Diversity awareness is a topic that many colleges and universities strive to incorporate into their new student orientation programs -- some in more dynamic ways than others.
During orientation at Rutgers University's Camden Campus, new students participated in a brief workshop entitled "Ice Cream Diversity."
According to Rutgers freshman Jamie Sexton, students were brought into a classroom for ice cream.
Workshop facilitators -- Rutgers-Camden upperclassmen -- then proceeded to invite students to receive their ice cream by race, calling each racial minority group first, then finishing by calling white women and men.
Sexton said that several students participating in the event were taken aback by the unusual proceedings.
"I didn't understand the point at first," she said. "At the very beginning, I was confused."
After all students had received their ice cream, workshop facilitators explained the reasoning behind the procedure. They then posed some rhetorical questions to the group concerning the students' own experiences with racism and prejudice.
According to Sexton, one of the students facilitating her group's discussion -- one of seven different sections of the workshop -- was "very, very defensive" when discussing the racial issues.
Sexton said that this particular facilitator used the terms "we" to mean blacks and "you" to mean whites, focusing heavily on "white privilege" over blacks and neglecting most other diversity issues.
It seemed as though the student facilitator was "putting one ethnicity against another," Sexton said.
"I felt uncomfortable the entire time," said another Rutgers freshman, who asked that her name not be published. "It was almost like a scolding."
According to Alison Emery, director of campus involvement at Rutgers-Camden, these students' experience with the "Ice Cream Diversity" workshop was not the planned or intended effect of the program.
Emery said that during the "Ice Cream Diversity" workshop, several diversity issues other than race are addressed, including socioeconomic status and sexual orientation.
Emery also noted that "Ice Cream Diversity" is one of a number of programs that addresses diversity throughout orientation.
Describing the workshop as "powerful," Emery said that "Ice Cream Diversity" is meant to be a catalyst for starting conversation.
According to Sean Vereen, associate director of Penn's Greenfield Intercultural Center, that is an admirable pursuit.
"What we want to do is try to foster discussion," Vereen said.
"Doing things that make people think and make people uncomfortable isn't necessarily a bad thing," Vereen said, "but you need to prepare people to a certain extent."
Nathan Smith, Ware College House dean, said he feels somewhat similarly to Vereen.
"There's nothing wrong with experimentation," Smith said. "I'm sure [the "Ice Cream Diversity' workshop] was well intended."
"I don't personally feel that it [was] a good approach," he added, explaining that "people are often very scared" when discussing diversity issues.
Vereen also acknowledges the difficulties that can arise when discussing these sensitive issues.
"There aren't many right answers on this," Vereen said. "Hate isn't right ... but there is a lot of gray otherwise."
"Every student is going to have a different opinion," Smith said.
