Diversity is an issue that surrounds college campuses around the nation, but seems like an idea that is not entirely applicable to the students on Baker University’s campus.

Empowerment Through Diversity Week

Monday

Tunnel of Oppression

Noon-7 p.m. Irwin Basement

Tuesday

Bully (The Movie)

8 p.m. Owens AV room

Wednesday

Cody Charles, Presentation on Social Justice

8 p.m. Harter Union

Friday

People Empowering People Rally

11 a.m. Rotunda Outside Collins Library

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However, three organizations on campus are trying to promote the idea that diversity is about more than just race.

Mungano, Gay-Straight Alliance and Student Activities Council are hosting Empowerment Through Diversity Week, an event-filled week dedicated to diversity in all its forms.

“(Students) can learn about the different forms of diversity that take place in society,” Randy Flowers, assistant director of student life, said. “So it could be through race, gender sexual orientation, your ability, physically and mentally and just all the different forms of diversity that are not just race. A lot of times people get confused or they hear diversity as race and it’s so much more than that.”

The week will start off at noon and continue through 7 p.m. on Monday in the Irwin Hall basement with the tunnel of oppression. The tunnel of oppression is a tour that will show all forms of oppression in society through photos, visual displays and videos.

Junior Rachel Knight, Mungano representative, said the tunnel of oppression is one event she enjoyed about the week last year and hopes that more students will participate this year.

“It opened my eyes to a lot of things and I hope that … more people will go to it than last year,” she said. “Just to see people seeing things in a different light and from other points of view, that’s exciting to me.

Other events during the week include a movie and a presentation on social justice.

The week will end with the People Empowering People Rally. This event was created last year by junior Denesha Jones, who said she got the idea from a movie she saw titled “Higher Education.”

“Basically because of that movie, I decided that we needed to do something about how other students feel about racism and stereotypes and stereotypes and discrimination at our school,” Jones said.

The rally, which will be Friday at 11 a.m. on the rotunda outside of Collins Library, is a chance for students to voice their opinions on the types of diversity they experience.

“During the rally (last year), I asked people to just say how they felt or just bring up issues that they faced, so that people just come and voice their opinions and just talk,” Jones said. “I think hearing other people’s experiences would help a lot of people at this school.”

Flowers said there has always been some sort of education surrounding diversity at Baker, and he believes these events can make an impact on the students outside of the classroom and Baker’s campus.

“Right now, we learn about many of these different topics in the classroom, so this is tying some real life instances to it,” Flowers said. “When we get into the workplace, it’s going to be a very diverse world. So it’s preparing our students to be confident and competent when they get into that workplace.”

The main goal of the week is not just to educate students on the issues of diversity, but to make them realize these issues really are happening around us.

“There’s a lot of diversity on campus, and there’s a lot of diversity that we may not think about,” Knight said. “There’s a lot of issues that people don’t really realize.”