Black Caucus has gone to Penn State's administrators with a list of demands concerning terms of the university's diversity initiatives.

This time the demands were spurred by the posting of contentious photos of students wearing blackface and a reference to a Ku Klux Klan costume on the Web site of College Republicans Chair Brian Battaglia. If one takes the images and places them in historical context, it is easy to understand why many students, especially black students, have a problem with the depictions.

The actions of some members of the College Republicans may have been the final catalyst in bringing the pain and anguish expressed by Black Caucus. However, these emotions have festered for a long time. Incidents of intimidation and harassment occur at Penn State many times and go unreported.

Ultimately, this is a problem between Black Caucus and the people in the "patently offensive" photos, as President Graham Spanier called them. The two groups should come together and discuss their points of view and come to a mutual understanding.

Would changing the Intercultural and International Competence requirement have prevented what the College Republicans did? Probably not. Can an organization demand the university to do anything and expect it to comply?

Black Caucus, to its credit, has brought positive change to Penn State. But its demands are not based broadly enough. Refocusing freshmen seminar classes to highlight traditionally oppressed groups sounds good on its face. But, is that saying that discrimination based on religious lines is not important?

When the Village came together a few years ago, there was no mention of an increase in classes of Latino, Jewish or Asian studies. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hispanics outnumber blacks in America.

For a truly diverse campus, equal weight must be given to all groups. Increasing what students study in the classroom and with whom is an honorable goal. But, these efforts won't make a change in the campus climate by themselves.

It is up to the 40,000 students here. The actions of a few members of the College Republicans are not reflective of Penn State at large. They don't even reflect the majority of the organization.

With that said, it rests on all students to create an environment of tolerance and acceptance if Penn State is going to be a community of learning. When students see a person harassing people or making insensitive comments, they should speak up and show the person that this type of behavior is absolutely unacceptable.

There can be more diversity classes and task forces, but these efforts will ultimately fail if students don't do the heavy lifting themselves.