Both students and faculty at Northwest Technical College in Bemidji were welcome to join in on a breakfast gathering and professional development workshop Friday morning with author and keynote speaker George Paasewe to talk about the importance of code-switching.

NTC and BSU Campus Diversity Officer Steven D. Parker said that this had been a project in the making since the fall semester when he decided that they needed to join forces with faculty, staff, and students to bring an opportunity to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion on campus.

As explained by Paasewe, code-switching is the practice of adjusting styles of speech, appearance, behavior, or expression to different contexts and situations. Paasewe explained that code-switching is helpful to understand because we all do it as human beings, whether consciously or unconsciously. As it relates to diversity, equity, and inclusion, there is an extra layer of burden that is placed on students and people of color to code-switch, and it’s important to be aware of these burdens and challenges.

Bemidji State University faculty are actively working together to bring an experiential opportunity to their campus in the 2022 fall semester.

By — Emma Hudziak