By Madeline Riccardi, Editor-in-Chief

The La Roche University Student Government Association (SGA) released a call for submissions for their upcoming Mural Design Contest.

On Friday, Dec. 3, La Roche’s SGA released their official announcement for their Social Justice Mural.

Last academic year, SGA announced their plans to create a Black Lives Matter mural on campus. This mural was in no way associated with the group Black Lives Matter.

The plans have since changed, and the mural now represents Social Justice.

With their plans to begin the mural soon, SGA is now looking for student designers to help them create the mural. They are hosting a contest for student ideas.

Their announcement read, “This contest will allow students to express their interest on the topic of Social Justice. One student will be picked as winner, having their design used or the upcoming Social Justice Mural on campus.”

The SGA mural committee will narrow down the submissions, and Sister Candace Introcaso will pick the final winner.

The announcement then went on to list the goals of the mural:

1. Recognize and acknowledge the existence of racism in this present day. While slavery and lynching are fortunately things of the past, racism has become systemic and continues to affect BIPOC lives in areas of health, jobs, wealth, housing, justice and education.
2. Demonstrate a strong stand and commitment against any form of discrimination on campus.
3. Proclaim that Black Lives Matter. Without politicizing this statement, we should acknowledge that not all lives matter until Black Lives Matter. We should recognize that this statement does not exclude other groups, rather it serves as the first step towards reconciliation.
4. Portray the beauty in diversity, inclusion and equity.
5. Represent the campus mission.

The La Roche Mission Statement explains that the University “fosters global citizenship and creates a community of scholars from the region, the nation and around the world.”

It continues by saying that La Roche works to integrate education and liberal arts creatively while empowering “all members of our community to become lifelong learners, achieve success in their chosen careers and promote justice and peace in a constantly changing global society.”

The announcement ended by saying students could submit their ideas digitally to laroche.studentgovernment@gmail.com or in-person through the Student Government Office Located in Student Development.

Students need to enter all submissions by Jan. 28 at 10:00 p.m.