The Forum on Tolerance initiates an educational challenge to community members to learn more about one another and to better understand each other through programming which is intended to broaden our world view. The purpose of the Forums is to bring about empathy and understanding toward other people, and to make a difference in the College and in the community-at-large. The group began as an outgrowth of the 1994 Professional Development Day at NSCC. A grant of $5,000 was awarded by the Jewish Federation of the North Shore to further the work of the Forums.
The Forums are planned and implemented by an ad hoc Tolerance Committee of twenty-five dedicated faculty and emeriti, staff, alumni, and community members.
The Forum on Tolerance Committee meets periodically to lay the groundwork for one or two Forums each year. Twenty-three Forums have already taken place, and the 24th is projected for fall 2009. The audience of students, faculty, staff and the community-at-large has grown from a modest beginning to about 500 attendees at a single Forum.
The educational programs of all the Forums pertain to teaching tolerance and embracing diversity. The past programs have dealt with injustices toward many groups: Holocaust victims, African-Americans, Cambodians, Latinos, Arabs, Gypsies, Muslims, Sudanese and other Africans, Armenians, women, El Salvadorians, immigrants, and those who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender.
Other Forums have focused on topics and presentations such as: anti-Semitism, racism, resistance during the Holocaust, hate crimes, "National Coalition Building Institute," "ADL World of Difference Institute," ethical values in health care, religion and tolerance, and vengeance or forgiveness.
As an outgrowth of the Forum series these diversity academic courses have been adopted:
The Forums on Tolerance have been called the "hallmark" of North Shore Community College.
North Shore Community College