Diversity dialogue groups offer a first step to understanding beliefs

Valerie Garr, project assistant in Opportunity at Iowa, facilitates a Diversity Dialogue group that includes Pavel V. Sysoyev, a research scholar in International Programs, and Nancy J. Humbles, program associate in the Henry B. Tippie College of Business Undergraduate Program Office. Photo by Tim Schoon.

The first step, for more than 130 community members, students, staff, and faculty members, was a Diversity Dialogue group that met 90 minutes a week for 10 weeks.

The Office of Affirmative Action began its Diversity Dialogue program in 1996-97. Diane Finnerty, program associate in the Office of Affirmative Action, says the idea originated when Kay Mescher, College of Dentistry, initiated a presentation by College of Engineering alumna Pearl Cheng, who had championed the idea in her workplace, NASA-Ames, in California.

Typically now, three groups of six to eight people of diverse backgrounds from throughout the campus community organize each semester, with trained co-facilitators. College-specific groups have also been formed in the Tippie College of Business and the College of Medicine.

Participants commit to sharing life stories and beliefs. As past participant Sue Buckley, associate vice president, Human Resources, puts it, “Diversity Dialogue is based on the importance and potency of speaking honestly and directly with others across significant differences like race, gender, or sexual orientation.”

All conversation is confidential and University status is unimportant. This has made Diversity Dialogue a “safe place.” It’s a rare opportunity for people to have deep, substantive conversations with people they wouldn’t meet otherwise, says Valerie Garr, program assistant at Opportunity at Iowa and longtime group facilitator.

“Diversity Dialogue gives group members a chance to understand more about peoples’ collective history while they hear individual histories,” Garr says.

“The wonderful thing about Diversity Dialogue is the safety of being able to say what you are thinking and not be afraid to express an opinion or ask tough questions,” says Ron McClellen, design artist at Hancher Auditorium and group co-facilitator. “It really is my weekly dose of hope that something can be done about prejudice and discrimination.”

McClellen, who says he joined originally to learn what society believes about the place of gay people, soon broadened his focus.

“The one thing that I have learned over and over again is how easy it is to slip into making judgments about people based on faulty information, such as how they look or talk.”

Vicki Vavra, who advises undergraduate business students, joined out of fear that naiveté might cause her to say something offensive or inappropriate to minority students.

“My solution was to avoid any reference to ethnicity or race,” Vavra says. “What I learned is that I chose to be ‘color-blind.’ Avoiding difficult conversations about racism doesn’t make the problem go away. And failing to acknowledge that differences do exist and that they influence all of us on a daily basis perpetuates racism. Color blindness is the problem, not the solution. That recognition has altered my view of the world.”

Jeffery Bullock joined as a new assistant professor in the Department of Dance. He says he learned how early childhood experiences color people’s perceptions.

“I learned that folks are making large steps to reprogram those early messages, steps that seem invisible—but on a conscious or subconscious level they are major achievements,” Bullock says. “Prejudices, discriminating attitudes and actions, and racist practices hurt everyone involved.”

Finnerty says Diversity Dialogue groups are an important tool in combating discrimination on campus.

“Having laws is important; other kinds of workshops and seminars are important,” she says. “But the Diversity Dialogue takes us to a different level—why do we think this way? It brings a human touch to the academic environment.”

Article by Anne Tanner