CultureFest promotes campus culture, diversity

The food and music of CultureFest is just the backdrop to a deeper message that has developed in the last 10 years of this Welcome Week tradition.

CultureFest’s message is to promote diversity, knowledge and appreciation of all the different people at IU.

“Just being here for 10 years in a college community says a lot,” said senior Solomon Hursey, GLBT Student Support Services program coordinator. “Celebrating diversity has not been the in thing to do for 10 years. This just showcases IU’s commitment to celebrating diversity.”

The speaker, Marcus Engel, who described himself as a “small-town white boy from Missouri,” said personal story was an important aspect of CultureFest.

Engel was blinded in a drunk driving accident. The incident opened him up to an entirely new culture. Engel said that he was the first blind person he had ever met.
“I had never been exposed to people of that culture (blind culture),” Engel said. “I had to educate myself.”

This message of awareness and appreciation of diversity has been around for the
previous nine years of CultureFest, but each speaker has created his or her own adaptation and approach of that message, said Lillian Casillas, director of La Casa, IU’s Latino Culture Center. This year the speaker addressed disability.

CultureFest is just one of the ways in which IU is intertwining diversity into campus culture.

IU has improved in that area but there is still room for improvement, Casillas said.
“Right now at the student level, my job is never done,” Casillas said. “As one class evolves I have a whole new class who needs to mature and open themselves to new experiences.”

Diversity should not be a separate issue, but it should be intertwined into the university and in everything we do, Casillas said.

CultureFest showcases the progress that IU has made in its effort to be more diverse.

Sandra Britton, director of the Leo R. Dowling International Center, said that she has seen a greater amount of attention paid to international affairs and relations at IU in the past six years she has been affiliated with CultureFest.

IU’s international programs have gotten better and more abundant, Britton said.

“Not only are we more welcoming to international students, but we are also sending
more students abroad,” Britton said.

The culture centers reap the benefits of exposure, which includes the Leo R. Dowling
International Center.

All the culture centers have open houses and because of CultureFest, 60 to 70 U.S. American students who would have not known about the international center gain an interest in it every year, Britton said.

American students are interested in becoming English tutors and want to know more about the various programs offered, Britton said.

CultureFest does not do anything miraculous such as throw away stereotypes, said
Joseph Stahlman, interim director for First Nations Educational and Cultural Center.
Students stand at the station for 10 seconds to pick up free food, but it does create
exposure and allows students to focus on matters outside of just school, Stahlman said.

When the culture centers appear together at one spot such as CultureFest and work
as a team, this type of togetherness mentality enriches IU’s campus.

“The word ‘university’ represents a collection of people who work together,” said Father Robert Keller, O.P. Pastor at St. Paul Catholic Center. “Here we only have some interaction ... we are in juxtaposition of each other. During the year we work together in ventures to make IU broader.”