The Student Congress on Racial Reconciliation this year will be, for the first time, a mandatory event for Associated Students staff to attend. The AS executive board, senators, coordinators and office assistants are being required to attend several sessions, according to senior Richie Gowin, vice president of Marketing and Communication. Chapel credit will be available for the opening and closing main sessions, as well as the Saturday workshops. The conference schedule includes a range of narratives, arts and seminars about diversity — all of which are free to Biola students, faculty and staff. Schools from all over the country will be attending.

Registration closed for other schools Feb. 13, and students from those schools can check in between the hours of 4:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Thursday and 10:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Friday.

Glen Kinoshita, Biola’s director of Multi-Ethnic Programs and Development who has been involved in the conference since SCORR’s 1996 inception, said diversity continues to be an important issue for Christians to discuss.

“There are many who come from Christian campuses all over the U.S. that still feel marginalized,” Kinoshita said. “[Diversity] is intimately tied with who we are as Christians. It’s firmly rooted in how the body of Christ is constructed and supposed to function.”