Meet Phillips Thomas Hornbuckle, J.D.

What is your role as Director of Intercultural Student Life and Global Programming (ISLGP)?

I manage and coordinate culturally inclusive programming, develop diversity education opportunities for faculty/staff and students, and advise culturally-focused or social justice-themed student organizations. I also serve as program director for our federal and state grants funding our sexual and relationship violence prevention efforts, help run the York Cares Pantry, and support international students, among a few other things.

What upcoming events do you have planned?

This year, our students expressed a readiness for more challenging and nuanced programming, so we worked hard to present them with thornier issues and highlight more identities. For Black History Month, we discussed racial slurs and Internet behavior with “The Case of the N Word” and educated attendees on law enforcement and civilian stances on community-police relations with the “Whose Lives Matter?” program.

The S.P.E.A.K. Coalition organized student voices around sexual violence prevention and participated in a city-wide Week of Action in April. Allies Committed to Social Justice (ACTS), a new student organization, is working with the Southern Poverty Law Center to equip more students with the information and resources to educate others about critical topics and develop into reliable allies for underrepresented groups.

This upcoming academic year will likely see that momentum continue. You can plan to see UNITY’s Live History Museum, LAMBDA’s Pride Week, and ACTS(J)’s YCP Fact Check.

What is your vision for the future of this program?

Our office’s vision is to challenge and support the entire campus development as a community, focusing first on students. We would like for people to be curious about their own culture and recognize the benefit from learning about other cultures. We would love for people to understand how possible it is to communicate effectively across various cultural barriers (socioeconomic status, age, race, gender identity, religion, and many more); active listening, compassionate consideration, and sincerity in asking those “learning questions” can take us a long way toward building a stronger and more inclusive campus and community.