The Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity is organizing Diversity Education Week 2017 to promote awareness of intercultural dialogue in NC State. A total of 35 programs and workshops centered on diversity will be taking place from Oct. 22-28, hosted by many student groups and university departments under the theme “Think and ‘DEW’ — Together.”
Diversity Education Week aims to broaden perspectives of everyone at NC State, whether they are students, faculty or staff, according to Tracey Ray, assistant vice provost for student diversity.
“It’s a really broad variety in terms of the aspects of diversity that they cover but also in the formatting of the events,” Ray said. “Some events are lectures with an element of discussion, some offer food for the community to broaden one’s palate, some also are very introspective; they ask participants to really think about themselves and their own personal identities, and then relate that to, perhaps, perspectives that are outside their own identity.”
The Diversity Education Week is coordinated by the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity. The individual events are sponsored by student organizations and campus departments and units such as the Counseling Center as well as sororities and fraternities, which is what makes Diversity Education Week important, according to Ray.
“[Diversity Education Week] was started by 3 students in the spring of 2011,” Ray said. “They thought the university needed a time to think about the diversity in NC State and really engage and interact with each other. The first year a lot of the programs involved food and conversation, but as we’ve seen over the years, the programs have grown… ”
Diversity Education Week gives students an opportunity to grow outside of their comfort zone and resolve problems that previous generations failed to solve, according to Ray.
“It’s diversity of thought that drives innovation,” Ray said. “When you think of being a 21st-century leader, the world that [students] will be living in and working will be far more diverse than any previous generation.”
Elizabeth Snively, senior communications technologist for OIED, is hoping that students take advantage of the wide variety of events offered this week.
“We always talk about our commitment to diversity, but this is an actual time where everyone can see how visible it is,” Snively said. “There is so many organizations involved and such a variety of events being offered that it is the only time where you can step out and learn without very much effort at all. I think it’s our most visible series of diversity events on campus.”
Both Ray and Snively are looking forward to this year’s Fall Diversity Dialogue, which will take place in Witherspoon Student Cinema this Monday from to 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The event is open to the public and will be featuring Franchesca Ramsey who will speak about her life, career and social change.
“We usually feature a major speaker and this year is no exception,” Snively said. “It is Franchesca Ramsey, and she is a rising star in social media and she also has a show on MTV called Decoded. She will talk about how she became a social activist and how she uses social media and how the audience members can use social media to do social justice.”
Other events occurring during Diversity Education Week include the Islam Fair, Gate Keepers workshop, the Evolution of Legal Protections for the GLBT Community forum and the continued showing of The Exonerated. Students can view the Diversity Education Week 2017 schedule online through Guidebook or on mobile devices through the Guidebook app. Students who are unable to attend events in person can take advantage of Virtual Activities and Resources.
Donna Battle, a chaplain at Meredith College, talks about how being a woman affects how she is treated as a religious teacher during the Radical Acceptance: Making Peace with Defining Womanhood panel in Talley Student Union on March 20. Each of the three panelists brought their own struggles aside from being a woman to the table. Déjà Baptiste, a writer and healer at The Deja Speaks, is a black transgender woman, Donna Battle works in a male-dominated field, and Alexandra McArthur is the national director of Young Adult and Community Engagement at Muscular Dystrophy Association, and a sufferer of the disease.
