Diversity Summit focuses on learning from the past
The CU campus will spend its time this week discussing issues of diversity during the 13th annual Diversity Summit.
The summit is devoted each year to making CU’s campus a more diverse atmosphere – not just of race and ethnicity but also of religious orientation, sexual orientation, age and gender.
This year’s theme for the Diversity Summit is “learning from our past to build a better future.”
Although keynote speaker Gerda Klein was unable to attend because of health reasons, Chancellor G.P “Bud” Peterson opened the meeting and shared his hopes for the university and its future of moving towards a more “seamless” diverse community.
Klein is expected to share her experiences of the Holocaust later this week once she has recovered.
Peterson said the current CU freshman class has been the most diverse yet, with 16 percent students of color, an increase of 134 students over the last two years. Faculty has also been diversified with 17 new members of color.
This increase of diversity helps to illustrate the types of students CU hopes to attract, Peterson said.
Peterson began his speech with recognition of past events that have helped to guide CU in a direction of a more diverse environment not only on campus but in the Boulder community as well.
“I want to lead in a way that makes diversity routine on our campus…making diversity a part of everyone’s daily activities,” Peterson said. “I want to make diversity an integral part of all that we do.”
Chancellor Peterson focused on the newly created Chancellor’s Diversity Advisory Board that emphasizes campus climate, faculty recruitment, student success and campus engagement.
“Large leaps are made with small steps,” Peterson said. “We hope to build diversity from the inside out and the outside in.”
The welcome ceremony continued with a speech by Sallye McKee, vice chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement. Anthropology professors Paul Shankman and Dennis Van Gerven also spoke on the Holocaust and understanding the concept of race.
The Diversity Summit will run Feb. 18 through Feb. 20 in the UMC with panels, talks, workshops and performances of several diverse identities and experiences.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Brittany Sovine at Brittany.Sovine@colorado.edu.
