Center for Equity & Social Justice

Delaware County Community College’s Center for Equity and Social Justice (CESJ) aims to help break down systems of racism and social injustice in our community. We do this by offering continuous opportunities, including our Dialogues for Diversity speaker series, for meaningful discussions that raise awareness, encourage education and understanding, and drive transformative change.

Mission: To serve as the central unit for all at the college to pursue resources, grow understanding and advance excellence in diversity, equity and inclusion.

Dialogues for Diversity Programming

Tuesday, April 29, 11 a.m.-12 p.m., STEM Lobby

“Desert Rose” is a husband and wife-owned and run restaurant which opened in March of 2012 on State Street in downtown Media, Pa. Since opening, Desert Rose caught the attention of Michael Klein of the Philadelphia Inquirer and has been named one the best new restaurants of 2012 by Mainline Today, “Best Bites of the Burbs” by Philly G magazine, and was named “Best Middle Eastern Restaurant Philadelphia 2013” by Philadelphia Magazine. Their Chicken Shawarma earned “Best of the Best” award in 2015 from County Lines magazine. 

Thursday, May 1, 11 a.m.-12 p.m., Large Auditorium

Speaker: Dr. David Weinfeld is a scholar of North American Judaism and Jewish history with a focus on ideas of diversity and the intersection of religion, race, ethnicity, and culture. 

Lecture: Horace Kallen, Alain Locke, and Cultural Pluralism as Friendship: A Different Vision of Black-Jewish Relations

In this talk, Dr. Weinfeld will use the example of the friendship between two American philosophers, Jewish immigrant Horace Kallen (1882-1974) and African American Alain Locke (1885-1954) to explore how the two men helped develop the idea of cultural pluralism, a precursor to today’s multiculturalism. In so doing, Weinfeld would examine how the model of cultural pluralism as friendship could apply to the case of Black-Jewish relations in the United States, which has been affected by the recent war between the Israeli military and Hamas in Gaza.

Tuesday, May 6, 11 a.m.-12 p.m., Large Auditorium

Speaker: Chenlin Cai, DCCC Art Professor  

Lecture Title: Expression of Asian Culture in Mural Art 

Philadelphia is the mural capital of the United States. Among the more than 4,500 murals, those about Asian culture and history are underrepresented, which is inconsistent with the proportion of the Asian population. As an Asian artist, Chenlin Cai is thinking about how to increase public participation in murals with limited public resources and support, and explore using mural art as a medium to spread Asian culture and history. And to attract a new generation of Asian immigrants to express themselves more through art.