Dr. Cullen on Diversity

Having to wait in line to attend yet another required presentation at nine thirty on a Thursday morning did not please the majority of SU’s first-year students. For many this brought back memories of monotonous orientation week events and knowing ‘diversity’ was the topic of this presentation began to place it in the same category even before we found a seat inside the auditorium. I wasn’t so pessimistic, since I had read the details about the event on the online SU Calendar. Claiming Dr. Maura Cullen’s lecture titled “Taking Adversity out of Diversity” was “entertaining and educational,” I doubted we would be disappointed since SU seems really interesting in receiving positive feedback from their events. And thankfully I wasn’t. Dr. Cullen successfully engaged us the entire time, even when relying on a PowerPoint presentation, not just by stating obvious facts about diversity issues but also by requesting audience participation. Doing so made her claims go beyond words into realities that have impacted our lives. Not only are we as diverse as cars, but also such diversity requires us to do our part in embracing, acknowledging, and supporting each other’s differences. It is not until we start with small changes, such as learning to react differently toward a disabled individual or seeing the importance a postcard has, that we will understand and appreciate the benefits or diversity. Besides, what would our world be without diversity?