The 4th annual Diversity Exploration Series at Salt Lake Community College will begin on Thursday, October 20th. There are three parts within the series. Dr. Abio Ayeliya, the diversity group advisor at SLCC’s Student Life and Leadership Center, will oversee the event.
Ayeliya will host a lecture on the 20th and will speak about the value of diversity at SLCC. The lecture will take place in the Oak Room in the Student Center on the Taylorsville Redwood Campus from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.
Peter Moosman, a student and employee at SLCC, is the Diversity Chairman for Student Life and Leadership. Moosman explained that the purpose of this event is to explore different aspects of diversity, so different speakers come to touch on certain issues.
“We do this so that people can be more aware of what’s going on around them so that they can better serve their students or their peers,” Moosman said.
For this purpose, Ayeliya encourages students, staff and faculty to attend, even though it is a student-based event.
“It’s important for students, staff and faculty to come to this event because each event covers a different aspect of diversity that can be applied in our everyday life, not just to Salt Lake Community College,” said Ayeliya.
“Being more aware of culturally diverse backgrounds help people to make their environment a better place,” said Moosman.
At the College, there are a variety of students who come from different backgrounds and countries, but each person always has something special to contribute.
“We are a college [with] students of many backgrounds,“ Moosman said. “You’re not gonna find traditional students here; students of different race, class, background.”
Overall, diversity is more than being just about race. It’s also about what we do and say in our daily lives.
“Diversity exploration is very important because it enhances our harmony and success on campus at Salt lake Community College,” Ayeliya explained.
Ayeliya also wants students to walk away from this event having learned the importance of diversity as a whole and what it means.
“I want them to understand that when people are living together in a peaceful and harmonic way that it’s best,” he said. “I want them to understand that diversity is not only about race. There are people here from first generations, all kinds of people. There should be a way that we can be able to communicate.”
Because of diversity, people develop a different way of living, thinking, talking and doing things as well. When it comes to one’s race and color, many people look at someone’s skin color and make a judgment regarding the individual.
“People don’t understand that,” Ayeliya said. “That’s why it’s very important that we have this diversity event. We are teaching them how to live as a family. It’s not for a particular group, but for everyone.”
An organization known as the Inclusion Center will host the second lecture of the series on November 15th and will be specifically talking about their goal to end bigotry and racism in America.
“As we better understand what diversity means to us at a community college, we can better help our community college grow and help ourselves better,” Moosman said.
A dinner will be held on March 8, 2012 to close out the series.
