U Of I’s iUnite Week Seeks To Bring Campus Together

A week-long event on the University of Illinois Urbana campus attempts to bring together students, faculty, and staff from different walks of life.  The annual i-Unite week, sponsored by the Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Relations, officially begins Monday.

i-Unite committee chair January Boten says each year the committee tries to set up events that will highlight the diversity found on the Urbana campus.

“So really our goals are trying to do a wide array of programming that is going to make students feel like there’s a lot of different options that speak to their different identities and that are going to help promote students feeling included on campus," Boten said, "but also speaking up for each other on campus.”

Tuesday night’s keynote event features Bree Newsome, the community organizer who was arrested for removing the Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina State House in 2015. Her actions led to the decision by state officials to remove the flag permanently. Newsome will speak at the Illini Union Tuesday night at 7pm.

Boten says students on the Illini Union Programming Board recommended Newsome to the i-Unite committee as a speaker for this year’s event.

Click here for a listing of all of this year's iUnite events.