OUR VIEW: Diversity is essential, regardless of its political popularity

Diversity.

Webster defines it as “the condition of being diverse.” With such a vague, almost circular definition, you’d hardly expect such a word to be politically heated. But it is.

The word is at the root of debates concerning affirmative action, media coverage and corporate hiring. The gender pay gap, allocation of federal dollars and even the removal of prayer from public schools all seem to stem back to the word diversity. The word also caused heartburn for members of the ASUSU Executive Council last year during the restructure. Each office was reviewed and several were combined or removed from the executive council altogether. It was eventually decided that the important role campus clubs and organizations play in promoting diversity justified combining two offices – Organizations and Diversity.

All fine and good, but deciding on a proper name for the new position proved difficult. Concern about maintaining the integrity of the office was summed up with then-Diversity Vice President Gabe Carter’s comment, “Diversity should be more than just a tag word as far as its importance on this campus.”

We couldn’t agree more; because regardless of the definition you use, diversity is a positive, necessary element to a college experience.

Logan might not seem like a breeding ground for diversity. Utah is, after all, smack dab in the middle of an intermountain, rocky region known for its White Anglo-Saxon Protestant roots. But fortunately for us, diversity comes in many forms.

Josh Wood, ASUSU Campus Diversity and Organizations vice president said last week that “Diversity is simply uniqueness,” and that USU has plenty of that to go around.

Whatever your definition, Utah State University students have the opportunity to celebrate diversity this week by participating in several university-sponsored events. The week began last night with the Martin Luther King, Jr. vigil held in the Taggart Student Center.

We applaud ASUSU’s efforts to promote all kinds of diversity through their sponsorship of this week. Diversity in thought, action, race, religion, culture and ability are all necessary on a campus that is supposed to be preparing us to enter a world filled with even more variety.