Center for Ethnic, Racial & Religious Understanding (CERRU) records

The Center for Ethnic, Racial & Religious Understanding (CERRU) is a diversity training and education center on the Queens College campus whose mission is to transform the school's community, one dialogue at a time. The organization provides a safe space for both the campus and the community to discuss and transcend divisive issues. Additionally, CERRU trains students and faculty to approach differences with curiosity and to handle conflict with grace and understanding.

CERRU was founded in 2009 by Sophia McGee, Steven Appel, John Vogelsang and Queens College professor Mark Rosenblum. Rosenblum taught Middle East affairs for several decades, garnering acclaim for his dialogue-driven approach in the classroom to Palestine/Israel relations and for convening roundtable talks between Palestinians and Israelis. His approach to fostering difficult conversations by placing one side of an issue into the shoes of the other became the blueprint for CERRU.

The bulk of CERRU's work is centered around dialogue events and yearlong fellowships that equips selected students with a wealth of tools and experiences to facilitate conversations and build local community. Examples of past fellowships include the Dialogue Fellowship, Social Change Fellowship, and Undoing Bias Fellowship. Each cohort member works on a project over the course of the hear, such as acquiring funding for interpreters who have worked with the US army, or developing after-school arts programs at public schools in the city.

CERRU also regularly partners with organizations on and off campus to promote greater understanding in the New York City community. The flyers and promotional materials in the CERRU collection provide a vantage into the wide range of events and collaborations CERRU has facilitated over the years. For example, there are a number of playbills and programs related to theatre, music, poetry, and visual art events that CERRU or its members had a hand in crafting.

For more information about CERRU, see the organization's website, instagram, and facebook.