Organizers expect to see about 120 attendees from as far away as Oregon at the 14th annual Student Congress on Racial Reconciliation on campus this weekend.

Biola hosts SCORR every spring, inviting schools to sit in on workshops and sessions on racial reconciliation. This year, about eight schools are expected to come from as far away as George Fox University in Newberg, Ore. Admission is free for Biola students, staff and faculty. Organizers expect about 200-300 people from the Biola community to attend.

“It’s a time where students, staff and alumni, as well as faculty from Biola and several different campuses, celebrate different cultures … equipping themselves to make a difference on their campuses in terms of diversity and reconciliation,” said Glen Kinoshita, director of Multi-Ethnic Programs.

This year’s theme, One New Humanity, centers on peace, as described in Ephesians 2:14-18. The passage focuses on Christ’s power to break down the walls of hostility between people groups. Some of the workshops will be Jesus, Justice and Jubilee; Our Place at the Table: Being White in a Multi-Ethnic World; and An Exploration in African Dance Form.

For the first time, a local drama troupe, Will and Company, will be performing. Point Loma’s gospel choir, Voices and Praise, will lead worship, and a Japanese Taiko drum fest will take place Friday night.

Kinoshita emphasized the Biblical basis for racial reconciliation.

“It is rooted in the Scriptures,” Kinoshita said. “Oftentimes we are accustomed to not seeing justice, diversity or ethnicity in Scriptures, and it’s a matter of diversifying the whole council of God.”

Elizabeth Choi, Multi-Ethnic Programs assistant, said issues of diversity often go unacknowledged.

“I think people have a tendency to think status quo,” she said. “The way we see each other is fine, when in reality, there are people who continue to be marginalized.”

Kinoshita pointed out that shalom, the conference’s emphasis, is an act of living in harmony in the Kingdom of God.

“God’s moving in this world,” Kinoshita said. “He’s drawing people to himself. He’s breaking down barriers in this world, and with that comes the shalom of his Kingdom.”

Many students still aren’t aware of SCORR’s existence. Freshman Christina De La Pena did not know about the conference but thought it would be “an interesting experience.”

Other students, like senior Tiffany Aeschliman, were anticipating SCORR.

“When you understand others’ culture, you can understand others better,” she said.