Committee talks about upcoming diversity conference

The IU Diversity Committee met Monday in the Sassafras Room at the Indiana Memorial Union to discuss plans for a two-hour diversity conference March 23 at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.

The conference, called Conversation: Diversity, Ethnicity and Internationalism, will pose three questions about the diversity on campus to faculty, students and staff at IU.

“We want to be very problem-centered, very resolution-centered and focused,” said Carolyn Calloway-Thomas, chairwoman of the Diversity Committee and associate professor in the Department of Communication and Culture. “We’re trying to be consensus-building, and we’re trying to get a sense of what the nature of the conversation is on campus,” she said.

Calloway-Thomas said she plans to invite the deans from the School of Education and the College of Arts and Sciences to open the conference with two-to-five minute welcome speeches. There will also be representatives from various IU departments to facilitate the discussions, she said.

“Everyone’s part will be valued and respected, and we’ll allow everyone a chance to answer the question,” Director of Diversity Education Eric Love said.

Doug Bauder, who works at Student Support Services with the Gay, Lesbian, Transgender Student Alumni Association, said if the conference does not have facilitation of some sort, then discussion will fall apart.

“It will be the responsibility of each facilitator to make sure every voice is heard,” he said.