In honor of Black History Month, Waynesburg University’s Diversity and Belonging Student Advisory Board is embracing education on campus. The club said they strive to clear misconceptions and inform Waynesburg of struggles different groups face through a book club, movie nights, discussion groups and even sharing a meal.
Some of their February events include a virtual “Corporate Diversity” presentation on Feb. 17 at 6:30 p.m. and “An Evening of Music” with Joy Ike Feb. 22 at 8 p.m. in the Benedum Glass Room. There is also a special book display in Eberly Library honoring Black History Month.
Perspectives on Diversity
Sarah Bell, the university’s career development specialist and study abroad coordinator, is the advisor of the Board. Waynesburg’s Diversity and Belonging Initiative began over the summer of 2020, encouraging a diversity training session amongst faculty and staff. The Student Advisory Board was then developed in the fall.
Since then, the Board has led diversity workshops, conducted a book club on Bryan Stevenson’s “Just Mercy,” hosted guest speakers and holds monthly meetings. They are even aiming to improve campus accessibility for disabled individuals.
“Since we started the initiative on campus to really make it an intentional effort to have conversations about diversity and belonging,” Bell said. “[To] see, hear and understand, has been a theme for us as a group when we’re thinking about what we want to plan, how we respond to things that come off or just what we’re doing in general.”
Bell explained that the club really pushes the idea of everyone having an equal voice. She did admit that it is difficult at times to have a balance and ensure that every group is heard. However, she believes valuing all groups equally is key.
Bell explained what diversity means to her.
“[Diversity] is such a big umbrella term, that it really encompasses any underrepresented group,” Bell said. “It could be anything that makes someone unique.”
She further her explanation by emphasizing the extent of diversity. Bell included the club’s mission to tackle issues regarding military students, students of color, LGBTQ+ students, international students and even non-traditional students.
“I think that there are just a lot of components that go into it,” she said. “And I think that that can be really rewarding.”
Admissions Counselor and Graduate Student Isaiah Skeete shared his view of diversity in an email interview.
“Diversity means a lot to me,” Skeete said. “Diversity to me means that you are accepting and understanding of others’ opinions. This allows you to grow as a person and be informed of different perspectives.”
As an undergraduate student at Waynesburg, Skeete was involved in the Student Advisory Board his senior year, 2020-2021. He helped organize and lead the “Let’s Talk about Race” workshop, in which different kinds of racism were discussed. He explained how it was an open forum for students to ask questions about societal approaches to racism. Skeete also led an event for criminal justice majors to study injustice in the criminal justice system.
Skeete described the CJ event as “an open forum to talk about different policing events that happened and hear other students’ perspectives regarding these events.”
Both of these events Skeete assisted with, “helped start the conversation about injustice and racism that people are not having, unfortunately.”
“I think having different movie nights and lectures to engage the audience and then talk afterwards is very helpful,” Skeete said. “In my experience, students enjoyed these events and meaningful conversations resulted from them.”
Sierra Medina, a senior communication major, is a current leader on the Board. She has been a member for the past two years and is very involved in the planning and discussion processes. Medina also described what diversity means to her.
“I feel like it’s a loaded word,” Medina said. “And I think for people, we can feel overwhelmed to feel like something as complicated when really it’s simple, it just has a lot of baggage.”
She continued, “it’s a neutral word. But being diverse in the past hasn’t been great in the present; it’s still not great.” Medina then added, “And so I think that’s why diversity is married with: the words equity and inclusion, because being different doesn’t always mean being included and being equal.”
As a student, Medina shared her frustrations with diversity on campus and throughout the Greene County community.
“A lot of the issues I see are just ignorance,” Medina said. “And just because they have, they as in like the campus community as a whole, which is overwhelmingly white, and from this region, just don’t have a lot of experience with diverse people with gender diversity, racial and ethnic diversity. So, there might be just like levels of uncomfortability or just not knowing.”
Medina clarified that she does not put judgment on people not knowing. She wants to educate those that may not be as familiar with other cultures.
“They’re not bad or worse because they need someone to explain something to them,” Medina said. “But the education is even more important because it’s not going to be sustainable if people don’t understand why they’re doing it and if they don’t have, like an intrinsic motivation to complete whatever task we do.”
Hope through Education
Bell and Medina feel education is the main sense of hope for change on campus and in society.
“We know that we need to start out with lots of education for the campus community to even want to participate in actions we think are necessary,” Medina said. “So, I think some of the biggest things we’ve accomplished is setting out on that journey of educating people.”
Bell noted that educational programs, like ones offered for Black History Month, are most likely not going to make a large change happen. Nonetheless, she views them as a step in the right direction.
“I think that acceptance and understanding of each other is really important. I don’t know if I would say that the Black History Month programs are going to make that happen, but I think any opportunity that we have to have those conversations about diversity to showcase Black leaders on campus and in our community, and to really just hear voices and perspectives that are different from our own, is meaningful, even if there isn’t like a systematic change.”
Bell’s hope for the future is to have a sense of universal respect and acceptance.
“I think it would be great if everyone on campus prioritized respecting each other, acknowledging each other’s differences, and celebrating the differences that we have,” Bell said. “Because it’s beautiful to have like a diverse group of students and faculty and staff who really are all here and coming together at Waynesburg, at this small place that we all found in some way.”