
Roman Christiaens
Student Affairs Practitioner
Community Organizer

The Social Justice Training Institute (SJTI) provides a forum for the professional and personal development of social justice educators and practitioners to enhance and refine their skills and competencies to create greater inclusion for all members of the campus community. I had the great privilege of attending the 31st institute in summer of 2014.

The Translating Identity Conference (TIC) is a free, student-organized, non-profit conference that explores a wide array of topics in discourses regarding gender and transgender identities, expressions, communities, and intersections. I served as a member of the TIC Committee in 2014.

Oasis Youth Center, located in Tacoma, WA, serves the lives of queer youth by creating a safe place to learn, connect, and thrive. I was an Oasis youth and participated in a variety of projects from 2011-2013.

The Social Justice Training Institute (SJTI) provides a forum for the professional and personal development of social justice educators and practitioners to enhance and refine their skills and competencies to create greater inclusion for all members of the campus community. I had the great privilege of attending the 31st institute in summer of 2014.
At the heart of my personal and professional philosophy is the Jesuit notion of common good: developing respect for the individual, fostering the well-being of a group and working towards a just and peaceful society. The Jesuit education I received during undergrad at Seattle University (SU) affirmed that I need a vocation where I actively engage others towards the goal of building equitable community. This desire to build community with others is rooted in my small town upbringing, where I experienced a rural sense of communalism and neighborliness. During my time at SU, I sought to embody this ethic in my work as a community organizer.
A key component of being a community organizer is connection and developing relationships with individuals across different roles, identities and ideologies. This is exemplified by Gloria Anzaldúa’s (1987) notion of the sandbar:
The high and low tides of your life are factors which help you to decide whether or where you’re a sandbar today, tomorrow. It means that you’re functioning as a “bridge” (maybe partially underwater, invisible to others) and that you can somehow choose who you’ll allow to “see” your bridge, who you’ll allow to walk on your “bridge”—that is, who you’ll make connections with. A sandbar is more fluid and shifts locations, allowing for more mobility and more freedom. (p. 148)
While most of my professional experience with community organizing has taken place within the academy, I firmly believe that the role of higher education is to bridge communities inside and outside of the ivory tower. As a community organizer, I seek to embody the sandbar in my work with communities and through my activism. I have had the great privilege of connecting with so many different communities and organizations during my higher education journey, including SJTI, TIC, HUG, Outright VT, and Social Justice Fund Northwest.
As someone invested in community, it is important for me to pay homage to the folks have come before me and who have allowed me to come into their lives. I must honor those relationships and the individuals I have met since first coming to college 6 years ago. My deepest gratitude for the individuals featured in my portfolio and the ways they have helped me grow as a person and a professional.
![]() CCP Staff '14-'15 |
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![]() NUFP Reunion, 2014 |
![]() DEEP Cohort 2011 |
![]() HESA '15 & '16 Cohorts |
![]() NUFP Mentors, Alvin & Jolie |
![]() NUFP SLI 2011 |
![]() UPS Student Staff 2012 |
![]() HESA '14 GC & Friends |
![]() HESA '15 Cohort |
![]() NUFP Friends, Philadelphia 2011 |
Reference
Anzaldúa, Gloria. (1987). Borderlands:the new mestiza/La frontera. San Francisco: Spinsters/Aunt Lute.