Bridging the Diversity Gap on Cultural Fusion Day

By Broadside Opinion Columnist Michael Gryboski

Cultural Fusion Field Day will take place at George Mason University on Wednesday, Oct. 8. The event will be composed of numerous games from various cultures represented at Mason. There will be speakers from different departments across campus. Official sponsors include the University Scholars Office, the Office of Diversity Programs and Services and the Office of the Provost.

Despite the efforts at awareness via kiosks, flyers, and Facebook.com, many students going to their classes on that day will most likely see the event and wonder what the fuss is all about.

It’s a demoralizing thought, but it would not be without precedent. Last semester, the Student Veterans Association held a 5K run along Patriot Circle, using the interior lane for runners and joggers. The event had a sizable scale, with hundreds of runners, volunteers (including myself) and spectators in attendance. Even then, there was at least one instance in which a car turned into the lane that was being used for the runners, completely ignorant as to what was happening. I myself had to run up to their window, inform them of what was going on, and see to them turning off out of the way.

Back then, I wondered how anyone could be so lacking in their knowledge of campus events, but other examples abound. I have also known students at this university to be unaware of the existence of the International Dance Competition that hits every Spring semester.

This issue is not a matter of intelligence, but that of indifference. Now scores of works have been written in the past to talk about how Mason students do not care about extracurricular involvement, weakening campus life and so forth. The biggest reason cited is that it has to do with our commuter school status, as those who drive to and from campus are supposedly disconnected from university life. Having been both a commuter and residential student, I can say that not all commuters are this way, but when one is a commuter, it can be very easy to treat Mason as just another errand, especially if one is also working one or more jobs, has a family, et cetera. The typical commuter only needs to park his or her car, go to class and leave.

But what perpetuates this indifference? Why the obliviousness of so many events? Not long ago Mason was identified as the second most diverse school in the country. It was also discovered that Mason was one of the unhappiest schools in the country. Maybe it is the ethnic and cultural diversity that drives the indifference and the unhappiness that is apparently very pervasive. All too often people want to be with their own kind, be it on a racial, class, national or ideological level. It’s not racism, it’s just comfort, the search for uniformity, and it happens everywhere. There will be exceptions, but in general, people keep to what they see as their own kind, even here. Instead of one Mason community, we have many Mason communities that oftentimes refuse to come together as a collective society.

If this is true, then it would mean that multiculturalism is not sufficient to create a modern society. Instead, it’s a good way to increase division and subsequent indifference to the general happenings of campus. Assuming diversity is a good thing, and it can be, the situation can be remedied by going beyond multiculturalism: active multiculturalism. The mere presence of multiple cultures, nationalities and ethnicities is not sufficient to make a functioning campus society. What is needed is for people from these various groups to be able to come together as one, even when difference is obvious. But how, outside of basketball victories and classroom group activities can the many nations of Mason come together and grow together in community?

Cultural Fusion Field Day is a start. Already, various ethnic student organizations are involved in it, and it promises to be an excellent occasion for intercultural exchange and socializing amongst groups that often go their separate ways in the Johnson Center and Student Union Building I Lounge. Holiday Fest, an event sponsored by the Diversity Committee of our Student Government and scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 3 of this year, is another.

Indifference is a demon to vanquish, but it is not impossible as these events shall hopefully testify to. Maybe on Wednesday, people will be more than oblivious.

Broadside Editor’s note: Michael Gryboski is the vice chair of the Diversity and Multicultural Affairs Committee within Student Government