Alliance and Understanding wins top natl. award

When Alliance and Understanding -- a group created to facilitate communication between blacks and Jews -- was formed in the fall of 1997, its founders were likely unaware that the group would be recognized nationally. At an awards ceremony in December at the Shusterman Hillel International Professional Staff Conference in Princeton, N.J., the organization received the William Haber Award for Programs of Quality for the Jewish Campus Community. The award is named for a renowned Jewish scholar. "I was really excited because we had put a lot of work into this program," said Afi Roberson, a staff member in the African-American Resource Center and co-founder of the organization. Now that the organization has been recognized nationally for its work, former Penn Hillel fellow Melinda Pollack said she hopes the award will "establish [the group] as something other campuses can look at as a model and build on for themselves." Recipients of the William Haber Award are selected annually by a committee of Hillel leaders, academic advisors, students and professionals. Alliance and Understanding encourages Jewish and black students to come together to learn about their common histories of persecution, Roberson said. The three founders of the organization -- Roberson, Pollack and Greenfield Intercultural Center Assistant Director Karlene Burrell-McRae -- first discussed the idea of creating the group in the summer of 1997. By the fall of that year, the group was intact. One of the founders' goals was to unite people who might not otherwise have had the opportunity to "see where different people come from," Burrell-McRae said. She added that the group's intent is to "expose both black and Jewish sides to each other's culture." Students interested in joining the organization had to submit an application and undergo an interview. Sixteen applicants were chosen to participate in the group -- eight black students and eight Jewish students. "I am a Jew and I went to an inner-city high school, which was majority black," said College junior Steven Singer. "[This gives me] a chance to discuss some of these things that never got discussed." And College junior Kianesha Norman said that she decided to apply because of her interest in religious studies, citing a "need for interaction." This year, the organization has been turned over to the students, with Roberson, Burrell-McRae, and Penn Hillel Assistant Director Elizabeth Minkin remaining only as advisors instead of directors. The students' present goal is to work on the structure to make it a stronger organization, according to College sophomore Sherise Lindsay.