When We Vote

Does voting really matter?  It is how we make our choices evident in a way that can bring clarity and light. Done in exploration, collaboration and sound judgment with a posture of thinking about others, we can collectively create places of belonging for all.

Our recent work with students at Macalester College demonstrates this type of engagement so well. UDP created a series of workshops that focused on designing a student center space for the Lealtad Suzuki Center for Social Justice. The LSC works in collaboration with Macalester students to build a transformative community. The mission further states that ”We do this through learning, reflection, engaging in dialogue, and action. We integrate our lived experiences and center the voices of those marginalized in our society with the goals of building strong relationships, critical consciousness, and collective liberation.”

With this mission embedded throughout our community engagement process, we asked students to share their favorite places on campus and why. Through this discovery phase, we created a visual vocabulary and asked them to vote for their preferred types of spaces including identifiers around quality of space and features. It helped to inform a design language that captured elements of what would make them feel seen and welcomed. For example, images with natural daylight and ideas around types of cultural amenities were vocalized and became the basis of design. Fueled by this cooperative process, the new center will house spaces for studying, cooking and gathering in addition to recreation and relaxation. 

Although our role was to “tally up” which ideas had the most support, we worked to understand perspectives of things that weren’t always the winner. This balance became an equitable path towards cultivating a space for radical joy that guided our decision making. Having student voices was essential to ensure that spaces of belonging were provided for all.