Voices of Unity

Friday, March 27, 1998

Voices of Unity

Unity days spirit to be shared by all

WE ARE . . . PENN STATE! How strongly and confidently we proclaim these words when we are off campus, when we watch Calvin Booth reject another shot on ESPN or when we talk about the next awesome concert coming to The Bryce Jordan Center. Collectively, Penn Staters rally around the blue and white, showing off our school spirit.

Eduardo Garcia (eag126@psu.edu) is the vice president of the MRC Student Advisory Board and chairman of the Unity Days Publicity Committee. Shanty Doodnauth (sad136@psu.edu) is president of the MRC Student Advisory Board and a member of the Unity Days Publicity Committee.

Yet, for some reason, we cannot, or rather do not, share in that spirit of unity when we are on campus, busying ourselves with our chores. But the salient issue at hand is not our lack of noticing each other, we do that well enough.

The point to understand is that after all the pride, all the hoopla that we display to our families and friends, we purposefully segregate ourselves on campus. We all like to use race, homosexuality, feminism and other diversity issues in different ways to divide ourselves on campus, not to benefit from each other's differences, but to alienate ourselves from other Penn Staters.

Enter Unity Days 1998.

Unity Days, which was formed five semesters ago by the Multicultural Resource Center, is a program that strives to bring together the forces of unity and diversity in order to create an environment on campus that fosters the recognition of every person's human rights.

It does this while hoping that these forces will only bring Penn Staters closer in purpose.

As University President Graham Spanier asserted, "This year's Unity Days programs focus on education, awareness and cultural sensitivity as well as promote friendship and goodwill."

However, many people still see the Unity Days events as a "minority thing." This assumption is completely false. Granted, these movements have shaped the history of mankind as people fought to have their fundamental rights preserved. But they fought for this only, equality. Race has never been the issue at Unity Days.

For example, last year's Hands Across Penn State had no qualifiers -- no need to register, no need to feel you had to fit in. The Penn State community just united in a symbol of togetherness.

You will see this again as we plan this year's Unity Days event. The goal is to bring together into communion all the members of the Penn State community including downtown businesses, student organizations, local clergy, school officials and local elementary school children. The celebration of the variety of our student body will be the highlight of Unity Days during the week of April 11. This is what Unity Days is about: Human rights, respect for each other, sensitivity toward differences, pro-active education, equality and dignity.

In order to look at our differences and learn from our commonalties we must understand that the differences between us make us human, and Unity Days is designed to incorporate all of Penn State's humanity.

No black vs. white. No gay vs. straight. No me vs. you. Just me and you. After all, WE ARE . . .