The world seems to have timed warped back to the violent racial scenes of the 1960s that we heard about in history class. It seems like every time we go on twitter the issue of diversity rears its ugly head.

The issue and topic of diversity are especially prevalent in the realm of university life. There is no shortage of programming like poetry slams, open forums, and small group dialogues that attempt to engage the topic of diversity, especially racial diversity. Gonzaga like many other schools means well in its purpose behind creating the programming that it offers to students. However, there is often a failure in the programming to properly acknowledge the world views and experiences of students being targeted.

Student Body: White and Well-Off

A large portion of students at a school like Gonzaga are not from exceedingly diverse racial or socio-economic areas. According to Gonzaga's admission website, only half of the student body is from outside the state of Washington and only 23 percent of students are "students of color." Gonzaga is clearly not extremely diverse in terms of the student body, in fact it's a standing joke on campus that diversity is sorely lacking.

It is quite a struggle to engage in "racial diversity" talks and programming as a student body. Especially when movements like Black Lives Matter does not directly resonate with the daily experience of a majority of the student body. This is not to say that students don't care about the topic; rather, the topics that event organizers want to talk about don't match up with the experiences of the students they want to attract.

A second point to note is that Gonzaga, a school with a sticker price approaching $50,000, according to the admissions webpage, is not a school that the average American family can readily pay for. Some students receive scholarships because of a poor socio-economic situation or the basic financial package offered at the school, about $27,000. For the most part the average student who attends a school like Gonzaga, comes from at least an upper-middle class family.

Who really goes to diversity events?

Let's be honest there's always "those people" who always seem to continuously talk about diversity, ALL THE TIME. It doesn't matter if you hear them in the cafeteria, during class, or simply waiting behind them in line at the campus Starbucks. The harsh reality is, those lovely folks who are super passionate about diversity are the only ones who really go to diversity events.

The way the majority of diversity events are orientated is geared towards what I call a "step into someone else's shoes" mentality. Meaning that the events challenge the audience to experience and embrace concepts of diversity through a sometimes stereotypical sounding lens, that has no direct correlation to the experiences of the students who the event wants to attract. The majority of students don't go to diversity of events, not because they don't care about diversity as a topic, but because they can't connect with the event in any meaningful way based on their own experience.

A paradigm shift is needed

The whole problem with the same people always going to diversity events is that diversity events slowly become tailored to them and their experiences, not the greater student body. If diversity events want to make a real difference and catch on with the general student populace, then they need to accept and be geared towards the experiences of the a wider swath of students. In this case, that swath of students is usually white and socio-economically well off.

Events need to approach the topic of diversity, not from the perspective of a black guy proudly sporting a Black Lives Matter t-shirt. Rather, the events and programming need to approach diversity from the perspective of a well-off white guy from Seattle who occasionally sees Black Lives Matter on a small twitter post. If events and programming around diversity are not developed around this more common type of worldview, then the events will generally continue to be minimally effective in terms of their reach.

Once this important paradigm shift in achieved and events are properly geared towards the larger audience they fail to target, then they will start to be effective. The message of diversity needs to be tailored to suit the audience it is being presented to! Maybe then some real discussion and progress will be made!