Pursuing a diverse, collaborative future was the focus of UW-Madison’s 16th annual campus Diversity Forum, held Nov. 10 and 11.
“Diversity makes things stronger,” UW-Madison Police Department Chief Sue Riseling said in a conversation with The Daily Cardinal Tuesday. “I always think about it as thread: you could have a single thread that runs through, but you can snap that pretty easily. But, if you take different threads of different types of materials and you bind them together and interweave them, it makes [the string] stronger.”
“Pulse 2014: Diversity’s Evolving Paradigm & Practical Approaches,” organized by Office of the Vice Provost & Chief Diversity Officer and Division of Diversity, Equity and Educational Achievement, focused on adapting to the changing interpretations of diversity, especially honing in on how diversity affects different areas of campus life.
“We care about diversity, because it is an absolutely essential part of any education in the 21st century,” UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank said Tuesday. “We’ve made some real progress on diversity at the University of Wisconsin. But we’re not where we need to be and there is plenty of work to be done.”
Amid a variety of diversity-centric programs, the 2014 forum aimed to tackle contemporary issues, including the changing role of law enforcement and appreciating diversity’s place in one’s upbringing.
Law Enforcement
Riseling, who sat among city and campus community members like Madison Police Department Chief Mike Koval in a law enforcement town hall meeting Monday, said it is important to note the changing interpretations of diversity.
“We need to move past the idea that we’re sensitive to race, sensitive to gender in it of itself,” Riseling said. “What that does is make it sound that everyone of that gender is going to feel the same way and everyone of that race is going to feel the same way.”
Fifty years ago, Riseling said, assumptions and decisions were made solely by acting on isolated areas of antiquated ideas of diversity, most notably regarding race and gender.
“There’s diversity within race, there’s diversity within religion, there’s diversity within gender; people don’t necessarily think the same way just because the big moniker is the same,” Riseling said.
Riseling added that more efforts are being made in law enforcement, and the community overall, to account for these “nuanced” versions of diversity, rather than assume one’s actions based on outdated beliefs.
“It Is Not Where You Start That Matters—It Is Where You Finish”
The forum concluded Tuesday with a Veterans Day-themed keynote address from Maj. Gen. Marcia Anderson, the first African-American woman to achieve the rank of major general in the U.S. Army Reserve.
Anderson started her journey in Beloit, where she and the only other black student in her class were flunked out of kindergarten. Once she finally reached the first grade a year behind her original classmates, Anderson’s teacher prejudicedly placed her in what she called, “the slow reading group.”
“I’d been labeled, but [my class] wasn’t a diverse enough group for my teacher to appreciate each and every one of us as an individual and appreciate our talents,” Anderson said. “If I had succumbed to that label, I wouldn’t be standing in front of you today.”
Despite the hurdles placed in front of her, Anderson received a military education resulting in a Bachelor of Arts, master’s degree and Juris Doctor degree. Her military awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal and Parachutist Badge.
She said she believes the military, like any other organization, must strive for and promote diversity to properly represent everyone it protects.
"It is almost impossible to change an organization of this size from the outside. To create lasting change, you have to be on the inside to do that, and that includes women and minorities,” Anderson said. “[I have] a firm belief that this organization has to reflect what this room looks like, what this country looks like, for it to be successful.”
Dana Kampa contributed to this report.
