Saint Anselm College
Blogging: Diversity
What is it and who needs it?
Why do we care about diversity?
What does diversity mean to your generation?
Who are YOU?
What’s NOT diversity?
How can you best describe diversity here on this campus? now/today? What do you envision it becoming?
You are invited to post your candid thoughts to any of the above questions,
or ask your own for the rest of us to answer!
To add your comment, click on the title of the post you want to comment on, or on the the counter that displays the number of comments for each post. You can also register for the site and make your own post in this category.
There are now separate categories relating to the different types of diversity issues. If you’d like to discuss one of the more particular sets of issues click on the category below and respond to the questions on the sub-category page.
Racial and Ethnic Diversity |
Sexual Identity and Preference |
Sex and Gender |
Religious Diversity |
Cultural and Economic Diversity |
| Print article | This entry was posted by kasbury on December 13, 2010 at 1:09 AM, and is filed under BLOG: Add Your Voice. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 12 years ago
I think embracing or seeking out diversity is the opportunity for a community to entertain multiple viewpoints, making it, therefore, stronger, wiser, and more empathetic.
about 12 years ago
I think we are cautious about opening ourselves up to difference as it poses a threat to the usual routine, to the familiar. But it is at the heart of growth and humanity.
about 12 years ago
Would Saint Anselm College benefit from diversity, and if so, how?
Is an ideal diverse community in which all its members are tolerant and accepting attainable?
Can Saint Anselm provide a message of hope in the completion of this community mural project?
about 12 years ago
Diversity to me is living in harmony with people of multiple races, ethnicities, religious backgrounds, educational backgrounds and philosophies. Diversity to me is not just the color of ones skin but all those aspects that make one person different from another person. Though diversity usually indicates difference, I think it is important to see how we are the same rather than how we are all different. Through this we are better able to accept those differences we find in others. To see the base similarities we can better connect with others and find common ground on many topics and ways of life. With that said I think everyone should have opportunity to live a diverse life, because everyone can benefit from it. I believe that it doesn’t matter about our color or who we are, being diverse and being open to diversity can give us all the chance to better ourselves and to be better informed.
We care about diversity because it is important in learning another persons’ point of view; where they are coming from and how to respond/ to better formulate a response to diversity. Diversity has the potential to make each of us more open and conscientious of differences among us and gives us the chance to be more well rounded individuals. Diversity to my generation means that we are becoming slightly more cohesive IF we choose to accept diversity BUT we can also be susceptible to leaning on stereotypes and rejecting an entire group of people based on their differences or perceived differences. Diversity to my generation means a chance to be better than past generations at working together for a brighter future even if the progress is slow, eventually it will turn into a snowball effect.
Who am I? I am a student. I am here to get an education in order to help others. I am a believer in God and that everything happens for a reason. I am a female. I’m a painter. I am a leader. I am loved, questioned, disliked and remarkable in my own ways. I am a person. I am human.
What is not diversity?
Sticking to a group of people who are very similar to yourself and being completely closed off from people that are different than yourself is not being diverse. In addition to this not being diverse includes racism, prejudice and stereotyping/labeling others to put down a group of people while placing yourself in a more important sphere (or placing yourself on a pedestal). Hate and ignorance especially hinders diversity. So not being diverse, in my opinion, is in essence closing yourself off from others by blinding yourself from seeing others as human like yourself and instead placing them in subcategories.
about 12 years ago
What does diversity mean to your generation?
I believe diversity is very important for my generation and that we are not immersed in it enough. I believe it means to be interacting with different people everyday and learning new things about them and even their culture too.
Who are YOU?
I am me based on the people I interact with and the lessons I learn from others everyday. We develop based on the people we communicate with.
about 12 years ago
Diversity. The word is thrown into everyday life, pretty much well… everyday. Diversity to me is the different cultures, ethnicities, beliefs, and aspects of all humans that separate each other and make each person unique. There can be diversity in cultures describing their different beliefs, but within those specific cultures there also is diversity. Not everybody believes the same thing, practices the same rituals, or has the same teachings. What a person does with their knowledge is what makes them diverse. There is obvious diversity among people with different skin types, hair color, gender, and ethnicity. But in today’s society diversity means so much more. We all need diversity. The difference between every person in the world is the potential knowledge that we as individuals can learn. Every person is genetically, physically, and psychologically unique.
It is important to learn from others because their uniqueness can be shared. One’s own experiences can be learned from because the teachings that one has to share can be valuable. Rituals in different cultures are of value because they can better improve our life and better improve our knowledge about other people and their daily life. This all is important because it allows us to learn rather than judge prematurely. We care about diversity because it is an unknown to the individual. It is a new discovery. We care, because we are curious.
In my generation diversity means whether you are straight, gay, transgender, transvestite, or bisexual. This is different than in past generations because before it was not as accepted. Today, diversity still has to do with one’s culture, religion, and teachings. The outside appearance also contributes to diversity. All of the differences among people are what make diversity, diversity today. I am Kelsey Ouellette. I am from Maine, United States. I am Catholic, and I am a freshman at Saint Anselm College. I am small in stature, brown haired, Caucasian, and red cheeked. I am stubborn, athletic, easygoing, and quiet. This description does not merely describe me, it shows who I am; but only in a few words. These broad categories are what others should be curious in to discover. Curiosity makes diversity worthwhile.
about 12 years ago
Diversity is the antithesis of a homogenous population. While I think the most common association with diversity is race, skin color, the late 20th and early 21st centuries have enabled society to recognize the broad range of diversity inherent in humanity. “Diversity” includes, but is not limited to, one’s race, one’s faith or religion, one’s heritage, and one’s sexual orientation.
