Connecting With Inclusion

In 2021, students began our first on-site mural on the walls of the new Multicultural Center, titled “Inclusion/Radical Hospitality.”

First, student artists created five trompe l’oeil windows opening onto imagined worlds of radical inclusion. Then, the broader community has been invited to graffiti and doodle the wall space around the windows – crowd-sourcing the spirit of true inclusivity. “This part, for me, is especially beautiful,” says Campbell. “Students are writing in the languages and with the symbols of their heritage. They’re using the words and values that inspire them to reach toward a more inclusive sense of community.”

Production on the mural will continue throughout this academic year – with the hope that the finished product will live not just on the walls of the Multicultural Center but also be reproduced on a Link bus.

Public art plays a powerful role in community building. Since 2017, faculty members Bruce Campbell (Latino/Latin American studies) and Rachel Melis (art) have been helping students tap into that power. Students have been producing murals connected to Benedictine values (community, justice, respect for all persons…) and working with administration to have the murals reprinted on the sides of our Link buses.