The 2009 Student Diversity Forum, hosted by the Associated Students of Madison and the Multicultural Student Coalition met Monday to challenge students and other members of the UW-Madison community to engage in an open and honest dialogue about diversity on campus.
The forum focused on developing practical solutions in the effort to create a safe campus environment that promotes and celebrates diversity.
Lena Marx, a representative from the Dean of Students Multicultural Student Center, said the Diversity Task Force intended to assemble a document based on the recommendations of the student-led forum and to present it to university officials as a call to action.
According to Marx, this ""student voice"" constituted a critical third element designed to coincide with UW-Madison's ""Inclusive Excellence"" program to increase diversity on campus, as well as the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, which aims improve the quality of a UW-Madison education in general.
The university has said it has made some positive strides toward accomplishing that goal. According to a UW-Madison release Monday, this year's freshman class includes the largest group of ""targeted minority"" students ever enrolled in a first-year class at 11 percent.
This brings the 89 percent of ""non-targeted"" incoming students at UW-Madison roughly in line with the ethnic demographics of the rest of the state, which, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, is over 89 percent white.
Some forum participants critiqued the tendency to view diversity as a simple question of statistics. Participants said there are also structural forms of oppression and privilege, particularly within the largely white UW-Madison community.
Students were invited to discuss the challenges that exist in such an environment through a series of small group ""break-out"" sessions.
One group focused on fostering a safe campus for diversity and pursuing ways to overcome some of the structural disadvantages facing incoming students as a result of their backgrounds.
One student said though the university may bring in more diverse students, that does not necessarily create a truly diverse community.
A main theme of Monday's event was the idea that diversity is less about race and more about individual students' perspectives.
The UW System's Plan 2008 aimed to increase racial diversity on campus, but fell short of its goals.
