Diversity Week: Retrospect, Present and the Future of Diversity at Albright

Even though its been almost a month since Diversity Week arrived on the Albright campus, people are still talking about some of the unforgettable moments that occured during that special week and planning a possible follow-up, slated to run next year. In this blog post, articles published in the May 7th issue of The Albrightian about DW are followed-up and reflected upon. In first part (the audio component), I spoke with sophomores Amanda Irizarry and Sheron Au about thier involvement with DW and why diversity is an important issue to spotlight. In the second part, the video titled "Diversity Week: Adminstrators Join the Students' Quest for Diversity," the administration's perspective is given on diversity and the reaction to DW. Lastly, in the third component, provided below, titled "Diversity Week: Students Respond to a Celebration of Difference," three students (sophomores Gina Sarno and Meaghan Washington as well as freshman Jamal Ishamel) discuss their feelings on DW and the signifcance of celebrating such an event on campus. Each component provide a different perspective but ultimately all discuss the same issue--diversity--and why it is important to have in the Albright community.


"DIVERSITY WEEK: STUDENTS RESPOND TO A CELEBRATION OF DIFFERENCE"

Diversity Week kicked off on April 27^th and was a jam-packed with several events all designed to encourage people to embrace each other’s differences and uniqueness. Some memorable events included “Building Bridges,” which exposed students to other students from different backgrounds of their own, the open-panel discussion of race in “Race in America,” and Judy Sheppard, mother of Matthew Sheppard, who was slain in a hate-crime in 1998. The week was a time to focus specifically on diversity and celebrating the melting pot of cultures and backgrounds within the Albright community.

On a personal note, I pleased to hear about Diversity Week and appreciated that Albright cared enough to devote an entire week to recognize our differences and to unify the members of the community. While, I think that there is always more room to keep the community more diverse and even more full of people that are different from each other, I also feel that Albright is made up of a fairly diverse group of people. And, for this reason, it makes it just as important to highlight this and to not recognize it. We are all not from the same place, experienced the same things in life nor lead the same lives—I think that shedding light on this is extremely necessary and vital to have on campus.

I loved all of the events devoted to talking about race but was mostly moved by the Judy Sheppard event as well as the “Stand Up for Love” demonstration. I feel that little attention is paid to the lives of gay people at Albright and to have the most publicized and visited event of the week was shocking and touching to me. I know that much of the turn-out was due to all of the hype received from the visit of the controversial Westboro Baptist Church, who follow Judy Sheppard around to protest her as well as homosexuality. Regardless of for the reason that people came, I was still elated that they were there to at least hear Judy Sheppard’s story and thoughts on gay people in society. It hopefully opened people’s eyes and challenged their thinking.

Based on my positive reaction to Diversity Week, I wanted to talk to members of the Albright community (all of different genders, races and other aspects of background) and get their opinions on Diversity Week and diversity in the community in general. After speaking with the presidents of the DW staff (as heard in the audio portion) and hearing their optimism about DW continuing on in the future, I wanted to know if the student population joined them in their enthusiasm and want it to become a permanent part of the community.

For Gina Sarno (class of 2011) and Jamal Ishmael (class of 2012), Diversity Week was an enjoyable and unforgettable week. “I did enjoy Diversity Week. One highlight of Diversity week for me was when Judy Shepard. She is such a strong woman and for her to keep speaking out to schools about her son's death is remarkable,” says Sarno. Ishmael had the same sentiments: “I liked diversity week because it was a nice way to educate and show how different everyone and every culture and nationality are. I really enjoyed the Judy Shepard lecture and the icebreaker. The icebreaker showed how different we are but it also showed how we all had something similar to each other such as goals, favorite show, movies and music.”

While, Meaghan Washington (class of 2011) enjoyed the week along with Sarno and Ishamel, she felt that more time devoted to the event could of benefited the way it turned out. “I did enjoy the activities and stuff they had. I thought it could have been better but I liked what I went to. I think if more time was put forth by the committee, it would have been better,” Washington reveals.

No matter how each felt about the week, each felt the week was still important and necessary to the campus’ growth. “Its important because it embraces not only people’s racial backgrounds, but their sexual backgrounds and genders. We all come from different places and we should want to share that,” states Washington. “I think it's important for everyone to learn about other cultures and other lifestyles. There are plenty of issues that need to addressed and by having Diversity Week, students and faculty here, can start to understand others,” Sarno remarked. “I think diversity is important because it shows you how even though everyone is different the differences we have aren't necessarily a bad thing,” Ishmael feels.

I also wanted to know if they felt that administration does enough to highlight diversity at Albright and make sure its noted in the community. Sarno felt that administration cares about diversity, mainly because there was a whole week dedicated to diversity and spotlighting it. But, she feels like DW needs to be spread throughout the year and be more than one. Washington sees an improvement from administration and their efforts to make diversity an important Albright community principle but feels that in the end, its up to the students to make diversity important and to help it permeate through the community.

I then asked about the future and if they wanted another DW in the future. Gina optimistically replied, “Yes, another Diversity Week would be amazing! We should make sure that this continues in the future.” Ishmael and Washington both would like to see DW continue but both worry about it becoming repetitious. “It would be nice for them to have that again. I would like it if they found different facts and information about different cultures each year so it wont seem old and repetitive,” declares Ishmael. “I would like to see another one but I think it should be only for the fall semester so it would be a way for the new students to meet the old ones. I like the idea of it being every year but I don’t want it to get monotonous,” Washington concludes.

Regardless of the different responses DW received, it is indisputable that it existed without being noticed. Whether you liked it or not, DW was one of the most major events of the 2008-2009 year and provided memories for years to come. I think an annual DW would do the community good and help everyone feel apart of the community. However, everyone needs to be involved and not just on the outside looking in. That would be a true celebration of diversity and proof that the week is making a change and statement.