Our nation is witnessing an alarming resurgence of white supremacy and state-sanctioned violence. We are also experiencing an uprising of hope as millions of Americans have taken to the streets to protest police brutality and racial inequities in the criminal justice system. In this moment, what can anti-racist white people do?

The Theological Commons at MTSO will present a lecture by racial-justice educator, activist and author Melanie Morrison, “Beyond Good Intentions: The Role White People Must Play in the Work of Racial Justice,” at 7 p.m. Oct. 15. The lecture is offered free to the public as a video webinar. Those who wish to attend are required to register in advance here. Registered participants will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Morrison’s lecture will address how white people can and must move through places where they often get stuck so they can step up with courage, consistency and cultural humility to participate in movements led by people of color and help move other white people to greater anti-racist awareness and action.

“Now, as always, it is imperative that white people do the deep work required to claim and embody an anti-racist identity, understand the privilege they carry, develop relationships of accountability to people of color, and interrupt racism where they live, work, study and worship,” Morrison said. “Sadly, too many white people stop short of that deep work, assuming that good intentions are enough.”

Melanie S. Morrison, Ph.D., is founder and executive director of Allies for Change, a national network of anti-oppression educators. She has 30 years’ experience designing and facilitating transformational group process.

In 1994, Morrison founded “Doing Our Own Work,” an intensive anti-racism seminar for white people that has attracted hundreds of participants throughout the United States. She periodically teaches the seminar as a class at MTSO and will do so again in the summer of 2021.

Morrison’s latest book, Murder on Shades Mountain: The Legal Lynching of Willie Peterson and the Struggle for Justice in Jim Crow Birmingham, was published by Duke University Press in 2018.

Register now for “Beyond Good Intentions.”

The Agroecosystem Management Program at Ohio State University has appointed MTSO faculty member Timothy Van Meter to its executive committee.

Van Meter, associate professor in the Alford Chair of Christian Education and Youth Ministry, also serves as MTSO’s coordinator of ecological initiatives. He joins faculty members from Ohio State and the College of Wooster on the AMP Executive Committee.

The Agroecosystem Management Program is part of Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. It facilitates regional collaboration and scientific research to develop a local food economy in Ohio that is environmentally friendly, socially responsible and economically sustainable – from farm to consumer.

In addition to his roles at MTSO and with AMP, Van Meter is chair of the board of Ohio Interfaith Power and Light and a member of the Green Seminary Initiative Executive Board. He is the author of Created in Delight: Youth, Church and the Mending of the World, published in 2013 by Wipf and Stock.

As annual conferences and other rescheduled gatherings proceed, we are compiling a public list of our students and graduates who are being ordained or commissioned or are otherwise observing significant ministry steps within their faith traditions.

If this applies to you, congratulations! Please bring us up to date so we can share your news by completing this brief form.

The MTSO admissions staff has scheduled two Virtual Admissions Open Houses this fall: Saturday,Oct. 24, and Monday, Nov. 16. Both events will run from noon to 2 p.m. Eastern time.

The Virtual Admissions Open House will give those considering graduate theological school opportunities to talk live with faculty and current students, in addition to the admissions staff. The sessions also will include a virtual tour of the MTSO campus and a discussion of our generous financial aid options.

To register and learn more about these events, visit our open house web page.

Those who are unable to attend but wish to arrange a virtual or onsite campus tour may contact the admissions staff at admissions@mtso.edu.