Shelbie Harris
Staff Writer
Idaho State University’s Diversity Week, set to take place Nov. 10 through 14, provides students, faculty and the broader ISU community with events focused on enriching appreciation, respect, and understanding of the different cultures, ethnicities, and religious ideologies of the world today.
This will be the event’s first year, though it is intended to be an annual event in the future.
Students alone make up a population of over 13,000 people at ISU including individuals from at least 55 different countries and many parts of the United States.
The campus resembles a melting pot more and more every day. Places where different types of people live together and gradually create one community.
“One of the things we need to be able to do is talk about diversity so that we can better communicate, respect, and interact with each other,” said Diversity Resource Center Program Coordinator Ram Eddings. “Diversity Week is an opportunity to learn, listen to students, listen to other people, and discuss what’s going on in the world around us, and what we need to do to come together.”
On Monday, Nov. 10, a panel of students collected for the “Defining Diversity” student forum event which provided an opportunity to define and discuss what diversity meant to each of them.
“The panel discussed different things that could be done around campus to increase diversity,” Eddings said. “We are a very diverse campus and we would like to get it to where everyone works together to communicate and see the value in the differences we all have.”
Later that evening Jacqueline Robinson was the keynote speaker for a defining diversity presentation held in the North Folk room of the Pond Student Union Building.
Tuesday, Nov. 11, was Veterans Day and Diversity Week celebrated diversity in the United States Military at the Diversity Resource Center in room 129 of the Rendezvous complex.
Psychology professor Shannon Lynch and Sociology department chair Gesine Hearn will provide a presentation of how both the studies of Sociology and Psychology play a factor in diversity on Wednesday, Nov. 12 at 10 a.m. in the Wood River room of the Pond Student Union Building.
Another important facet of the face of diversity is religion.
Many questions arise when it comes to religion and diversity. To attempt to address some of these questions, a panel of ministers from multiple religions will discuss and attempt to address the question, “what role does religion play in creating a more accepting and unified community and society?” This event will be take place at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 13, in the Wood River room of the Pond Student Union Building.
“Diversity is important for the community of ISU to learn how to communicate and get along with each other, to learn from each other,” said Eddings. “We live in a global society which means were going to be interacting with each other in school, jobs and the community. It’s important we know how to respect each other, you don’t always have to believe in others but you can always respect them and their beliefs.”
The main event of Diversity Week will occur at 1 p.m., Friday, Nov. 14, in the Bengal Café, also located in the Pond Student Union Building.
A diversity board game, “Keep it Real,” will be facilitated by game creator Leslie Robinson.
“Keep it Real” is a game of inclusion and connection. There will be 25 copies of the game distributed throughout the café which would allow around 100 or so people to divide into sections for each corresponding game available.
“It’s a real interesting game. It challenges multiple aspects of yourself and how you see things,” Eddings said.
When it comes to diversity there are many demographics that come into play with a few being more obvious than others.
It may already be known that diversity includes different cultures, ethnicities, and religious ideologies, but some may not be quick to consider that age, gender, geographical locations and sexual orientation also play a part in diversity.
Diversity is anything that makes one person at all different from the next.
Being able to recognize the differences in others and ensuring understanding of them early in any professional career could warrant early success.
“I think being a college student offers unique opportunities to not only obtain an education from within the classroom but also from outside of the classroom, and from your peers as well,” said Stacey Gibson, Director of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action & Diversity. “The type of programming offered by the Diversity Resource Center gives students an experience they might not get any other place, and to really prepare students for leadership roles in a global word.”
