Utah State features its diverse culture with week of activites
The first annual Diversity Week, conducted by Utah State University’s Multicultural Student Services to celebrate and educate the community about different cultures, will be held today through Friday.
Activities are planned all week and will take place throughout USU’s campus.
“As a capstone to your education as a student, exposure to cultural diversity at the university level is essential,” Everado Martinez-Inzunza, director of Multicultural Student Services, said. “The world you are graduating into is based on the ability to work globally in a diverse marketplace.”
The purpose of Diversity Week is not only to connect students with their own roots by sharing them with other students and the community, but to allow the entire university to participate in the rich diversity around us through a variety of activities, said Fawn Groves, who works in the Multicultural Student Services office.
“In our hearts we know that people are kind and loving; however, we should also recognize that it is human nature to fear that which we don’t understand,” Martinez-Inzunza said. “By becoming involved in these celebrations we get to know each other, our barriers are removed and almost if by magic, we discover that there is nothing to fear. In fact, we celebrate together.”
The decision to expand the annual one-day carnival into a full week of activities came from Vice President of Student Services Pat Terrell, Christine Christensen said. Christensen is the head event coordinator for Diversity Week.
“We wanted to expand the carnival and create an environment where people can come and experience other cultures in all levels of comfort and involvement,” Christensen said.
Diversity Week will kick off today at 11:30 a.m. with guest speaker Ronald Takaki in the Taggart Student Center Ballroom. Takaki, author, historian and professor at University of California at Berkley, will be speaking about multiculturalism at the university level.
“This speech will be a great setup for the rest of the week,” Christensen said. “Dr. Takaki coming is a huge deal.”
Takaki will also be speaking to the Deans Council about diversifying the curriculum here at USU later today, Martinez-Inzunza said.
On Tuesday, a diversity display will be presented by the Pride! Alliance in the TSC Sunburst Lounge. The visual interpretation of diversity will include submissions from USU students and community members.
The Chi Omega and Theta Nu Xi Halloween Carnival will take place on Wednesday from 3 to 7 p.m. in the Fieldhouse. That night, there will be a Mexican Day of the Dead Dance in the TSC Ballroom. A local high school multicultural club has planned and will decorate for the college dance. The dance goes from 8 to 11 p.m. and is $1 with a USU ID.
On Thursday, there will be a State of Utah Minority Affairs panel in the TSC Ballroom at 11 a.m. The panel will include directors of the Offices of Black, Hispanic, Pacific Islander and Asian Affairs. At noon, President Kermit L. Hall will speak on diversity.
Thursday night, winning videos of the Street Video Film Festival will be shown. These short films were submitted by local residents and students on the subject of diversity. Following these films, Chronicle of a Disappearance, the winner of the Venice Film Festival will be shown. Christensen said this film is an excellent documentary of Pakistan and encourages students to attend.
To conclude Diversity Week the second annual Multicultural Carnival will be held on Friday from 5 to 10 p.m. on the second floor of the TSC and will include “islands” (booths) and various forms of entertainment. The islands will also present food, fashion and customs from their culture.
There will be three different stages with 11 individuals performing throughout the evening. The booths will be separate from the louder performers, Christensen said, so that discussion can take place between the people at the booths and individuals at the carnival.
“It gives people the opportunity to express and learn what other cultures are about without having to read it in a book or watch a movie,” Christensen said. “I feel like people walk out understanding different cultures better.”
Martinez-Inzunza said to be most beneficial to the university, Diversity Week needs to include an array of activities incorporating the complexity of interests, beliefs, cultures and faiths which can provide every student with every level of risk-taking, involvement and leadership in intellectual engagement.
Martinez-Inzunza said, “Diversity encompasses up for us the ability to learn about each other and to understand and come to respect each other’s values, traditions and heritage.
“Students can listen to Takaki, listen to the State Ethnic Affairs speakers, observe the islands and displays, and join in the activities. They have every opportunity to become intellectually engaged in the process,” he said.
The week of activities is sponsored by Multicultural Student Services, vice president for Student Services office, Associated Students of USU, Financial Aid Outreach, Housing and Food Services, College of Business, KSM Guitars, local K-12 schools and many other students and community members, Christensen said.
“Multiculturalism could potentially include every student in this university,” Martinez-Inzunza said. “We all have culture. We all have ethnic origins. We all want to belong to an accepting, loving society.”
The cost for the Multicultural Carnival is $2 for an individual and $6 for a family with a USU ID, and $4 for an individual and $8 for a family without a USU ID.
Susan Welsh, Miss Indian USU, and Tavia Natches represent the native American students at Utah State University. the two participate in traditional dances that show their culture. (Zak Larsen )