Students, Profs Discuss Diversity

“The system set up by the university to solve diversity-related issues is doing exactly what it was designed to do — nothing. Diversity kills us every day, every moment,” said Prof. Belisa Gonzales, a professor at Ithaca College at Diversity Kills Me, a dinner discussion yesterday evening. The event examined issues of diversity at Cornell and Ithaca College.

“Universities don’t want to diversify, they want to sell diversity to prospective students,” she said.

The evening opened with a brief review of a history of discrimination in the U.S., given by Prof. Alan Gomez, city and regional planning. The focus of the discussion then shifted to the students as they were challenged by Gomez to think of what diversity is and whom it is for.