By: Bryan Araujo; Staff Writer
At 12 p.m. on Oct. 24 in the McCasland Ballroom, the office of Student Development and various student organizations teamed up to organize the annual Diversity Celebration event and steer it into a new direction.
The organizations wanted to encourage conversion and discussion among attendees and to ensure involvement at different levels of diversity from peer to peer, while not only considering race or ethnicity but also socio-economic, geographical, subcultures and or anything at any level used to distinguish one person from the next.
This semester, the organizations hosted the event as a pot luck involving education and food. Some of the participating CU student organizations included: The Accounting Club, Black Student Association, Diversity Diplomats, Native American Student Association, Psi-Chi, Student Oklahoma Education Association, Aggie Club, CU-CKI, Kappa Sigma, PRIDE and the Residence Hall Association (RHA).
RHA President, Diversity Diplomat and Criminal Justice senior, Bethany Green said the celebration was a self-serve event.
“They tried to show their diversity through their food,” Green said. “So there’s Indian food, Native American food, southern food and little bit of food from everywhere. RHA prepared spaghetti, mac and cheese, cornbread, cabbage with sausages — food from the southern district.”
Organizations decided to use ice-breakers to encourage students to stay engaged and participate for the entirety of the event.
One of ice-breaker asked students “Have you ever overheard or witnessed somebody saying an offensive joke about something race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and what did you do?”
At one of the tables, Allied Health Sophomore Jimmy Williams said his multiculturalism class offered students extra credit to attend the diversity gathering.
“The free delicious food, different cultures and different people we get to meet made me want to come even more,” Williams said. “I’m sitting at a table with a couple of diverse people, my friend from Jamaica, my friend from England. It’s always a great experience.”
Williams asked his tablemate what they were eating.
“What was that stuff called that you’re eating now?” Williams said. “Samosa? With barbeque sauce it was delicious.”
“Says the American,” the English peer said under her breath before rest of the people at the table giggled.
Williams said that there are many good things about talking to people from diverse backgrounds.
“Learning about their culture, the way they lived or their food is exciting,” Williams said. “They’re so inviting and I like that. You get more family-oriented with a different culture than you do your own family here in the states. I’m closer to people outside of America than to people here in America.”
For more information about the Diversity Celebration, contact the Office of Student Development at student_development@cameron.edu.