On Friday, Feb. 20, the KSC Office of Community and Belonging (OCB) partnered with the Sexual Violence Prevention team to co-host a table for World Day of Social Justice.
Nina Zienkiewicz, coordinator of student support at the OCB, shared the importance of World Day of Social Justice and why it is important for students to recognize it.
“Social justice is the premise that everyone deserves equal rights as well as accessibility to resources, and addressing inequality in all systems is important, such as poverty or employment and access to resources and housing,” Zienkiewicz stated.
Additionally, Zienkiewicz said, “The theme of this year is empowering inclusion. Given the title, it is important for students to be involved, make connections and stay involved in the community and support and advocate for those around them. I really want to emphasize that social justice is a community effort and by doing an activity like this, students can commit to actions and act social justice at their own pace.”
According to Zienkiewicz, the World Day of Social Justice has been celebrated at Keene State for two years, although there were some changes that occurred from last year to this year. However, Zienkiewicz and the Sexual Violence Prevention team were still able to “pull it off.” “We did it for the first time last year. It was more of a fair so we did have more people involved, this year we were not able to get the pull in. This would be the second year that we’ve done it but a little different this time,” she said.
“I am a resource to students all year round and my goal is to advocate for students’ needs, no matter the way they identify,” Zienkiewicz said. “The goal is to get students equal access to resources so that they can be successful on campus, and so the work I do goes beyond tomorrow [the tabling on Feb. 20]. It goes beyond the office all the time. I just want students to know that they have support systems available and I am a good bridge to get them there.”
As a result, Zienkiewicz said she puts effort into making social justice show up throughout the year by working with the identity-based student organizations. “When I work with them and River Valley students on campus, resources are being made available and ongoing efforts are made to get students involved and communities that will advocate,” she said.
Furthermore, junior Laurel Feindel, first-year Lezmari Castrodad and senior Alex Dyer who visited the tabling expressed what social justice means to them.
“Social justice is when issues and inequities are handled by balancing what was wronged,” said Feindel.
“For me, social justice means to feel like you have the freedom to be whoever you want in the world we live in despite the social limitations on you like your race and gender. You can just be yourself despite those limitations,” said Castordad.
Similarly, Dyer expressed, “The importance of social justice is to have equality and opportunities for people’s rights and race to be heard or shown, especially with what is going on
in today’s crazy world. I would like to hear more about how it can be actively addressed.”
Tamy Jacques can be reached at
