'Building Bridges' at Immigration Summit

The third annual Baltimore Immigration Summit, co-sponsored by Towson University and the Baltimore City Mayor's Office, was held Friday at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture. Elizabeth Clifford, summit coordinator and professor in the department of sociology, anthropology and criminal justice, said she thought this year's summit was the most successful one yet. "We always have around 150 people attend, but this year it filled up quicker and we had to turn more people away," Clifford said. "We had people from about 90 different organizations and departments represented. We had people from more universities than we ever had. We always have student volunteers. We had more this year." Clifford said the summit's theme, "Building Bridges," reflected the overall goal of the event. Provost and vice president for academic affairs James Brennan spoke at the summit, and Art King, assistant vice president of the Center for Student Diversity spoke on a panel about building bridges in religion. TU alum and Hispanic liaison for the mayor's office Christopher Kelly also spoke on a panel about Hispanics in Baltimore. Juan Carlos Ruiz, president of the National Community Capacity Consultants, was the keynote speaker, and spoke about "Building Power in Immigrant Communities for Social Change." "He was one of the key planners of the big immigrant rallies in [Washington] D.C. last year, and his speech was really important for the summit this year," Clifford said. Clifford said the theme of the summit also reflected the University's mission. "The summit has provided Towson with the opportunity to build bridges with the community, other universities and various organizations," she said. "I think if we're truly going to be Maryland's Metropolitan University we need to be visible in the community and immigration and the summit is part of that."

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