Open Mic Night

"Open Mic Night is the beginning of a necessary conversation regarding youth centrism in higher education. Utilizing art, spoken word and Hip Hop Pedagogy as as a vehicle, the authors drop serious knowledge about how to engage students and provide platforms for student voice and collaboration on college and university campuses. This book is an imperative as campuses learn to partner with a new generation of youth who live in a diverse and civically-engaged world."

Torie Weiston-Serdan, Ph.D., Executive Director at Youth Mentoring

Action Network

"Open Mic Night provides a comprehensive, insider’s account of what makes spoken word poetry spaces integral to campus life. The conceptual foundations and practical recommendations from educators, scholars, artists, and event organizers are essential resources for making campuses more dynamic, creative, and justice-centered."

Emery Petchauer, Associate Professor

Michigan State University, Author of Hip Hop Culture in College Students’ Lives

From the Foreword:

“Are we listening? And are we willing to create the spaces for truth-telling and witness bearing that will allow for wellness and new imagination?

The editors and authors of this book answer these questions for educators profoundly, weaving poetry, spoken word, and personal storytelling to speak their truths loudly, boldly, and unapologetically. The rich tapestry that these authors paint with their words inspire hope, possibility, and change. They are stories of pain and struggle -- the unending effort to foster spaces that enable them and others to live more fully in their bodies.”

Wilson K. Okello and Stephen John Quaye

Miami University, Ohio

"Beautifully poetic, creatively academic. This book speaks brilliantly to student voice. Its authors advance the student engagement literature in culturally rich ways. Reading it is a delightfully sensory, yet powerfully instructive experience."

Shaun R. Harper, Clifford and Betty Allen Professor

University of Southern California Rossier School of Education

“For readers working in the field of student affairs, the collection is surely validating. For those outside the field, like this reviewer, it is an eye-opener, revealing that ‘student affairs professionals are educators outside of the classroom’ whose efforts are informed by pedagogical theory and clear objectives for student development. The focus on a critical pedagogy that centers student voices and experiences makes this collection relevant to educators across contexts and institutions, as it reminds us how much our own identities and commitments inform our decisions as practitioners. Open Mic Night positions student affairs administrators as central sources of creative and intellectual potential on campus, and makes clear that those of us in the privileged, visible position of tenure-track faculty would benefit from reaching outside our disciplinary departments to make common cause with colleagues in student affairs for the benefit of the students we are all engaged in educating.

If there's one word that orients this collection, it is love. Almost every essay mentions love as a necessary element of the work described, as student activities administrators seek to create spaces where students feel welcomed and supported and as students describe their experiences in such spaces. I come away from Open Mic Night convinced that representation is critical to the field of student activities. The contributors' passion for their work comes through clearly, based as it is in their own lived experiences of alienation and belonging.”

Teachers College Record

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