ANNA KING
Staff Writer
A group of Pepperdine students will be doing their part this weekend to work toward a greater appreciation for diversity on campus.
Forty students will participate Nov. 5 in the second annual Minority Advancing Diversity Education (MADE) Conference, coordinated by the Intercultural Affairs Office.
Selected by Pepperdine professors, staff and fellow students on the basis of leadership qualities, cultural insight and active involvement in the Pepperdine community, the conference participants will work as a group to bolster their personal leadership and intercultural tolerance through a series of workshops and discussions.
Participants will rotate between various workshops throughout the day of the conference. Each workshop focuses on a specific issue pertaining to minority interests, including gender, race, socioeconomics and abilities.
Another workshop, called “Will of Identity,” will encourage participants to give brief histories of their own lives. Through this activity, students will actively produce their own perspective on their heritage in a manner that allows them to connect minority issues with their own experiences. A new workshop implemented this year will focus on environmentalism and the impact, both positive and negative, that students can have on our surroundings.
To encourage the mission of diversity throughout the conference, everyone who was interested in the program was allowed to participate.
“MADE is not closed to anyone, however it is geared toward a more intense diversity conference for minorities,” said Quincy Wimbish, Intercultural Affairs intern and head coordinator of the event.
The conference is designed for a wide range of participants, and is intended to provide a socially and emotionally safe avenue through which minority students can discuss the complexities that go along with prejudice, bigotry and discrimination.
Through these open discussions, the coordinators hope to be able to strengthen intercultural understanding and encourage more open communication and collaboration between the diverse groups here at Pepperdine.
“This year, our main goal and purpose is to pull from students personal perspectives and experiences,” Wimbish said. “By focusing these experiences, we hope to effectively increase and encourage diversity on the Pepperdine campus.”
Students who are interested in cultural diversity on campus and unable to attend the event are encouraged to get involved with the various other programs coordinated by the Intercultural Affairs office, said Intercultural Affairs Coordinator Larisa Hamada.
The office holds one other weekend leadership conference during the spring semester called the “Summit on Diversity” geared toward a broader group of students and focusing on encouraging collaboration between students and intercultural understanding.
Students can also become more involved in the cultural diversity of the campus by joining one of the many ethnic clubs available through Student Organizations, including the Black Student Union, Latino Student Association and Asian Student Association.
The conference will be held from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Renaissance Hotel in Agoura Hills.
Students interested can contact Intercultural Affairs coordinator Larisa Hamada at ext. 6860 or larisa.hamada@pepperdine.edu.
11-03-2005