UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State and State College-area leaders will facilitate “Welcoming the Other,” an event aimed at building bridges within the community, opening up dialogue around negative rhetoric and violence against immigrants and refugees, and examining the meaning of our national motto, "E pluribus unum" — From many, one.

The event will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 27, in the Lewis Katz Building at University Park, and is open to the public. 

“The idea for the event came out of the tragedy at the Tree of Life Synagogue last October,” said A.K. Sandoval-Strausz, associate professor of history in Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts and director of the Latina/o Studies Program, who will speak at the event. “After months of a concentrated campaign of slander against migrants, a man had murdered 11 people right here in Pennsylvania — because they were Jews, and because they had been welcoming refugees. I thought we needed to remind ourselves who we are as a community and a nation, to reaffirm our responsibilities to each other, to more actively stand up for each other.”

Other event speakers include Penn State President Eric Barron; Rabbi David Ostrich, lecturer in Jewish Studies; and Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, professor of law and founder of the Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic. Event sponsors include Penn State Law’s Center for Immigrants' Rights Clinic, Penn State Hillel, Penn State Latino/a Studies, and the Penn State Office of the President. 

“Immigration is both divisive and widely misunderstood,” Wadhia said. “In the last two years, changing immigration law and policy have had a profound impact on immigrants and the communities they live in. I hope this event fosters understanding about immigration and a shared responsibility for inclusion moving forward.”

For more information, visit the event website or Facebook page.