2008 Woodie Awards
A Living Library
By Andrew Aschenbrenner
4/18/07 - Features
Myles "Bill" Scoggins, President of the Colorado School of Mines, has made campus diversity a clear priority during his first year at Mines. On Dead Day, Friday May 4th, the second-annual Living Library, an event that promotes diversity, will take place in the lobby of Arthur Lakes Library from noon to 5pm.
Living Library started in Europe, with the idea being that a person could have the opportunity to meet and talk with someone different. It is an approach that attempts to fight prejudice against those different by actually having people meet face-to-face.
Last year was the first time a Living Library event was held on campus. Rosalind Parker Yocom is the faculty advisor for Sigma Lambda, the organization co-sponsoring the event along with the library. She noted: "Everyone came away from last year after having a 'light-switch' moment."
Sigma Lambda is the gay-straight alliance on campus, but Yocom is quick to note that it is not just about sexuality. She said the event is really about recognizing that "you can walk across campus and recognize how different people can be."
Statistics show that the Mines campus is largely white and male. Yocom mentions that this is irrelevant once one realizes that "not everyone [views] the world the same." She said, "Living Library is being held as a way to [appreciate] how diversity shows us to be both alike and different."
Modern culture has brought information to individuals' fingertips through the internet, spreading faster than it can be generated. The increasing saturation of media through social-networking sites is raising awareness of diversity, but Living Library is attempting to do this on a personal level. Yocom declares; "Who needs YouTube and Myspace when you can check someone out face-to-face?"
Living Library started in Europe, with the idea being that a person could have the opportunity to meet and talk with someone different. It is an approach that attempts to fight prejudice against those different by actually having people meet face-to-face.
Last year was the first time a Living Library event was held on campus. Rosalind Parker Yocom is the faculty advisor for Sigma Lambda, the organization co-sponsoring the event along with the library. She noted: "Everyone came away from last year after having a 'light-switch' moment."
Sigma Lambda is the gay-straight alliance on campus, but Yocom is quick to note that it is not just about sexuality. She said the event is really about recognizing that "you can walk across campus and recognize how different people can be."
Statistics show that the Mines campus is largely white and male. Yocom mentions that this is irrelevant once one realizes that "not everyone [views] the world the same." She said, "Living Library is being held as a way to [appreciate] how diversity shows us to be both alike and different."
Modern culture has brought information to individuals' fingertips through the internet, spreading faster than it can be generated. The increasing saturation of media through social-networking sites is raising awareness of diversity, but Living Library is attempting to do this on a personal level. Yocom declares; "Who needs YouTube and Myspace when you can check someone out face-to-face?"
Be the first to comment on this story