Controversy compels school to delay Unity Week

A weeklong celebration of diversity at Camas High School has been pushed back until spring.

Unity Week was scheduled to start Monday, but Abigail Jiang, the event’s organizer, announced Thursday it would be delayed until at least February or March. The celebration was pushed back due to a combination of timing and the school administration’s desire to be more involved.

Part of the issue stems from a Nov. 7 protest outside the school, where a group waved religious signs and yelled into a megaphone at students. At the time, district officials, students and staff thought the protest was a response to the drama club putting on a performance of “The Laramie Project,” a play that follows the fatal beating of Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student who was targeted because he was gay.

The same group has since popped up at other schools around the county, suggesting the visit to Camas was more coincidence than a reaction to the play. However, in the aftermath of the protest, there was tension at the school. Students wanted to show their support for the play and their peers in the LGBTQ community who felt attacked by the protesters. That made some other students uncomfortable, said Tim Fox, associate principal at Camas High School.

In an email, Jiang said there were questions about whether Unity Week was a response to the protest, even though the event was being planned before the protest — this is its second year; last year it was called Acceptance Week. She and Fox decided to move the event so they could control the message of the week, she said. She doesn’t want it to carry a message of resistance, but rather one of inclusion.

“Moving Unity Week to the spring isn’t in fear of opposition or controversy against our event, because that will always be present regardless of when it is hosted,” Jiang wrote. “However, we do want to make sure that the message we are spreading and the way others perceive our event isn’t negatively impacted by the unfortunate timing of the past month or so, and we would like to maintain our message of unity with marginalized groups with possibly more constructive events and advertising to reach a larger audience.”

The original plan called for a different theme each day: Global Awareness, LGBTQ+ Visibility, Gender Equality, Religious Awareness and Unity Day. Each day would also focus on different clubs at the school, including International Club, International Human Rights Club, UNICEF, Gay-Straight Alliance, Girls Who Code, DECA Girls Represent campaign, Muslim Student Association and Christian Student Union.

Fox, who is in his first year at the school, said he heard there were some issues with the event last year, specifically that some students felt excluded and like it wasn’t for them. While Fox said he didn’t receive any complaints or concerns about the upcoming Unity Week, he wanted to get more involved with the event and make sure it was for everyone.

“We’re talking about equity, poverty, inclusion of all students,” he said. “What they’re doing is phenomenal. We want to leverage this opportunity to impact the culture and climate of our school.”

As part of the event last year, students were asked to wear different colors each day to support the clubs sponsoring that day, which led to some issues.

“Last year, there was some misconception regarding the intent of Muslim Student Association’s spirit day,” wrote Jiang, who was involved in the week last year mostly through the Gay-Straight Alliance. “Students who weren’t aware of the purpose of Acceptance Week in advocating for acceptance and tolerance believed that (the association) was ‘forcing Islam’ on students by encouraging us to wear green in solidarity.”

Fox said part of the reason for pushing back Unity Week is also to plan more events. Instead of having students wear different colors each day while groups offer information at lunch, he wants to focus more on actions and bringing students together. He envisions the week as a time when students can work together and meet new people.

That’s similar to the reason Jiang changed the name of the event from Acceptance Week to Unity Week.

“As a society, we should be past the mere acceptance of others who may have differences from us,” she wrote. “Acceptance is only the first step, and I think that a message of unity and solidarity is more powerful in generating discussion about how we can support both marginalized and underrepresented groups.”