It’s diversity on the dance floor
The Sunburst Lounge was filled with people, music and authentic food Saturday night.
Different types of music accompanied the evening with styles including Afro beats, Hispanic, hip-hop, and a wide range of other music. The event began at 8 p.m. and ended after 11 p.m.
“Pay attention to diversity this year,” said Gabe Carter, a Associated Students of Utah State University diversity vice president.
Noting his reasons for holding the event, Carter said that organizing basic social occasions can engender a true appreciation for culture and establish a positive foundation that can increase that appreciation.
“I think a lot of people have question marks in their heads when it comes to a notion of diversity, which for me validates much of our collective [objective] to evaluate the manner in which we regard more fundamental issues concerning community and multiculturalism,” Carter said.
A lot of Carter’s plans for this year include supporting multicultural, international and disabled student groups on campus.
Trevor Hansen, president of Psi Sigma Phi multicultural fraternity, said the whole diversity theme is what he liked best about the evening. Diversity, he said, is mainly what his fraternity promotes. Hansen said he also liked the social atmosphere at the event.
“It was something to do and a chance get out of the house,” Ben Shumway, an undeclared freshman said.
Josh Bryant, a freshman studying mechanical engineering, said he saw the event on the Week of Welcome handout and thought it would be fun to go.
A dance floor was available and used to add a social spark and fun to the occasion.
Jun Naita, a junior studying business administration, said his favorite part of the evening was the dancing.
Naita said he went to the gathering because he thought it would be fun to go and meet new people.
“We might be able to better address ethnically-oriented prejudices and other narrow-minded frames of thought, engaging both those on campus as well as the community in the active appreciation of our diversity in Logan and in conveying the importance of continued education regardless of a person’s culture, creed or economic status,” Carter said.
“So many of our nation’s social ills, specifically involving the ways we choose to interact on interpersonal levels, have root in a void of connectivity on individual bases,” Carter said and added that people seldom take the time and effort to actually relate with one another.
One of the main events planned this year is Diversity Week, which will be held the week of Nov. 1-5.
The event is organized to welcome residents of Cache Valley to share culture with university students, broaden their horizons and create a stronger sense of community.
The highlight of the evening was seeing so many new faces all come together and be all the richer for such an experience, Carter said.
“There’s truly no limit to what we can learn from others and we’ll only ever learn more if we all make the effort to step away from what are otherwise our day-to-day commonalities,” Carter said.
“I encourage students, staff and faculty to come and sit in on any of our diversity committee meetings, to hopefully question their notion of what diversity is.”
For more information about about supporting diversity on campus, contact Gabe Carter at carterdh@yahoo.com.
-amysueh@cc.usu.edu