Every generation of UW students has shared times of both turmoil and peace. However, the strings alumni and students now share play the melodies of two songs: a passion for social justice and student activism, and a craving for intellectualism.

“If people acknowledged there were true inequalities in this country, then things would have to change,” said Stephanie Jones, a graduate student in public administration and social work. “It’s not just about academics and theory, [rather], what’s happening in our world and to our neighbors.”

Jones is Korean and black and was raised mostly by her black father in Tacoma, which shaped her racial identity, she said. She is active in student organizations that value diversity and seek to dismantle racism, she said.

“We have to live in a world that’s predominantly white,” she said. “The people who hold the power in this country are predominantly white.”

Jones found her niche in the School of Social Work by collaborating with students to open a UW chapter of the National Association of Black Social Workers and by fighting for curriculum change, she said. She also protested against Initiative 200, a legal backlash to affirmative action.

“The School of Social Work fosters an environment that challenges basic assumptions,” Jones said. “Being active within all student organizations helps give my life a whole balance.”

Nonetheless, Jones refuses to take all the credit for the curriculum change.

“It was a result of a collective group of students,” she said. “My activism fuels my passion for social justice.”

It’s not only about justice, but rather, also about work opportunities, personal growth and social skills, she said.

Through her activism, she learned more aspects about culture.

“You learn the norms of the dominant culture,” Jones said. “People don’t want to give up that privilege.”

Jones resolved her frustrated transition into the Evans School of Public Affairs by joining Partnerships for Cultural Diversity and continuing her passion.

She wanted to feel comfortable, she said.

“I just want to put my hair down, kick my feet up and feel at home,” she said. “PCD meetings provide a safe space.”

Political activism has increased in the past three years, said James Gregory, a UW professor of history and chair and director of the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies. Gregory has worked on campus for 15 years.

“A lot of students are very committed to social justice,” he said. “There’s a lot going on and there are very creative groups.”

The Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies awarded the Student Labor Action Project for its ingenuity in increasing awareness about labor issues regarding global and fair-trade agreements, he said.

Some examples of projects take the form of senior theses or fieldwork with professors such as Angelina Godoy, a professor in the Jackson School of International Studies and Law, Societies and Justice.

“I’m a sociologist by training, but my primary interest is the field of human rights,” Godoy said.

Her specialty is Latin America; Central America in particular, she said. She has taken student groups to Guatemala and created task forces to monitor fair labor standards of the UW’s collegiate apparel manufacturers.

However, her most recent and ongoing project involves fighting for legislation that would create a human rights center on campus. Despite the economic crisis, this would be a statewide effort with a long-term commitment, she said.

Human rights and social justice activism aren’t the only types of activism students are passionate about. Many share the desire for a safe space, a place to feel at home — despite the different means to getting to that place.

Ellen Fix is a 1972 alumna who is now on the corporation board of her sorority, Sigma Kappa.

“Sigma Kappa is about sisterhood, camaraderie, discipline,” she said. “It gives you a built-in family.”

Being a part of a sorority changed Fix’s perspective about life.

“It gives you values and lessons and that doesn’t change,” she said. “It teaches patience, tolerance and respect.”

However, some changes are obvious, such as the increased philanthropy and awareness, she said. The change in ethnicity of Sigma Kappa members, evident by the class picture hanging on the wall featuring young women of different ethnicities, and the change in the government are two examples.

“Before coming to UW, I had never seen a black person,” said Fix, who was raised in Spokane. “Electing a black man [as president] at that time would’ve been unthinkable.”

In 2008, the UW celebrated the 40th anniversary of the 1968 takeover of President Charles Odegaard’s office by the Black Student Union.

Members of the BSU were “protesting the University’s non-responsiveness to the interest of minority students on campus,” said Luis Fraga, associate vice provost for faculty advancement and director of the UW’s Diversity Research Institute.

His position was created because faculty and graduate students lacked diversity and the UW needed a strategic plan to address the issue, Fraga said.

“The UW didn’t internalize the fact that diversity would enrich the intellectual mission,” he said. “Traditional notions take a longer time to change because you don’t have the same institutional commitment [for graduate students and faculty] that you did at the level of undergraduate education.”

Because of I-200, institutions of higher education and public service changed the language by which they hired employees and admitted students, Fraga said, which centralized arguments and actions.

“It’s not an argument of ‘you should,’” he said. “It’s an argument of ‘we’re better because.’”

Defining diversity as being separate from excellence, or perceiving that it excludes one group under the definition are two misinformed perspectives, Fraga said.

UW students have long been familiar with race and social justice issues, but the 1960s marked a movement replicated today that sparks microcosmic changes, all thanks to groups of student organizers.

“It’s largely defined by those who have enough self-confidence to be risk-takers and to know that the risk is worth taking for the institution to make progress,” he said. “Diversity helps, not hinders, the university’s mission of intellectual enrichment.”

Reach reporter Marissa Beach at features@dailyuw.com.