The Diversity Requirement is a Necessary Step Toward a More Inclusive Georgetown

by Gabrielle Moore

Diversity is not only a variation in identity statuses, but a deep understanding of the myriad of ways in which people experience our world, and a respect for the viewpoints, perspectives, needs and desires that are braided within each identity.

The ‘Engaging Differences’ requirement is a needed and necessary first step to help Georgetown students better encounter the complexities of our world. In a classroom setting, professors can cultivate a dialogue between students engaged in the existing power and oppression structures that inform the human experience.

Classes included in the requirement come from a variety of disciplines and are tagged if they touch on issues surrounding the identities of class, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disability/ability status, immigration status and more.  As part of their core curriculum, students will take two of these tagged classes so that they can engage with these difficult themes in an academic setting.

A Georgetown with an ‘Engaging Differences’ requirement will better equip students with the skills necessary for success in our world today.

We’d Rather Just Keep Standing Around This Globe

by Ethnically Diverse Cartoon Children Holding Hands

Hehe, we love diversity!  We wish that more kids on Earth could come play with us up here, regardless of their race, sexual orientation, gender, class, ethnicity, disability, or other protected class!  Really, there’s nothing better than this never-ending play date in the exosphere, so why would we change that?  We don’t want the diversity requirement; we’d rather smile and hold each other’s ethnically vague hands forever.

We’re all the greatest of friends here.  Aygün and Jędrzej like to laugh and smile, Delancy and Talmet are always looking at each other and smiling, and don’t even get us started on how much Mu’ayyad and Dadya like to hold each other’s hands and smile!  If there’s a diversity requirement, we’ll probably have to go to class, which will make us frown and use our hands for writing instead of holding.  This would be a disaster.

But don’t get us wrong, just because we love this doesn’t mean that it’s perfect.  There’s no air, the Earth isn’t big enough to feed any of us, an asteroid blinded Adebowale last week, and Shuang just stepped on Caracas.  Now Fernanda’s mad at Shuang because Shuang’s massive foot obliterated her home and they’re screaming at each other in different languages that no one else speaks but we all respect.  Maybe instead of passing a diversity requirement you should think about rebuilding Caracas or looking for survivors in the treads of Shuang’s Air Jordans.

Bottom line, we are diversity.  When we’re not busy appreciating what makes us different from one another, we’re singing “We are the World” and complementing each other’s religions.  We don’t need classes because we are the classes.  If you want learn how diversity works, come into space and spend some time with us, you’re always welcome.  Well, welcome as long as you’re a cartoon.  If you’re made of flesh, fuck off.