The Office for Equal Opportunity hosted the Diversity, Discrimination and Affirmative Action workshop Wednesday at Talley Student Center. The purpose of this workshop was to inform participants about affirmative action and related concepts.
The Equal Opportunity Institute is a program designed to provide the University’s faculty, staff, students and the general public with a means for developing a comprehensive understanding of equal opportunity issues.
Beverly Williams, coordinator of outreach and education for Office for Equal Opportunity, said the purpose of the office is to offer people information so they can help establish an environment at the University that welcomes all peoples.
“People will feel welcome and feel comfortable interacting with others that are different from them,” Williams said. “The office is making sure that people are not being harassed or discriminated against and making sure people have equal opportunities.”
According to the EOI Web site, EOI is a certificate program offered by the University Office for Equal Opportunity in collaboration with Human Resources and the Center for Student Leadership, Ethics and Public Service.
EOI participants develop an individualized education plan enabling them to increase their knowledge about equal opportunity issues.
Williams said living in a diverse environment sometimes causes difficulty and misunderstanding for people.
“We have these workshops where people can gain knowledge and information, interact effectively and have productive conversations in the work environment,” she said.
Vincent Joiner, an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) trainer, conducted the Diversity, Discrimination and Affirmative Action workshop.
Joiner said people should participate in this program because they have been miss-educated about race and there are problems associated with race even today in our society.
“Race is the number one problem keeping America from its true greatness,” Joiner said. “I want them to be aware of the race problem and be aware of how they relate to other Americans.”
Shawnette Jenkins-Price-Luca, a senior in communication, said her goal is to get an EOI certification so it will help her in the work environment.
“I believe that education is very important and if you don’t know what you can and cannot do at the work place then you are subject to make a lot of mistakes,” Jenkins-Price-Luca said.
Jenkins-Price-Luca said another one of her goals is to educate and be a trainer in the natural resources department.
“I think we all want to see change,” she said. “We hope things will change but if we don’t educate ourselves and don’t educate others then how can anything change?”
Jenkins-Price-Luca also said she learned a lot from the workshops.
“I have learned that we all have some biased or prejudice judgments but we have to learn how to work through them,” Jenkins-Price-Luca said. Jenkins-Price-Luca said the classes have taught her a lot about herself and how “we” judge people. “I think it makes you realize how much you need to change and how much we judge others,” she said. ”Once you realize that, you can move that element and tell yourself ‘I am doing this because it’s the right thing to do or am I doing this because I have some prejudice or bias towards that person.’ There is a great deal of power that comes into the classes.”
Joiner said most of the time people will not have a true discussion about race.
“They avoid it and don’t feel comfortable with it,” Joiner said. “But when you come to EOI you get to discuss those issues in a comfortable environment with other people that hopefully have a goal of impacting their work areas.”
