On Sept. 7 in Blackwell Hall, Longwood University's new Office of Diversity and Inclusion held its Multicultural Student Reception, an event widening the base of the previous office's BSA and BASIC gospel choir-sponsored Minority Student Reception. The event, which had an attendance of over 150 students, started at 5:30 p.m. and ran for several hours with strong performances from several Longwood Jazz musicians, African American dance village Ezibu Muntu, B.A.S.I.C. Gospel Choir and quartet Armonica Vita.
Speakers ranged from the welcome by Dr. Jamie R. Riley, director for the Office of Diversity & Inclusion and Dr. Tim Pierson, vice president of student affairs,to the student remarks from SGA President Brandon Fry, Judicial Board Chair Nicholas Sneed, Unity Alliance Social Outreach Chair John W. Berry, The Office of Disability Resources' Brian Appich, Student Secular Alliance's Rigby Bendele, BSA president Roberta Collier, and Episcopal-Lutheran Campus Ministry's Zachary L Highland.
Marked by extensive mingling, both induced and voluntary, the night featured a standard yet delicious ARAMARK spread and the company of many well dressed anddelightful people. However, the true energy of the crowd was only awakened when Ezibu Muntu invited people to come and dance.
The roaring polyrhythm of drums and rattles was more than enough to make any member of the audience want to clap and marvel at the dexterous Ezibu dancers. The sonorous Armonica Vita singers brought in the songs of yesteryear and left audience members speechless until their sound had left the air. The aforementioned speakers were eloquent representations of what Longwood diversity is. At the end of the night, there was a scarcely a doubt that any audience member had a good time.
Audience members Chris Carter and Robert Jones said they both enjoyed the reception in a big way. Carter, who learned about the event through a BSA meeting, said, "I think a lot of people say that new people meet other new people, we don't come together out of fear that we won't know what to say to the other person [or that] we may not have [anything] in common with the other person. I think it puts a great impression in people's minds [that] only because we're different doesn't mean that we have nothing in common. We can get to know each other; we can get to befriend each other…"
Jones, who learned about the event via email, said, "I thought it was perfectly planned. The food was amazing. It was a healthy selection with perfect portions to choose from. I thought the speakers did a great job. Especially the dancers and the excitement in the beginning."
After the reception was over, Associate Professor of Sociology Dr. Carl Riden was available to say a little about the event and exactly what her involvement was. Having seen minority involvement and other forms of diversity increase at Longwood University over her long tenure, Riden was both ecstatic and supportive of the reception.
Riden said, "Well honestly, Jamie's office did most of the organization. My role was simply to act as an outreach officer with some of the student population." Explaining her valuable access to "details about the religious beliefs of students or the LGBT students," Riden talked about her contact with Riley through the diversity council. Riden said Riley "asked me if I would send out information to those student groups because the goal was to broaden the base of the set of students who were invited for the multicultural student reception. So I sent that information out and those students passed it on to other student groups … It started out as a snowballing out [from his invitation] and it turned out great." Riden also thought the music helped loosen up and ultimately discard barriers to expression between different groups.
Finally, Riley, the event's coordinator, had something to say about the roots of the Multicultural Student Reception. Planned to continue annually, Riley has set up the reception as not only a tool of the office of Diversity and Inclusion, but its real introduction onto campus.
The office, which aims to transfer the already open and positive feelings of Longwood community members into helpful social action, was outlined into goals by Riley "[to gather] allies and advocates on campus, to educate people, to keep people aware of the importance of difference and cultural difference, and to develop the leadership, academic and social development of students from historically underrepresented groups."
With the involvement of Riley's Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the support of numerous student faculty organizations, the Multicultural Student Reception reminds Longwood that diversity is not only a matter of ethnicity and race but, more widely, an issue of varied ideas and ways of being. It also reminds us that diversity need not be argued about in the street but can just as easily be talked about over a cool drink and delectable food.
