In her latest column on Oct. 1, my fellow Collegian columnist Ellen Tappen relished her recent experience of living with an international student from "such a different culture" as her own. Ms. Tappen recounted several "deep debates" with her British roommate, Heather, including a clash over the appropriate colloquialism for a genre of music that stoops to include the likes of Britney Spears. Ms. Tappen favored the expression "pop," while Heather much preferred "cheese." (In my opinion, the most fitting expression is a synonym for "unadulterated excrement.")

Ms. Tappen then implied that in jousting against opinions that "completely contradict[ed]" her own, she was thankfully bucked off her horse named Ignorance. As the fairy tale goes, she miraculously matured to "become more open-minded and grow as an individual."

If Ms. Tappen's essay were a song, I would label it "cheese," but since it's not, let me say -- what a bunch of baloney. But the bashing stops here.

Rather, I hope to salvage the golden idea she was espousing by plucking it from the wreckage of her delusional epiphany. Ms. Tappen seized upon a very timely issue; she was just lured off the track by the siren of college-entrance essay imperatives: Describe the most meaningful experience of your life. So, what is the treasure, glinting from the bottom of all this silt?

It's Ms. Tappen's encouragement of students to open up an international dialogue at home and abroad. I would like to amp up the volume on that rally cry, and run it through an equalizer. Because now is the time for us all to seek international dialogue, preferably before the word "war" finally cuts our tongues and the taste of iron whets our palate.

If you think diplomacy is not the work of students, think again. But don't worry, I'm not going to implore you to protest, begin a letter-writing campaign or intern in Washington, D.C.

All I'm asking is that you make better use of the resources for international cooperation already in place at this university.

The Office of International Programs (OIP) goes to great lengths to diversify this campus with foreign students and scholars. From 1991 to 2001, the number of international students at University Park nearly doubled. But that figure is effectively meaningless, because the last time I checked, minorities at this university (understandably) stick together like motor oil in milk. For every U.K. student who floats as freely as a talcum moth around campus, spreading her "radical" ideas and effecting a change for the better in people, there is a Pakistani student with equal, if not greater, potential to promote understanding but whose lips are sealed by the dark wax of segregation. And frankly, discussing current world affairs with a student from the U.K. is about as useful as conferring with a best friend; debating with the choir does not bring about international understanding.

The Office of International Programs also tries very hard to offer a diverse selection of study-abroad opportunities to as many students as possible. Consider, for example, that the number of Penn State students that participate in study-abroad programs each year has doubled in the past six years. While this statistic is also heralded as a great accomplishment, again, I'm not particularly impressed. Unfortunately, it's a handful of programs in English-speaking countries (England, Scotland, Ireland and especially Australia) that have reaped most of the recent growth in student participation. Popular demand for such a limited number of countries is undermining OIP's ultimate mission for "diversity ... and ... understanding of multiple cultures and identities" among the student body.

So step up to the plate. Start at home and strive to make Penn State more inclusive in every respect. Begin by granting our international guests the hospitality they deserve but aren't getting. Then listen to what they have to say and offer your own opinions for them to take home.

Finally, if and when you're considering a study-abroad program, push the metaphorical airmail envelope. Instead of dreaming about pub crawls in Dublin, the nude beaches of Australia and the infamous "cheese" scene in London, pretend for a moment that studying abroad is more than an expensive middle-class rite of passage.

Pick up those brochures on Ghana, Egypt, Jordan and Kenya. Think about studying in a foreign language. Consider going to the same countries our university works so hard to recruit students from.

Because for the rest of us to "become more open-minded and grow as an individual" like Ms. Tappen, five weeks under the Easy-Bake bulb of Western enlightenment just won't do.