The Memorial Union at Iowa State University will be hosting the Iowa State Conference on Race and Ethnicity (ISCORE) March 4, 2016, to discuss how to educate students, faculty and staff on racial and ethnic issues. Admission is free to attend ISCORE and is open to everyone.

ISCORE has been held annually at Iowa State for the last 16 years, this year being the 17th. The one day conference is a smaller, more Iowa State focused version, of the National Conference of Race and Ethnicity (NCORE).

The conference will discuss issues regarding racial identity, white privilege, #blacklivesmatter, microaggressions and more.

ISCORE will bring together students, faculty, and staff to present and educate the campus by holding lectures, small workshops, and sessions addressing how Iowa State can be more accepting of different races and ethnicities.

Students can apply to become a scholar for the National conference. However, not all students can be selected to attend, so the hope of ISCORE is to bring the experience of NCORE to Iowa State for all students, faculty and staff to attend.

The 2015-2016 Iowa State student scholars, who have worked together since the end of May 2015, and attended the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE), will be presenting different topics on race and ethnicity.

This year’s student cohort will present on African Americans, Latino, White, Asian American and Native American races and ethnicities.

This is the first year ISCORE will have a session on the White race, discussing White privilege. The session is called, “Anyone know where I can cash in my white privilege points? Do I need a card? I keep hearing I have this, but I’m not sure where to go or how to use it”.

Microaggressions, or unintended discriminations, will also be a topic of focus at the conference. Many people of all races admit to having microaggressions. It can be a thought or something said under the breath, whether innocent or purposeful, they happen in everyday life. What happens after though is determined by each individual.

Currently, ISCORE reaches a small portion of Iowa State’s campus and from the community. The conference hopes to gain attention of people of all races, to come and join the conversation about race at Iowa State, and how students, faculty and staff can change the inequality that happens.

There is not one specific person the conference hopes to bring into participate, instead encourages everyone to attend to listen and create understanding. This allows discussion to happen at Iowa State so progress can be made.

ISCORE hopes that interesting and thought provoking topics will attract a larger audience. It will be a day of connecting students to create a more welcome and safe environment on our campus for all students.

The overall goal is to allow the Iowa State community to have information about racial and ethnic issues, and support the effort the university is trying to make to create racial and ethnic equality.