We need diversity because it is what makes us human. The world is composed of innumerable cultures with unique beliefs and practices. While over the course of history, society has enforced the Marxist argument that a ruling class seeks to oppress others, seeks to limit diversity, without diversity humanity would be comparable to robots – each with the same appearance, beliefs and ideas. It is therefore diversity that stimulates us and broadens our worldview and capacity for empathy. Recognizing diversity exposes us to knew ideas and beliefs. It challenges us to stray from our comfort zones, but in doing so it improves humanity by demolishing social barriers that are created by stereotypes. Without diversity, life would not be interesting or stimulating.
Diversity has taken on new importance in my generation. My peers and I will soon be navigating an ever-increasing globalized world. Technological advances have made traveling easy and popular, and the desire to explore is rampant among young people. Society has shifted to value individuals who are competent in more than one language, and this skill is reinforced by immersing oneself in diverse cultures, by soaking up all of the cultural experiences that one has an opportunity to. In order to succeed in the future, my generation must embrace diversity and open ourselves up to new cultures, languages, and ideas.
Though my personal experience does not include much diversity, I consider myself to have a very open mind and to be eager to experiencing diversity through traveling and relating to other as human beings, not as individuals who fit stereotypes. As a white female attending a largely homogenous campus, I am not necessarily exposed to diversity everyday, but that does not mean that I am not willing. I think this concept is common among many Saint Anselm students. Though our college is traditionally composed of white Anglo-Saxon students, I think this is largely a product of its location. One hundred years ago, most students were of French-Canadian descent due to Manchester’s population. However, I think the campus is ready and willing to reflect the changing world that it is a part of.
about 12 years ago
For our generation diversity means the same thing as it has always meant. Diversity is the state of being different. It would be nice to think that by the year 2011 most of our communities have become excepting of others differences and celebrate our togetherness in humanity.
This campus is not a very diverse place, even though it is making strides to change. There is very little to break up the monotony of the primarily white Catholic student population. I have seen an increase in diversity in the four years that I have been here, but I know that it could be much greater. A more diverse community will have great benefits for all students to understand more about the world in which we all live. Sometimes it is hard to understand the world around us when we live in a bubble. It is hard to think a a community that should be more open to idea of diversity than a small liberal arts college, and I have confidence that in time we will get there.
about 12 years ago
To me diversity means to be proud of who you are and to value other individuals and culture’s history. As far back as I can remember I have always been attracted to things I found different. This included the desire to travel to exotic places half way around the world, or learning about other cultures whether it would be through cartoon movies when I was very young to a world history class in high school. Sometimes when I was younger I would be annoyed that my families’ history was for the most part traditional, and I did not have any unique meaningful jewelry, clothing, or music at home that others would find interesting and different.
Now I am much more proud of my European-mutt heritage, but even more so, my American culture and traditions. I think it is important for everyone to be proud of who they are, especially with rapid globalization, in order to maintain diversity. I appreciate what makes up my American culture, for example recently watching the super bowl with many friends and a lot of food. I also value my religion and family traditions, such Irish soda bread on St Patrick’s Day. By recognizing what my country and culture finds important, I can better appreciate what other cultures find to be important.
I think everyone should take time to look at where they and their families come from and to always appreciate and be proud of their traditions and beliefs. This is a good start to promote diversity.
about 12 years ago
Diversity is not about the color of one’s skin. Diversity of ideas is far more important than a more superficial perception of diversity based on race. What we ought to embrace is that in order to attain a diverse group of ideas we need to have a wide variety of different backgrounds. I’m Irish Catholic, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be strengthened as a person and learn from somebody else’s experiences who is also Irish Catholic. Just because we are thrown into demographic categories does not mean we think the same way. To me diversity is about being tolerable, not necessarily accepting. To accept somebody’s race, religion, and ideas means to accept them as your own. It’s a pretty unproductive way to approach “inclusiveness.” A professor I had a few times in my time here has made a point to distinguish acceptance from tolerance. Tolerating somebody with a different background and worldview from your own means disagreeing, but in a healthy and constructive way.
about 12 years ago
Different, unalike, dissimilar, variety; these are all words that initially come to mind while pondering the route word of diversity, diverse. Although the term diverse identifies the differences among individuals and groups in relation to other individuals or groups, the concept of diversity is much more than these differences initially acknowledged by people. To me diversity is not only being aware of dissimilarities in groups, but is being both accepting and respectful of each of these distinctions. In order to maintain such acceptance and respect it is important to understand that each individual is unique and that that is okay. Our uniqueness is what makes us human.
Some of the differences among groups of people that make the world a more diverse place include race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, economic status, age, physical abilities, geographical location, religious beliefs, and political beliefs. Each of these differences plays a part in distinguishing you from me and me from the rest of the world. There is no universal right or universal wrong and for that reason alone diversity affects everyone in the world.
In this generation there is a strengthening pull to advocate for diversity awareness and it is important that we are challenged to explore our differences with others, so that we may better understand the world around us. Diversity is not simply tolerating cultural differences that surround us in our daily lives, but diversity is about celebrating these rich dimensions that make the world and each individual so unique. I am Caucasian, Scottish-Irish, 21 years old, Catholic, straight, and a female who grew up in the low-middle class, however these labels tell you nothing more about me then would an objective survey. Diversity is not about understanding the meanings behind labels, but it is about understanding the person behind labels. Who are you?
about 12 years ago
Diversity is natural. It appears in all species on the earth. People are all different for one reason or another and that will never change. The discussion here should be about tolerance, not diversity. Diversity is not a problem. The problem is in accepting that we are all different and that it is okay. Blogging about race, gender, etc. only emphasizes our differences; it calls out the stereotypes. If we want to live in a perfect world where everyone loves everyone, we need to stop focusing on how we are all different.