Pepperdine News and Events

GSEP Diversity Council Panel Promotes Social Justice

In light of the important issues raised during the fall 2008 elections, the Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) Diversity Council hosted a session entitled "Promoting Social Justice: Confronting Racism and Homophobia" as a part of the committee's biannual Multicultural Issues Impacting Community Speaker Series on March 24 at the West Los Angeles Graduate Campus.

The three distinguished panelists drew their expertise from varied backgrounds. Dr. Robert Cargill, an "Academic Christian," holds a Master of Science in Ministry and Master of Divinity from Pepperdine, and is the Chief Architect and Designer of the Qumran Visualization Project, a real-time virtual reconstruction of Khirbet Qumran, the site associated with the composition of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Naveen Jonathan, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and adjunct professor at GSEP, authored the chapter "Carrying Equal Weight: Relational Responsibility and Attunement among Same-Sex Couples" for the book Transforming Power: How Couples Move from Gender Legacy to Gender Equality (Springer, 2008). He is an authority on cross-cultural psychology and same-sex relationship dynamics.

Finally, Dr. Carolyn O'Keefe previously presented at the GSEP Multicultural Research and Training Lab Conference in 2008 on "Gaining Competence in Working with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Clients," and received her Doctor of Psychology from GSEP after completing her dissertation entitled, "Mentoring Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Minorities in a University Setting." Dr. Robert deMayo, associate dean and professor of psychology at GSEP, moderated the discussion.

"One of the major challenges around these issues is the unwillingness people have to acknowledge the societal implications," said Jonathan. "It is only through discussion that we can explore how to effectively address these ongoing problems."

Professor of psychology at GSEP and director of the GSEP Culture and Trauma Research Lab Dr. Thema Bryant-Davis agreed. "It can be emotionally traumatizing for people to experience racism, sexism, homophobia," she said. "I hope that this dialogue demonstrated to the audience that although we have great figures from history who have been change agents, each individual can promote justice both in their personal lives and professional lives."

Bryant-Davis cited two reasons why bigotry is perpetuated: ignorance and a lack of interaction. "While our working environments are often diverse, our living communities are still very segregated," she said. "When people are not interacting directly with each other then they make assumptions about others based on stereotypes."

She continued, "Our goal in holding this event was provide a framework in which people could think about the impact of racism and homophobia, and to teach people to proactively promote social justice. While it's a difficult conversation to have and we often avoid it, once people are equipped to talk about these issues then they can grow. Silence only supports the status quo."

The GSEP Diversity Council was formed to promote discourse and foster multicultural proficiency. The Council developed the Multicultural Issues Impacting Community Speaker Series to provide a forum for representatives of varied backgrounds and views to speak to subjects affecting the fields of education and mental health. The biannual events encourage discourse, build partnerships with the surrounding community, and help students cultivate multicultural proficiency. For more information, visit:

http://gsep.pepperdine.edu/news-events/events/multicultural-speaker-series/