UM to put on 'Day of Dialogue'

Diversity and tolerance aren’t the kinds of things that can be achieved in a day, but a day dedicated to conversation and education on those topics is a good place to start.

UM will host its first “Day of Dialogue” Wednesday, Oct. 18, with speakers, educational workshops and exhibits to get students and faculty talking about diversity.

“Sometimes we get stuck bringing diversity down to just race,” said organizer Emily Yaksitch. “Race is important, but diversity is a lot of things.”

The day’s events will be held symposium-style, with educational sessions at 9 and 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. and exhibits set up all day.

These sessions will include lectures, films, panel discussions and round-table discussions led by faculty, staff and students from varied campus departments.

The keynote speaker for the event is Manning Marable of Columbia University. Marable founded the Institute for African American Studies at Columbia, and his speech at 2 p.m. in the University Theatre highlights the daylong event.

“Allowing for a day is by no means conclusive,” Yaksitch said. “But the intent is to facilitate dialogue.”

Yaksitch said she sees UM as a progressive and open-minded campus, but also one suffering from a limited amount of diversity.

“When you have a diverse campus the rewards are immeasurable,” she said. “Diversity challenges your belief systems and broadens your interactions.”

The various seminar sessions have a variety of interesting titles such as “How Poverty Divides Us,” “Sexism and
the Search for Female Viagra” and “Fasting Ramadan and Hiking the M.”

Yaksitch said she hopes the event will become an annual one at UM and at the very least make people stop and think and maybe have a conversation about diversity.

“Discussions about diversity are not easy,” she said. “Exploring and active listening is what counts.”

For more information on the Day of Dialogue visit http://www.umt.edu/dayofdialogue.