PULLMAN, Wash. Students at Washington State University want to redefine what diversity means over the next 25 years, according to a forum discussion held Tuesday to mark the 25th anniversary of WSU’s Office of Multicultural Services. The focus of the forum was the future of diversity.“Diversity needs to be about diversity, not about race,” said a student participant, sharing her group’s ideas.
The student said diversity includes socioeconomic class and international students.
“We are all racial,” she said. “We all have culture.”
“We are all racial,” she said. “We all have culture.”
A common theme among student groups discussing the forum question “What is your vision of diversity at WSU for the next 25 years?” was integration of the multicultural offices on the fourth floor of the Compton Union Building to help erase the stigma associated with those offices.
“We shouldn’t have multicultural offices on the top floor and international offices on the bottom floor,” said another group.
One student said he hopes to erase the “elevator problem.” He said whenever he gets on the CUB elevator after someone else, that person automatically pushes the fourth floor button. He said it should not be assumed he is going to the fourth floor just because he is African American.
Rafael Pruneda, student regent and guest speaker at the forum, challenged students to have the courage to try something new, such as attend a multicultural event.
“Go out and conquer this campus,” he said. “Make connections you haven’t before.”
Pruneda said he wants students to leave WSU knowing the university has taught them lessons of life, how to be diverse, how to intermingle with other cultures and how to be global partners in the community.
Pruneda said he wants students to leave WSU knowing the university has taught them lessons of life, how to be diverse, how to intermingle with other cultures and how to be global partners in the community.
Student participants also watched a short video called “We’re all in this together” in which people wrote phrases on their hands, such as “value truth” and “challenge the impossible.” Pieces of paper with hand outlines provided student participants at the forum the opportunity to write their own. A few phrases students wrote down were “create your vision,” “educate and respect” and “never regret, be optimistic.”
“Look deeper,” shared one student. “I’m a person too. There’s ways we’re alike, and there’s ways we are different.”
The MSS forums continue Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 24-25, at noon in Butch’s Den in the CUB. Wednesday’s forum focuses on WSU faculty and staff and Thursday’s will be about WSU as a whole and the Pullman community. Ferdinand’s ice cream will be served at each event.