Equity Matters III: Student Voices on Campus Equity and Design Justice

The third in a series, the EQUITY MATTERS Leadership Summit presents a lively discussion among the emerging influencers and shapers of higher-education campus experience representing diverse perspectives. These influential panelists will discuss the role of the university and new directions reimagining facilities and spaces that can promote equity and justice, today and in the future.

Moderated by Maria Hinojosa, award-winning journalist and anchor and executive producer of Latino USA on National Public Radio, the talk includes diverse panelists, including:

• Vianna Vo, Executive President, Stanford University
• Lamar Richards, Student Body President, UNC Chapel Hill
• A student advocate for accessibility
• Christiana Moss, Studio Ma, convener

Describing advocacy approaches that make environmental design and architecture an agent of change for underrepresented communities, the panel will explore the impacts of physical spaces and the ideas of black-, Asian-, Latinx- and indigenous-owned spaces, among other underrepresented student populations including disability-rights advocates, along with campuswide planning and architectural approaches to boost their benefits to these groups. 

The discussion addresses a fundamental question: If college is meant as an equal platform for all to move forward, how do we recognize and surmount the unequal access faced by so many students on campus? And what is the university’s role in facilitating processes that yield effective environments of equity and justice? In answering the questions, the panel will expose new and at times unexpected visions of how equity and justice look on tomorrow’s university campus.

The goal of the summit is to "advance social equity to improve student learning experiences and institutional life in higher education,” says Christiana Moss, FAIA, principal of Studio Ma.