issues of race and racial oppression in the present day United States are explicitly addressed. While historical and global perspectives on race and racial oppression may be incorporated, a major focus is on their impact within the United States today.