My experience with diversity (all of the many and varied "diversities" that come to mind) at WSU has been largely positive. I would have to say maybe even overwhelmingly positive. I have few, if any, diversity-related grievances. Instead, I feel like there has only been rich possibilities for growth, and exciting and fascinating people and things to learn about.
First, let's get the biggie out of the way--the one thing everybody thinks about when they hear the word "diversity": talkin' 'bout race. Do you know how some people say that white people get to wake up in the morning and not even think about race, whereas most people of color have little choice in the matter? Well, I'm not blind to the very real issue of race, but I have to say I'm a little closer to the former population than the latter when it comes to how much weight the subject has in my day-to-day thinking. Yes, maybe I'm kidding myself. If I'm kidding myself, I'm doing a pretty good job of actually fooling myself, though, because if you were to ask me point blank about how much of a factor this topic plays in my life, I would have to say: "You know, it's big, but it's kinda small, too. It just doesn't dominate my thoughts the way it does with some people."
To add to this, I want to say that WSU, in particular (in my opinion) is doing a great job pursuing and managing--and has a great attitude about--issues of racial diversity. There is no sense of oppression here, to me (not Freire's oppression, but that heavy, sketchy, restless fog of unrest that settles over some places and some institutions). I would expect racial unrest at the U of U (or at least I wouldn't be surprised about it), or at CalTech, or Harvard, or...wherever, you name it. I just wouldn't be surprised. At WSU, however, I feel like staff, faculty, and administrators just have a great collective attitude, and that they're doing some very good and sharp work on this issue. And they make it fun. They make Weber feel safe, and good. I cannot describe to you adequately how much my five years at WSU have just been VIBIN'. The vibes around here are off the chain. Maybe it's just a Performing Arts thing--a Browning Center thing. I cannot speak for all of the departments (and their respective cultures) with equal authority. I can say, however, that in the DPA (Department of Performing Arts), in the Student Union, in the Administration Building, when I'm standing near President Millner--you name it--wherever I am on campus, around people of authority or not, I feel REALLY good about the vibes, the work behind those vibes, and the PEOPLE behind the work behind the vibes. I'm quite serious. This has just been my experience, and it has rarely, if ever, been ruffled. Long story short: can't complain.
If anything, college has opened my eyes to diversities BEYOND that of race. And that's where things really get interesting. As far as I can tell right now (and I'm still learning), the quest for all knowledge and truth is an exercise in diversifying one's own brain patterns, habits, and connections. I think that that's really where it's at. A real education is one that teaches you how to diversify your MIND, oftentimes in nuances and shades that you did not think existed. And when it comes to epistemology (how do you know what you know), the biggest theme that runs under it--in our studies so far--is also that of diversity. Education, in 2010, seems to be asking, "Well, how does SHE know what she knows?" and "How does HE know what he knows?" "How do non-trad students know what they know (and by the way, how diverse are THEY, for cryin' out loud)? " How does this tutee learn, and how does that one learn? How do YOU tutor your students, and how does she? We're getting away from the days of, "A Treatise On the Correct Way To Have Understanding," to "You Must Endeavor To Know Absolutely As Much As You Can About The Different Ways People Think And Do, And If You Don't, You Can't Be Taken Seriously As An Educator...And Maybe Not Even As A Human Being." Do you see what I'm saying? All of this is wonderful and it makes sense. Diversity (how much of it you have in you and how much of it you are willing to have in you) is the factor that more or less determines whether your education has been worth anything or not. And again, I'm talking about a "diversity" that's not the same as that which we tend to think of automatically, although that kind of diversity most certainly is a part of it. Really what I'm talking about is a diversity that's so diverse that the sky's the limit. It's a constant and an intelligent diversification of opinion, attitude, inquiry, methodology, belief, everything.
In order to have meaningful and honest discourse about diversity we pretty much just have to do two things, I think: eat lots of Humble Pie, and listen. There is definitely more to it than that, but that's a start. I think that our class has been brilliant about both. I think that Weber State has been brilliant about both.
As I've touched on briefly above, a healthy respect for the power and legitimacy of diversity is essential in the Writing Center. We tutors, on a daily basis, interact with students that we don't know from Adam. What choice do we have but to allow ourselves to lead and be led by them? Well, it won't happen if we are stuck on our own notions of rightness and are thus unwilling to diversify the dendrites and synapses in our brains. Such growth comes from other people. Such growth comes from exposure to diversity. Such growth IS growth, because it IS diversity. Ask any responsible neurologist, economist, performing artist, author, or educator. That's where it's at. I don't want to be the same old dude tomorrow. I want you to change me. That's what our tutees are saying to us, too (most of them). Diversity is just about the best gift we can give to one another as human beings and as professionals. Having said that, it follows that it's one of the best things any of us can receive.
