FSU Welcomes Racial Justice Advocate Dr. Sy Stokes On March 30

FRAMINGHAM, MA – Dr. Sy Stokes will deliver the 2022 Voices of Color keynote address, titled "Freedom of Speech and the Politics of Morality: Campus Racial Climate in the Modern Era," on or Wednesday, March 30th at 4:30 p.m.

The event will be held in person in the McCarthy Center Forum and will also be available to watch online. Only members of the FSU community may attend in person – all members of the larger community are invited to watch online. Register here.

Stokes directs Coqual's qualitative research team in identifying solutions for advancing equity in the workplace. Prior to Coqual, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow for the National Center for Institutional Diversity at the University of Michigan. As an undergraduate at UCLA and graduate student at UPenn and USC, Dr. Stokes gained national acclaim for his spoken word performances of "The Black Bruins" and "Dear White Counselor."

His research interrogates capitalism, nationalism, white supremacy, and racism; and examines the ways that college students respond to campus racism through activism and political engagement.

Stokes is also the recipient of the 2021 USC Rossier School of Education Ph.D. Dissertation of the Year Award for his dissertation, "Into the Wildfire: Campus Racial Climate and the Trump Presidency."

“Dr. Stokes is a dynamic speaker who blends lived experience with scholarly research to discuss racism, activism and civic engagement,” said Eric Nguyen, director of FSU’s Center for Inclusive Excellence. “His keynote address, which will examine freedom of speech and racial climate on college campuses, is timely given events that have taken place at Framingham State and across the country.”

The Olivia A. Davidson Voices of Color Speaker Series is an annual lecture featuring a prominent voice addressing issues of racial justice and racism in America. It is named after Framingham State University alumna Olivia A. Davidson (Class of 1886), who helped found the Tuskegee Institute with her husband Booker T. Washington.