2008 Woodie Awards
Cultures unite at forum
Students on panel express opinions on multicultural issues
Sharon Hernandez
A panel of students with different cultural backgrounds gave their opinions on issues related to multiculturalism presented on the American society at a multicultural forum held at Pruis Hall Tuesday night.
About 90 students attended the forum hosted by Student Government Association. Secretary of the SGA Ebony Strong said she thought a good number of students showed up to the forum, and she is planning on organizing a second forum.
"I just talked to the assistant of the Multicultural Center about possibly putting another forum together [next semester]," she said "Just because everyone was so accepting here and I think there is a lot of people that need to be reached and need to hear this."
Sophomore sports administration major Bryon Glaze said he thought having a multiculturalism forum was a good way to eliminate stereotypes and differences among races.
"It is good that there is a representative about each culture to speak," he said. "That way we can hear something from a different view."
Many students seemed satisfied about the issues that were touched on at the forum, although representative for the Latino Student Union Marco Pretell-Vazquez said he thought more comments could have been made about multiculturalism issues.
"I think every single person on the panel could have had a lot more to say," he said. "Everybody is so unique in their background that I wish we had a little more time just so we could go more in depth on where we came from and how we do things"
However, some other students thought the forum would not have a positive effect on students. Graduate public relations student Inez Lai said she didn't think the forum would help much for students to recognize multiculturalism.
"I think it is good because everyone can state an opinion," she said. "However, this will not change the way people think."
About 90 students attended the forum hosted by Student Government Association. Secretary of the SGA Ebony Strong said she thought a good number of students showed up to the forum, and she is planning on organizing a second forum.
"I just talked to the assistant of the Multicultural Center about possibly putting another forum together [next semester]," she said "Just because everyone was so accepting here and I think there is a lot of people that need to be reached and need to hear this."
Sophomore sports administration major Bryon Glaze said he thought having a multiculturalism forum was a good way to eliminate stereotypes and differences among races.
"It is good that there is a representative about each culture to speak," he said. "That way we can hear something from a different view."
Many students seemed satisfied about the issues that were touched on at the forum, although representative for the Latino Student Union Marco Pretell-Vazquez said he thought more comments could have been made about multiculturalism issues.
"I think every single person on the panel could have had a lot more to say," he said. "Everybody is so unique in their background that I wish we had a little more time just so we could go more in depth on where we came from and how we do things"
However, some other students thought the forum would not have a positive effect on students. Graduate public relations student Inez Lai said she didn't think the forum would help much for students to recognize multiculturalism.
"I think it is good because everyone can state an opinion," she said. "However, this will not change the way people think."
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