Black Studies Students at Denison recently attended a meeting of the Columbus, Ohio City Council as a part of a new class in the Black Studies Program. The course, Ghetto By Design: Race and Inequity in Urban Communities is being taught by Visiting Assistant Professor Shayla Favor, who is currently serving on the Columbus City Council.
Professor Favor is one of Denison’s scholars of practice this semester where she has developed a course that seeks to give students practical experiences and professional development along with intensive intellectual study of the complex issues surrounding urban development and social justice.
In this course students have the opportunity to learn about the government sanctioned policies that created segregated and inequitable communities at both the local and national levels. Students are learning how these practices contributed to and maintain housing disparities among people of color and are examining the impact of current policies and gentrification on Black generational wealth. As a part of this class, Favor invited students to attend a City Council meeting where they saw civic engagement in action. Before the meeting, students met City Council members and other elected officials and discussed current issues. One student explained that she is from Columbus, Ohio and now has a much better understanding of the City’s social and political dynamics. Other students shared that as a result of this class they plan to become further involved in civic engagement in their daily lives.
Shayla D. Favor, J.D., is the Executive Director of PACT, Partners Achieving Community Transformation, and a current Columbus City Council member. A graduate of Capital University Law School, Favor served as Assistant City Attorney as a Zone Attorney where she litigated high-profile environmental lawsuits and drafted key pieces of legislation. While serving as Zone Attorney, Favor implemented two initiatives, the Vacant and Abandoned Property Program and the Receivership Program, which both served to effectively decrease vacant and abandoned property to put once-blighted properties back into the housing market. Ms. Favor lives in Columbus with her husband, Corey, and puppy, Hudson.
