We’ve all recited North Park’s slogan to one another before, “Lives of Significance and Service,” as well as its catch phrases, “Distinctively Christian, Intentionally Urban, and Purposefully Multicultural.” Whether we were making fun of them or discussing them with passion, it’s clear that the slogans have at least stuck with us. Now that there are flags with familiar faces all over campus and more lining Foster and Kedzie avenues, these words of promise have brought many students back to a familiar questions: Does North Park live up to the hype? Every other year, North Park attempts to showcase the positive fruits of these promises in new ways, but nothing seems to stick. Many students feel they have simply heard it all before, but is this a fair assumption? Does North Park still have a few tricks up its blue and yellow sleeves? Can it pull a new bunny out its horned Viking hat? The Office of Diversity and Intercultural Programs, with the approaching launch of its new campaign “The Motive Matters Project” says yes, it can.

The Motive Matters Project seeks to showcase the faces, voices, and stories of individuals from all areas of campus life who crafted, influenced or were influenced by learning experiences through North Park and the city of Chicago. The project is the brain child of Marcus Simmons, a recent North Park graduate and even more recent Intern for Student Engagement for the Office of Diversity and Intercultural Programs. Under the direction of Dean Lindsay, the Motive Matters Project aims to fulfill three key goals: to share more stories from the campus community, to illuminate underrepresented areas and to focus more on urban and intercultural learning, an area that North Park aims for, but doesn’t always reach. To that end, those working on the project have already filmed tons of stories, so now the push will be on successfully getting them out and heard. Simmons states, “These are the kinds of stories we don’t usually tell, things like ‘I don’t like defeat,’ ‘I’m a 20 year old seminary student with two kids,’ or ‘I’m an education major because I came from the south side of Chicago and I want to change CPS.’”

One major concern the Office of Diversity and Intercultural Programs has is that people will see this campaign as a novelty, a sort of “look at all the cute multicultural things and people” show. The mission here is to feature everyday people with everyday stories. However, the Office understands that positive images help students realize that their goals are within reach and gives them something to aspire to. This is particularly the case for underrepresented and minority populations who benefit more from direct inclusion into mainstream campus life as opposed to being defined on the margins of it. These stories, for that benefit, are saying, “I’m doing this so you can do this, too.” The focus is on where people are at in life now and what they are becoming during their time at NP, instead of what they will become or do after NP.

So, as revolutionary and exciting as all this sounds, what seems most promising and unique about the Motive Matters Project is that it’s by North Park for North Park. As opposed to most of the university’s diversity campaigns that are aimed at prospective students, faculty and staff, this is a campaign geared toward people already here. The root of the first part (and, yes, that implies a part two) is the campus. This project is actively exploring a collective NP identity, because as Simmons says, “all of these stories are a microcosm of the larger North Park story.”

Like

Unlike