4 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN | FROM THE NEST The Marcon Institute was built on the foundation of author bell hooks’ works in which she outlined and theorized about love, says Holona Ochs, the Institute’s director and associate professor of political science. In March, the Institute dove further into hooks’ works and theories, hosting its inaugural Radical Love Conference, modeled on hooks’ understanding of the transformative power of love. Ochs says she believes hooks’ theory of love as an organizing principle is “our best hope as a community to come back together after all of the trauma we've been experiencing and are still experiencing.” Each of the conference’s five days had a theme—beginning with Defeating Destructive Dogmas and wrapping up with #EmbraceEquity. “Everyone, and I mean this, everyone in our community has something to contribute to this conversation. … You don't have to have a Ph.D. to understand how love impacts your life, you just simply do not. Love is not a complicated set of ideas. It is care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect and trust, as defined by bell hooks.” In its first year, the conference focused on the Lehigh and local communities, but Ochs says she envisions expanding the conference to be a regional, state, national, and eventually, international event. “This conference is an opportunity, every year, for us to come together and think about, How do we want to organize policy?” she says. “What do we really want our culture to be in the Valley? How can we uplift each other and work together?” —Stephen Gross Top, Afiwa Afandalo ’24 speaks about her work during the Radical Love Conference’s Artist Exhibition Gallery Viewing. Attendees, above, participate in an art activity. Marcon Institute Hosts Radical Love Conference The conference was built off the works of author bell hooks. DIVERSITY & INCLUSION “EVERYONE, AND I MEAN THIS, EVERYONE IN OUR COMMUNITY HAS SOMETHING TO CONTRIBUTE TO THIS CONVERSATION.” —Marcon Institute Director Holona Ochs CHRISTA NEU
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