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April 27, 2004
No Bull Diversity Summit-Large Group Notes
The No Bull Diversity Summit—April 27, 2004
Large Group Discussion
"The question remains: What are today's young activists dreaming about? We know what they are fighting against, but what are they fighting for?"
— Robin D. G. Kelley, Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination (7-8)
How do we define diversity? Does it include sexuality, religion, historical perspective? Is it more than race? What implications does the language we use have?
You can't define diversity, but there is a lot of value in the attempt to define it.
But we can define it, even if we disagree with definitions. It involves redress of some kind. Redress that helps create meaningful access for people who have traditionally been denied access.
The word diversity turns off most people on campus, because it implies that we are teaching people about an issue; it treats people as though they are ignorant. It needs to address everyone. People need to know they aren't going to be insulted when they discuss diversity.
Sometimes it is important not to let redress distort issues. It can lead to "diversity" only applying to certain races or genders. Double standards can emerge under the guise of redress. For example, in an effort to discuss diversity, a speaker came to campus that targeted white students.
Definition of redress: We do need to be careful with our choice of language, which is one reason to focus on access. This allows us to talk about power and environment. Redress is about 'how do we get the problem solved.'
How do we get diversity to not end when we leave the class?
One way is to get the community to read all of the publications produced in the community, to read the cultural products of the community, in order to know what the issues are.
We need to get to a point where everyone is invested in diversity. Part of doing that is getting to a place where everyone understands how they are already involved in diversity.
Diversity shouldn't be limited to one program. It should be a part of the entire curriculum.
We need to understand diversity on an individual level rather than solely as something attached to certain communities.
The campus separates groups of students - in housing, for instance.
We have to make our ideas about diversity visible.
What's something we can do to 'take diversity with you' outside of the class? Get involved with different events and opportunities on campus. We don't necessarily have to add to the university - we just need get involved.
How can an inquiry into diversity come into contact with a discipline that isn't necessarily devoted to diversity? Example: creation of a webpage. How can you use this medium for the creation of knowledge?
How do we create a diverse space? Diversity is about getting to know other people. It is about what you do with your understanding. How do we make conscious efforts to get involved?
We need to understand the idea of Safe Space, and how we can work together to create safe spaces on the campus.
There is a lot of ignorance, stupidity, or hatred on campus. It is hard to accept that this is a diverse campus.
Posted by mryonker at April 27, 2004 03:16 PM