#respectfuldifference @RiponCollege

How many of you have seen these going around or have participated? A lot of you from what I can tell! That is awesome. In case you missed it Ripon was on the news yesterday about this campaign click here to get to the news story.

Not only does it feature our very own Yessra Sankari (Hollywood will be calling!) it also features this campaign that was born at Kenyon College- where Julie spent her years as a student. Read here about how their College President helped Kenyon respond to the yucky side of yik yak and other social media tools that make is easier to spread hateful speech.

Then you should check out Kenyon's Facebook page for #respectfuldifference. (I know, I know a lot of links!! But it is good stuff!)

Once Kenyon's president Sean Decatur went out with his article I found it on Twitter. I might not look like it but I score Twitter daily for little tidbits like this that can help make Ripon a better place. I look for professional development that would be helpful for the RHDs and for myself so we can learn to supervise and mentor all of you as best we can. I also look for cool ideas that we can bring to campus, programs to copy, and resources for RAs. Once I read this article I knew it was a cool campaign and that it was something that I wished I had thought of as we were battling all the hate on the Ripon College Confessions Page. But I brought the article to the Diversity Roundtable discussions that we have once a month on Thursdays in the Commons. I took this idea there as something for Ripon to try and for David William Scott to see if students at Ripon thought it was cool enough to do here.

That Roundtable did think this would work and the idea just took off from there. David William Scott has been awesome at organizing it and keeping everything rolling. I am pretty proud of Ripon when I see these kinds of things and even more proud when we get recognized for it at the state level. You are part of a community that wants to foster an environment where we can share ideas, respectfully disagree at times, have civil conversations about our identities and what makes each of us important parts of this community. If you have not already posted a photo of yourself participating in the campaign and would like to- let me know! I will hook you up! Then Julie will post you to the RC Student Life Facebook page.

Thank you for being awesome RAs! -Jessica