Diversity

Hey everyone!

So this week we covered diversity and lots of it. Cory and Jenna did a great job on Tuesday in class, and Zach and Allie both did awesome at ISCORE.

I attended both of their sessions Friday. For those of you who didn't attend them, Zach's was about the Martin family, a black couple who lived in Ames and housed black students for free when they could not find housing. They are also the people Martin Hall is named after. I had never heard anything about the Martin family, and this was kind of upsetting to me after I left the presentation. The Martin's did so much for minority students in the early 20th century and most people know nothing about them. They are a very hardworking, honest, and caring family and more people should know about them and admire them for what they have done for our community and university. I wanted to thank Zach for his work on that presentation and for teaching me something I really wish I would have previously known.

I also attended Allie's session where she spoke about her graduate thesis research about Muslim women on our campus. I was pretty surprised when I heard that Allie's research concentration was on Muslim women, and I'm glad I got to hear her story about how she realized that she held stereotypes about Muslims and that they were unfounded and she wanted to change that in herself. That's a very noble quality to have! I see many Muslim women on campus and never really considered how they must feel wearing their headscarfs to class, or finding somewhere to pray during the day.

Some many times we become to self-centered and lose the compassion and empathy we should have for people of diverse backgrounds who might not have the same privileges as we do. Though some people think diversity issues are overdone and a waste of time, I think they serve as a good reminder to students to treat others with respect, and also helps us better understand cultures, religions, sexual orientations, and genders different than our own, among many other things. Hopefully this week taught everyone how important diversity is and that it is central to come people and that needs to be fully respected by us all.

Hopefully everyone is enjoying their week of Twitter! It's a really fun tool, not only for connecting and socializing with others, but also for getting information instantly and finding out about the latest headlines and news stories. Its also a really fun way to communicate with one another, and your students in the fall.

Get excited, I'll be teaching class this week! EEK! Hopefully I don't disappoint. :)

-Chels