On September 21, Thelmo’s Vice President of Senate Affairs Shedrack Bogonko sent a campus-wide email announcing the return of the UNITY project that takes place near Creasy Commons in the grove of trees between Hepburn and Park Street. The opening ceremony happened virtually on Zoom and the project will be open to participants until 4:45 pm on October 14. “UNITY project is a collaborative art project, but also a collaboration and intersectionality of identities,” said Bogonko. “It serves as a representation of what SLU is like for different people, and functions as a conversation starter and as a unifier in bringing campus members closer together rather than dividing us.”

Thelmo Diversity and Inclusion Chair Kenyeri Xelhua agrees with Bogonko. “When we are sharing a small campus like SLU, we tend to follow the crowd because we do not want to make people feel uncomfortable,” she said. “But the uncomfortable feeling of knowing that someone might think differently than me leads to curiosity, and curiosity is the first step to creating a conversation. UNITY project is one of the few where we can express our differences and arrive at a common understanding.”

When asked why SLU needs this project, Bogonko shared a personal story that touches on what it is like to be a person of color in the U.S. in the current climate and how it connects to the necessity of the UNITY project on campus. “2020 has been an exhausting year for me mentally, socially, and emotionally,” he said, “so I wanted something positive on campus, something that can connect us through dialogs. The project is also significant because it acts as a reminder to the campus community, that each one of us is an important contributor to the SLU experience.”

This year, following the Laurentian Pact regulations, the UNITY project site will limit its participants in the circle to 5 people. The organizers asked participants to use hand sanitizer before and after touching the yarn. Masks are required at all times while participating.

UNITY project is made by 32 posts that are each labeled with a variety of identifiers. Participants weave yarn around those poles whose identifiers reflect that individual’s identity. As the number of people that complete the project grows, the yarn intertwines and creates a web of interconnectedness. Associate Dean of Diversity and Inclusion Kimberly Flint-Hamilton referred to it as “a tapestry with different layers that provides a vivid and accessible way to view and understand the value of the diversity in a community.”

This UNITY Project was first brought to campus by the 2016 Thelmo Diversity Chair with the help of the late Chaplain Kathleen Buckley. According to Bogonko, “this year’s UNITY project lost one of its founders,” he said. “Therefore, we hope everyone on campus will participate in this to bring back a sense of community and normalcy and to make it a successful event similar to previous years in honoring Kathleen Buckley and what she had envisioned for SLU campus.”

Diversity Chair Kenyeri Xelhua also added, “we always express that we want to be more diverse and inclusive, but we don’t do like the necessary things that are important to create that diverse, inclusive conversation.” Now that SLU has a project in which goals align to the campus’s mission, Xelhua hopes everyone will step out of their fear of being uncomfortable and participate in this annual conversation-sparker opportunity.