The Citizen Leadership and Social Justice Education (CLSJE) department is relatively quiet as the day comes to an end as a few students shuffle down the halls of Lankford Student Union where it is located. For Laura Parker, the assistant director of leadership development and programs, at times it seems like much of campus doesn't know what the social justice department is.
“We do have a lot of issues on campus where faculty and staff members are still calling us the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Office of Leadership and Service Learning,” Parker said.
Over time, the office has undergone a few name changes in its existence over the past decade under its director, Jonathan Page.
Assistant Director of Community Learning and Engagement Quincy Goodine said he works under Page with Parker and Assistant Director of Citizen Leadership and Social Justice Education Dr. Jes Simmons to make up CLSJE.
“There are three major components within CLSJE,” Goodine said. “Laura Parker handles leadership. Jes Simmons handles diversity, equity, and inclusion. And I handle the community engagement and service learning part.”
As a student, Goodine helped develop the university's first student diversity statement alongside Page and other students before he graduated in 2016 and landed a job with the Longwood.
CLSJE enabled him to leave the statement as a legacy that now hangs as a banner in the Lankford Student Union ballroom.
“As an African American student on campus there were a lot of things going on that I did not feel comfortable with,” Goodine said. “I went and talked to Jonathan (Page) and expressed my concerns, and we came up with the suggestion of creating a diversity statement that came from the mouths of students.”
According to Parker, CLSJE is meant to empower students to find their passion and implement them. Programs at CLSJE under Parker include the Citizen Leadership Institute (CLI) and S.E.A.L. Parker described S.E.A.L. as a learning tool for students.
“They are meant to serve as resources across campus to share all the different ways that leadership can be enacted,” Parker said.
Student Educators for Active Leadership (S.E.A.L.) chair Mercedes Hodges said she didn’t hear about CLSJE until she joined S.E.A.L.
“I definitely like how we have it here and that it is getting bigger and bigger each year, because my freshman year the only reason I knew about it was because of S.E.A.L.,” Hodges said.
Goodine runs another program offered through the office called Service With A Group (SWAG), sponsoring opportunities to volunteer in community. These events take place the third Saturday of every month and will help students impact the community.
“Basically just provide an opportunity for people to come together and find some service to get into in the community to impact positively on their Saturday morning,” Goodine said.
Other programs Goodine is currently in charge of include the Giving Tree, the Hunger Banquet and the MLK Service Challenge. The MLK Service Challenge is meant to honor Martin Luther King’s legacy according to Goodine.
“Instead of taking a day off it’s a day on,” Goodine said. “We’re pretty much just remembering the legacy of Dr. King and finding ways to give back.”
The Student Diversity Statement is also a part of CLSJE. According to Longwood’s website, the Student Diversity Statement was developed by students, one of whom was Goodine before he graduated in 2016.
The Student Diversity Statement is in the Student Union, according to Goodine.
For Hodges, the faculty at CLSJE are always looking help Longwood become improve and become more inclusive.
“Everyone is just so passionate and really wants to help the students here,” Hodges said.
According to Hodges, staff members being open to hearing student’s issues and taking initiative to change things helps CLSJE build leadership.
“I fell that when people are so passionate about a topic it really makes great leaders. Those are the people who strive to be the best they can and make this campus the best it can be,” Hodges said. “Without that passion it just wouldn’t be there but it definitely is in this program.”
