Individuals discuss differences
Inclusiveness conference to celebrate diversity, global cultures

By LaNasha Houze
Staff Reporter

Professors, lecturers and students from across the nation are gathering today and Friday to discuss diversity at the Second Conference on Inclusiveness: Working Together to Create a New Community.

Tim Cox/SKIFF STAFF Crista Williams, program support assistant for the Second Conference on Inclusiveness: Working Together to Create a New Community, packs up materials to be used today and Friday at the conference. The conference is designed to define a person’s identity.

The conference will give students an opportunity to explore what it means to be a part of a diverse community, said Cornell Thomas, special assistant to the chancellor for diversity and community. He said two days is not enough time for students to learn everything about inclusiveness, but it is a step in the right direction.

“This conference is a way to gain perspective on how others (in the national community) are addressing (the topic of) inclusiveness,” he said. “Education is a lifetime venture. The purpose of this conference is to plant a seed of thought or to continue watering the seed that is already there. (Learning) is an ongoing process.”

Thomas said that despite limited funds and staff the TCU community volunteered their resources and time to ensure the success of the conference. The Chancellor’s Council on Diversity, Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Council and Programming Council are some organizations sponsoring the event.

John Butler, minister to the university, said the Chancellor’s Council on Diversity defines inclusiveness in three stages — identity, presence and intentionality. Butler, a member of the diversity council, said this year’s conference focuses on the first stage.

He said the conference is an opportunity for students to gain a better understanding of people’s differences.

“The conference is an opportunity to receive resources, skills and the quality of relationships necessary to understand the first stage,” he said.

Butler said the council defined identity as an individual’s unique personality traits, his or her immediate environment and the interaction that occurs between the individual and the global community.

Manochehr Dorraj, associate professor of political science, said individuals should immerse themselves in the different genders, races and ethnicities as Western culture continues to spread to the rest of the world.

Dorraj, the keynote speaker for Friday’s luncheon, will discuss multiculturalism and diversity in a global context. He said his presentation should complement other speakers who address the topics of race, ethnicity and diversity in America.

“As the world shrinks, the citizens of the 21st century increasingly will have a dual identity,” Dorraj said. “Therefore we need to bridge the gap between the parochial (national identity) and the global.”

LaNasha Houze
l.d.houze@student.tcu.edu