Student group seeks diversity

The Jeffrey JosephThe Jeffrey JosephThe Daily Pennsylvanian The group, Confronting Cultural Issues on Campus, is comprised of students from various racial and ethnic backgrounds and hopes to find ways to improve interaction among cultural groups without debate on the merits or drawbacks of multiculturalism and segregation, according to one of its founders, College junior Ari Alexander. "We're starting our work with the assumption that segregation along racial and ethnic lines has negative repercussions," he told the seven people in attendance at the start of the meeting. Alexander noted that people generally feel uncomfortable discussing issues like race on a level that allows for positive change to take place. During the meeting, the group reached a consensus on the idea that the best way to bring about change at Penn is to study existing campus groups which have diverse memberships or promote interaction among students from different backgrounds. They plan to find out what allows such groups to work well and then use this information to improve organizations which are less representative of the campus community. "We need to identify what's working" and find out why it works, said College senior Chaz Howard, a member of the group and chairperson of the United Minorities Council. CCIC members identified such organizations as Program for Awareness and Cultural Education, the Social Planning and Events Committee, the Student Activities Council and Civic House as examples of groups which work well with diverse memberships. They noted a lack of diversity in most student government organizations, including the Undergraduate Assembly, the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education and the Nominations and Elections Committee, as well at The Daily Pennsylvanian. Alexander said the group may also conduct a survey of students' attitudes towards diversity and the extent to which diversity currently exists in classes and in student organizations. Though the first meeting produced mostly broad discussions of goals and a general plan of action, group members plan to meet on a weekly basis to continue their work in greater detail. Organizers said they would welcome any students interested in joining the group's existing 12 members. All of the CCIC members seemed enthusiastic about the work ahead of them, bearing high hopes for the group's future. "It's nice that they're putting something together that's less of a discussion and more of a 'let's do something' group," Howard said of the group's founders. Wharton senior Jon Herrmann, a member of the group and chairperson of SPEC, said he thought the group will be more productive than most organizations which work to promote diversity. "I've been in lots of discussions on these issues" before, he said, adding that the new group is "directed and focused enough" to make concrete changes in the Penn community. College sophomore Michael Krouse, one of CCIC's founders and a UA member, said he thought many good ideas were brought up at the meeting to advance the group's work. "We're going to try to accomplish a lot this year," he said. "If we start with the freshmen, in four years Penn will be a completely different place." And Alexander, who is also a member of SCUE, said the group has the potential to bring about significant change among Penn students. "I'm optimistic about this group of people making something happen," he said. "Just because it's difficult to talk about these things, that's not sending us away."