My entire life I’ve been fortunate to communicate and interact with different types of people. Not only were they different from me in the sense of race but also in terms of religion and socioeconomic backgrounds. They also had differences of opinions, thoughts and feelings on a wide variety of subjects.

There have also been times when I was the only African-American in my class and school. Even in those situations I have been able to experience diversity, and it has allowed me to learn from others different from me. It has also taught me that sometimes those who appear different from you are relatively similar.

Therefore, we should not judge and interpret diversity strictly on the terms of race because diversity has multiple meanings.

Diversity is defined as the point of difference. Often when we hear someone speak of diversity, it tends to mainly focus on the combination of many different racial groups in one environment. While it is one of the many elements of diversity, race is among the most basic elements of the definition.

It’s easy to stick a group of people of different races in a room and yell diversity — this University has become comfortable with this notion, but it’s time we move forward from this perception.

True enough; the University has done a good job in the inclusion and recruitment of minority students. According to the University’s admissions website, the University of Illinois is the most diverse institution in the Big Ten. A report released earlier this month concludes that more than half of the student body is Caucasian, while more than 20 percent of the population is composed of students from underrepresented backgrounds. Roughly 20 percent is is international students. Of the minority population, Hispanic students account for 7 percent of the population while African-Americans make up 5 percent.

At a university where there are over 40,000 students, those numbers seem relatively low, but when walking around campus you can easily see that the University is a melting pot.  However, we should strive to be diverse in all aspects, not just skin color. It is important to increase and define diversity in areas such as opinions, thoughts, gender and experiences because those are the elements that make us who we are. While race may be a characteristic of a person, it does not define his or her character.

President Obama elaborated on the many different forms on diversity in his inaugural address last week. He reaffirmed the idea that all of us are created equal, but he went beyond the depths of skin color. He mentioned diversity and inclusion in terms of gender when speaking on equal pay. 

He said, “Our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts.” He continued with the importance of accepting and including those who have different sexual orientations by saying, “Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law, for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.”

He went on to mention that while we may not agree on everything it is important for us to come together to act and make a difference.

That is the true meaning of diversity.

It is the importance of recognizing and respecting one another’s differences but focusing on the similarities to reach a common goal.

While there are several programs on campus hoping to achieve this aim, it seems often they fall short. Even with these programs, those a part of like groups still tend to cling to one another. So while the campus may be diverse, the interaction may not be. Resources like the cultural houses provide wonderful resources to all students, and while their aim is to be inclusive, sometimes they have the tendency to be exclusive, even toward members within that particular culture represented by that house.

Just because you throw a bunch of different people together in one area does not make that area diverse. For this reason it is important that we explore this concept beyond the basic level to develop an advanced understanding.

Ta’les is a senior in Media. She can be reached at [email protected].