In our work, we often see students showing up for social justice conversations for the issues that they are most passionate about, and sometimes, most impacted by personally. Yet, how do we invite people to see beyond their personal identities and stories? Furthermore, how do we build coalitions and authentically engage across difference -- be it race, class, culture, nationality, politics, and religion-- for the shared pursuit of a just and equitable world? This year, the Student Affairs Division at USD underwent an organizational restructure to better attend to these questions. In this presentation, we will share our learning from this new partnership which brought together multiple identity-based spaces. We will begin by sharing personal stories of what this new way of organizing meant for our work. We will engage in an activity used to support student leaders within this new partnership to hold a more deeply intersectional and holistic understanding of themselves, their communities, and the world. Finally, we will ask: what is difficult about this type of coalition-building? As we explore this question, we will outline key paradoxes and tensions that we all need to develop the capacity to hold so to better work ‘beyond borders’.
