Diversity Meeting Reflection

I heard about this meeting through the resident advisor class. It was the only diversity related meeting that I could fit into my hectic schedule. Apparently it did not fit well into other students’ schedules because there were only three students beside myself in attendance. The audience, if you could call it that, was never acknowledged until the audience question and answer session at the end. The discussion was mostly composed of the panel members introducing themselves followed by half an hour of opinions that generally did not have to do with diversity or inclusion. At one point the topic became the best way to find a job and was answered with meek responses like, “Don’t let interviews be one way” and “It’s important for individuals to have empathy.” While this is decent advice, it has nothing to do with diversity or inclusion. Some even believe diversity is just a way to avoid lawsuits. I personally did not enjoy this meeting. It was not an informative or inclusive presentation. It was nothing more than two people reading off prepared answers to basic questions.

Positive outcome are yielded through people with different experiences which is not something necessarily attributed to racial identification. Many people hear the word diversity and jump to the conclusion that you have to have a group of people with different colored skin to have a nice diverse group. This is a seemingly common mistake because many people do not realize that diversity exists in any group of people. Diversity can go down to the most subtle differences and that’s what people fail to realize when it comes to meeting diversity quotas in the workforce. Again, racial differences do not always lead to positive