Azhley Rodriguez and Fernanda Arellano
Staff Writers
On Tuesday Sept. 20, the DU community gathered to celebrate the 13th annual Caritas Veritas Symposium.
The academic convocation started at 9:30 a.m. in the Lund Auditorium where all members of the DU community, including trustees and alumni, were invited to honor the theme of this year’s symposium: Collaborative Relationships.
In the convocation, President Glena Temple emphasized, “today’s theme celebrates collaborative relationships, and we have many examples in our community of collaboration,” Temple said. “I thank the presenters for sharing their work and inspiring us with their creativity and commitment.”
Leticia Villareal Sosa, associate dean of the College of Applied Social Sciences and a Professor in the School of Social Work, was presented the Sister Clemente Davlin Diversity Leadership Award for her diversity work at DU.
“I am honored to receive this award, not because I consider it recognition from an institution that is often been mired in ineffective responses in racializing experiences. But because of what it means to my colleagues who submitted the nomination, the students on this campus who deserve culturally affirming and responsive practices, and all the individuals on campus engaged in racial equity work every day even when things seem hopeless,” Villareal Sosa said.
A second award was presented to the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education center. The Bradford-O’Neill Medallion for Social Justice was named in honor of two Sinsinawa Sisters, Sister Vincent Ferrer Bradford and Sister Thomas Aquinas O’Neill.
According to Provost Laura Niesen de Abruña, the award is historically given to “local, national or international figures or organizations whose lives and work have contributed significantly to the creation of a more just and humane world.”
After the convocation, the two-part event continued with morning sessions around campus by faculty and students to vocalize different topics of collaborative relationships. These sessions included themes such as Sustainability as Collaboration and the Laudato Si Journey, White Antiracism: Acquiring the Tools for Racial Equity, and more.
For first year students, the event was a chance to meet new people and better understand DU’s mission and history. Freshman Michelle Zamora Domingues said, “As a freshman, going to Caritas Veritas really made me realize that Dominican is not only an institution, but a community. DU cares for all minorities, since its founding years.”
College of Applied Social Sciences Dean Professor C. Ben Freville echoed the idea saying, “The event was a great way for the community to come together to discuss and learn the important issues connected to our mission.”
For the second part of the day, President Temple invited the DU community to the quad to enjoy free food trucks, games, and live music by a local band, The Redmonds.
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arodriguez2@my.dom.edu
