One IU starts over

When IU underwent an administrative reconstruction period many years ago, several offices and positions were eliminated. One of the cuts made was current political science professor Larry Hanks' position as administrator and director of One IU, a student organization which focuses on race and diversity issues. Hanks founded the organization about 10 years ago, but since his position had been eliminated the organization slowed down.\n"This is the first year it's been reactivated," said Aurora Marin, a graduate student coordinator for One IU.\nMarin said the organization has been focusing on a "Readings on Race" series, where issues are discussed in an open forum and speakers come in once a month to talk about their own experiences and give lectures. Speakers vary from faculty members to students and outside professionals, but they are all familiar with and have dealt with specific issues regarding race and diversity.\nAntonio de la Cova, a professor in the Latino studies department, led One IU's last reading for the semester April 27 at the Neal Marshall Cultural Center.\nDenis Deflorville, a fifth-year IU senior who has been a member of One IU for three years, said he was pleased with the program's turn-out rates. \n"This year has been the most active it's ever been because there's more group membership and higher attendance," Deflorville said.\nAt a previous reading, Hanks said an IU professor discussed his own personal experience as a minority faculty member and the conflicts brought about by interracial marriages for some people. These issues have always existed, but have not always had a chance to be shared and discussed in an open and positive environment. One IU provides a forum where anyone can feel free to ask questions and everyone is encouraged to offer different perspectives, Hanks said.\n"Learning is not as complete and effective when you have a homogeneous group of people because you don't get as many different backgrounds," Hanks said.\nHanks and Marin said they agree that the University has put in much effort and resources to get people to think about the benefits of a diverse campus.\n"When we talk about diversity and demographics we talk about two different things because diversity encompasses much more than race, beliefs, ideas and ways of life," Marin said. "IU itself is probably a very diverse university in terms of an institution being able to generate different ideas."\nStudents like Deflorville joined One IU in hopes of meeting a diverse group of people on a campus where he said it seems everyone sticks to their own racial groups.\n"I wanted to be involved in something that breaks those barriers," Deflorville said. "The lectures are enlightening for me because I'm white, on the other side, and I get to hear other students' perspectives."\nOne IU heartily promotes learning and discussion, but does not partake in political issues of diversity or race, Hanks said.\n"We welcome people who are political but One IU itself would not be politically involved in terms of pursuing various issues," he said. "We focus on education and bringing people together into an atmosphere where they would be comfortable discussing racial issues."\nHanks said One IU looks forward to the next school year and is planning to hold a film series dealing with issues of race, as well as continuing the "Readings on Race" series.\nMarin said additional hopes for the future are to get individual ethnic organizations to work with One IU, helping to promote and sponsor events.\n"I think that the multitude of organizations sometimes eliminates cohesiveness because they all have their own agenda," Marin said. "I would like to see One IU bring together more organizations to one particular umbrella, which was part of the focus back in the day"