HUMS 109: Understanding Diversity Ivy Tech Community College Fall Semester, 2013

Diversity Summit
Following the Trayvon Martin case, Paula Deens insensitive comments, and the Supreme Courts decision to severely weaken the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the summer Understanding Diversity students decided that it would be an interesting project to develop a Diversity Summit in the Northwest region, which would allow the community to participate in a public forum where various forms of diversity could be discussed and celebrated. The idea of Ivy Tech Community College sponsoring a Diversity Forum was discussed with College administrators from the Northwest region as well as central office in Indianapolis, and they have expressed enthusiastic support! The summer section of Understanding Diversity conducted an initial brainstorming session, which included the following ideas: Hold the Forum in Michigan City, as that seems to be the most truly diverse community with an Ivy Tech campus in our region. Create a committee that includes Ivy Tech students, faculty, and administrators, as well as key community leaders. Partner with the Human Services Club and the Campus Activity Board for funding. Invite students from local high schools to ensure diversity of age. Make the Forum open to attract a wide audience. Consider Washington Park. Hold a poetry / essay contest and allow the winning entries to read their works at the Forum. Have music from diverse cultures performed. Have guest speakers from diverse backgrounds not just white middle-aged men.

Your Assignment: Review the ideas from the summer class and decide what you want to keep, and what you want to revise. Assist in selecting members for the Diversity Forum Committee. Develop a draft agenda. Develop a budget for the Forum. Create an action plan for making the Forum a reality. Make a presentation of your ideas to the Diversity Forum Committee, requesting their feedback and support. See if we can make it all happen!

Diversity Summit

Mission Statement: We want to break comfort boundaries that affect our social attitudes towards different cultures. We hope for a big, diverse crowd and to have people go home and implement what was taught at the summit. This is a celebration of diversity and to find commonality.

Possible places to hold the event: Ivy Tech Michigan City Campus Washington Park/cabin in Michigan City Sinai Temple of Michigan City Michigan City Mall

Different Activities: We would love to try and get as many different ethnic groups involved. We thought the best way to do so was to set up booths for the different ethnic groups and allow them to tell a bit about their culture and some of their traditional foods, which we would try and get samples of. Wed like to get 2-3 speakers to speak throughout the day with allotted time slots so that if someone is really interested in a speaker, they know when to come if they cannot make it for the whole time, considering that we would like to make this sort of event an all-day event. In between the speakers, we would like to have music performed with different types to show that music can be diverse too. A babysitting center would be good to have too, because if an adult cannot come because they have their children to watch and no babysitter this could attract more people. An essay/poem contest would be good to have for elementary/middle/ high school students around the area and also colleges. Gift cards and reading their winning entries at the summit would be their prize. 50/50 raffles would also be good to have so we could possibly fund another one of these summits if it goes well the first time around and sparks up new ideas of where to have another.

Who wed like to include/invite: Students from high schools and maybe even middle school could benefit from this event because they might have to work with people from different backgrounds and ethnicities when they go to college and to their work place. Adults could also benefit from this because everyone has their own preconceived thoughts about any given person whether they know them or not and this could help someone understand better.

Speaker Topics Closing speaker: speak of commonalities, how all humans have basic needs and have all the same basic needs. Brainstorm with groups

Diversity Summit Tentative Schedule

12:00 P.M. Welcome Address (15 minutes) Purpose of Summit Talk about guest speakers and announce their timeslots Discuss different booths Talk about the bands that will be performing

12:15 P.M. First Poem/Essay Reading 12:20 P.M. Booths/Music 12:45 P.M. First Guest Speaker 1:15 P.M. Booths/Music 1:40 P.M. Second Poem/Essay Reading 1:45 P.M. Keynote Speaker 2:15 P.M. Booths Music 2:40 P.M. Third Poem/Essay Reading 2:45 P.M. Third Guest Speaker 3:15 P.M. Booths/Music 3:45 P.M. Closing/Thank You Speech 4:00 P.M. Close/Begin Clean Up