GSA organizes Diversity Ball

IU’s Gay-Straight Alliance’s Diversity Ball brought together campus groups and individuals who value inclusiveness Sunday.

“I see IU as having several communities that operate very autonomously,” said Anne Tinder, GSA Vice President of Communications. “I think events like this, where everyone is invited and focusing on not discounting anyone, is really important in the long run for IU.”

GSA’s goals for the event were to bring together people with like-minded missions to build relationships and collaborate on issues of diversity, Tinder said.

“There are issues each community is tackling,” Tinder said. “If we could tackle them together, it would be a lot more effective.”

The event included snacks, music, dancing demonstrations from the IU Swing Dance Club and a philanthropy project in which students crafted homemade cards to send to Redbud Hills, a local nursing home.

GSA president Megan Kelly said GSA intentionally used the term “diversity” to encompass anyone and everyone in the event.

“The benefit to this is it opens us up to meeting new people and helps us understand who we are as a student body and who we are as ourselves,” Kelly said.

Looking back, Tinder said she would have made some changes.

“I would’ve started advertising harder and earlier,” Tinder said. “We did an awesome job of making a GSA Twitter and a Facebook event, but I wish I would’ve done more
in-person advertising.”

In the future, Kelly said she hopes to not just invite groups to collaborate, but work with them in planning.

“If we do this in the future, I would like to have a different planning process,” Kelly said. “I’d like to be collaborating in the planning of the event to make it more diverse. That was hard this year being our first year, but it’s a good goal to strive for.”

Freshman Chelsea Tolan came to the event hoping to find others of her sexual
orientation.

“I’m bisexual, and I wanted to meet more people who are bisexual,” Tolan said. “I have many friends who are gay, but not many who are bisexual. I thought it’d be cool to
meet people and relate to them.”

Tolan said she believes diversity is an integral part of the college experience.

“IU is known for being diverse and it’s important for people to meet other people with different backgrounds. Being diverse is a part of college. It’s what you do,” she said.

Members from the Global Village Living Learning Center, Circle K, the College Democrats, Nonprofit Leadership Alliance, Books and Beyond and Leadershape
attended.

Kelly said she hopes the relationships made at the ball will help make their groups stronger.

“Diversity issues affect everyone, even if only a small group realizes the problems,” Tinder said.

“If everyone can work to improve it, well, there’s strength in numbers and there’s strength in diversity. We hope to be stronger in the end because of this.”