The Fifth Annual Diversity Summit on Friday was implemented in order to encourage awareness of crucial subjects such as the importance of diversity as well as other issues.
The event was sponsored by numerous university and student organizations including the Center for Multicultural Excellence, Black Student Alliance and Nelson Global Village.
The Diversity Summit consisted of a keynote address and several concurrent, interactive workshop sessions which students and faculty could attend in small groups.
The keynote speaker, Alma Clayton-Pedersen, discussed complex issues concerning diversity, social, economic and global intercultural interactions. Clayton-Pedersen took various questions from students asking for suggestions on ways to improve the lack of diversity dilemma around campus. The audience members consisted of faculty, students and members of student organizations. Approximately seventy persons attended.
The Diversity Summit consisted of 22 workshop sessions, each with a different theme, including “Perspectives on Diversity and Ethics,” “Understanding the Concept and Dynamics of Whiteness”, and “Gender Communication Differences”.
One workshop was titled, “Weathering the Storm: Creating Institutions that Respect and Care for the Souls of Black Students”. This discussion-based lecture was led by the Assistant Professor of Higher Education Frank A. Tuitt. The ‘story’ in this workshop’s title was intended to be a metaphor for the hardships that black students face in a predominantly white environment.
“A storm represents a flood for some people. A flood in the sense that people are always swimming upstream, against the currents. Sometimes you feel like you found a rhythm, and then the tide suddenly changes,” Tuitt said.
Dr. Tuitt asked participants to voice their opinions on possible solutions for the problems caused by racism. Some students were not too optimistic while others looked at the metaphorical ‘storm’ in a positive light.
“I think that after every storm there is a symbolic rainbow, which brings hope for better times. It is the same way with the issue of diversity. There’s always hope for a better future,” one audience member said.
The Diversity Summit is one way that DU is attempting to dissolve racism and replace it with diversity, the particpants said.
