The first time I actually encountered the word on campus was during my class familiarizing students with the Ag. Sciences major. The main focus of the class is to not only help students find their interests within the major, but also to find their place on campus. It was during one of these in depth class discussions that Keyana Ellis, the Teaching Assistant, disputed the meaning of diversity in context of campus life. She reasoned that diversity was simply recognizing differences from people to people. It wasn’t necessarily a word that meant bringing those different people together. She suggested that when referring to a group or community of varied citizens, we should use words like “integration.” All this meant was that an action was being taken in order to bring these people together.
I had never thought of that before: that a word like diversity, which was normally associated with many different aspects of people in one place, was in all actuality, a stagnant word. It doesn’t have any movement behind it. Unlike diversity, integration has a force behind it, propelling it from just recognizing difference to an action to an acceptance of difference.
Granted, if you were reading both of these words on paper, we might skim over them, using them for synonyms for each other in the same context. Words might be words on paper, but I think what Keyana meant was that once those same words leave the paper, the contrast between the dormancy of diversity and the association linked with integration is noticeably different.
As my first semester on campus is beginning to wind down, I've realized the difference between diversity and integration and have learned to appreciate both in a new way. The people around me are diverse in the sense of location, race, background and many more aspects, however it is because we have integrated our lives together that we can function as a true university and community.
Some hallmates and I getting ready for a Thursday night game.
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