PORTLAND, OR -- Oregon State University hosts its first “State of Black Affairs Summit” next week. 

"We have been very forthright about the fact that our agenda is all things black," organizer Bridget Jones tells KBND News. She is the Secretary for the OSU President's Commission on the Status of Black Faculty and Staff Affairs.

Jones believes conversations at the summit will be difficult for some people, "You could talk to any person of color about their experience just existing in the last 60 days and they will probably be able to share an experience with you of something that they’ve encountered - either as a microaggression or as straight-up racism." But, she says, the discussion is necessary, "These things are not going away. These things need to be addressed. Our lives are at stake; our safety matters. Our existence and our value are things that people should care about. And so the summit is an opportunity for us to have that platform to educate, to share, to network."

The inaugural State of Black Affairs Summit is Wednesday, May 25, the two year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd. It will take place in a hybrid format. In-person tickets are sold out but there is still space to register as a virtual attendee.