Last Tuesday, as I sat down at my desk preparing for a long night of homework, my phone buzzed. It was about 6 p.m., and my calendar was alerting me that my IConnect workshop was starting in 30 minutes.

All first-year University students are required to attend IConnect in an effort to create a “more informed campus community.” Most required school events are tedious affairs that always feel like a waste of time to me, but I didn’t think this one would be that bad.

After arriving at my workshop and taking a seat, I looked around. The diversity of students in the room was impressive. And during the workshop, be it religion, ability, race, ethnicity or national origin, everyone brought a unique experience and perspective to the table.

But despite everyone’s apparent differences, every participant shared one thing: Each one of us had the same glossy-eyed look that you would see in a sleepy, late-afternoon lecture.

Not a single participant looked like they wanted to be there. Despite the workshop leader’s efforts, that attitude never left the room.

I don’t think the University does a good job creating effective programs to address the issue of diversity on campus. Instead, IConnect should be replaced with a professionally led program, not a student-led discussion.

The University prides itself on being inclusive. In fact, we have an entire website dedicated to being an “Inclusive Illinois,” which outlines all of the programs and efforts that the University puts into fostering an inclusive environment. It has a wide variety of programs including speakers, social media campaigns and campus resources.

According to the Inclusive Illinois website, IConnect is one of the most important aspects of the inclusive effort. The point of the workshop is creating “an innovative workshop that explores some of the foundational skills needed to collaborate, learn, and work in diverse environments during your years at Illinois and beyond.”

Although it is not explicitly stated, the program focuses on teaching students how to grapple with the challenges of prejudice and identity. I wholeheartedly agree with the intention. It is incredibly important integrate these values into a University, but it isn’t done effectively.

The workshop is broken down into three major parts. In part one, the participants are asked a series of questions about personal identity, and then told to go near a sign expressing different identity classifications.

In part two, students are broken into small groups and given different scenarios that are tangentially related to of diversity and inclusion. My question involved dealing with a possibly gay roommate, and the appropriate way to react in the situation.

Part three involved a large group discussion about those scenarios. We critiqued each others responses and talked about different stereotypes.

Jamming 50 students in a room and forcing them to talk about uncomfortable issues went as well as one might expect: Nobody wanted to talk and the leaders struggled to elicit responses from the participants.

When I walked out of my IConnect workshop, I did not see students committed to diversity. IConnect does not do a good job teaching diversity because it does not effectively engage the participants.

Instead, I saw a group of students being forced to shuffle around from one part of the room to another, collectively rolling their eyes every time the workshop leader asked a question.

I saw two people expected to moderate six different group discussions with poor prompts. I saw students asked to talk about deeply personal issues in front of a large group of people that they had never met before.

I saw a University that likes the idea of sounding inclusive, but seems unwilling to put the effort needed to actually be inclusive.

It is unsurprising that many students probably left their IConnect workshop grumbling about the hour of their lives they will never get back. An audience has no obligation to be attentive to a bad presentation. It is the presenters’ job to entertain the audience, not vice versa.

The planners of IConnect must rethink their presentation to create an audience willing to participate who will end up learning something from it.

A smaller, intimate discussion with a professionally trained facilitator could be far more effective.

IConnect is the University’s only opportunity to train students in diversity. The students who participate in Inclusive Illinois events on campus already understand the message.

This compulsory program is the only opportunity to reach everyone on campus, as opposed to the other voluntary programming.

Because of this, IConnect should strive to be the most effective, inclusive program.

If the University wants to be “Inclusive Illinois,” that’s fine by me. But “Inclusive Illinois” is an earned title, and the University falls short.

Thomas is a freshman in LAS.

[email protected]