Nelms gives 'advice for life'

As part of Union Board's "Project Respect Diversity," Charlie Nelms, vice president for student development and diversity, addressed a group of students and faculty on the subject of multiculturalism Thursday night. Instead of taking the straight and narrow path of pointing out student apathy and student biases, Nelms gave the group "advice for life" with his few, simple points.\nNelms focused mainly on the need for self-involvement within the community. He stressed that everyone's voice can make a difference and as he said could be seen with the 2000 presidential election, every voice does make the difference. Nelms said he believes getting involved in society is an essential part of a college education.\n"A college education is more than a collection of classes," Nelms said. "Everyone is paying tuition for an education. Don't confuse getting an education with getting a degree."\nNelms said he believes another crucial part of education is learning to be comfortable with yourself and to be comfortable with others. To create a more supportive environment on campus and increase minority student involvement, people have to learn about other people, he said. \nPortia Maultsby, a professor of Ethnomusicology in the Folklore department, agreed and said how we treat people today will be important in the future.\n"It's a global world out there, so get to know these people now," Maultsby said. "It is important to cross cultural boundaries and get to know all different kinds of people because they will be the leaders in 10 or 15 years. And you can't meet these people by only sitting next to 'you' or people who look like you."\nSeveral audience members offered their suggestions on the situation. The suggestions ranged from being the first person to initiate conversation with someone who is different from you, to attending lectures, to traveling. Nelms urged the student body to leave behind the comfortable feeling of people with similar backgrounds and reach out to other opportunities.\n"Get out of your personal, cultural, comfort zones," Nelms said. "Part of being truly educated is being able to move beyond this zone. You don't have to know people to connect with people."\nGraduate student instructor Kadian Howell, said she hopes to make a difference in her classroom this year.\n"I am African American and my AI is from Hong Kong but the rest of my class is made up of Caucasian females and two males," she said. "There isn't much diversity and a lot of students aren't open to many different ideas. I hope to expose my class to other cultures by taking them to a multicultural events on campus and giving them a chance to experience diversity."\nThis is what Nelms said he wants students to do. He said people are not born with biases, they learn them. And if they are learned, then they can be unlearned, he said.\nNelms advocated going to events on campus as the first step.\nStudents in the group said they would like to participate, but there are not enough hours in the day and that time is the biggest constraint to getting involved. Nelms told students to evaluate how they use their time and invest it wisely.\n"The only thing that we have equal amounts of, is time," Nelms said. "If we learn how to manage this time properly, we can do anything we want to do. I believe that we all can change the world, but not alone and one step or activity at a time"