With a bundle of orange yarn, some popsicle sticks and a whiteboard, a group of Elon University students are vying for attention amidst the hustle and bustle of Moseley to unify campus in support of diversity.
Determined to weave differences together to unravel opportunities for discussion about diversity-related issues, 27 students from a course titled HSS 213 Working with Groups and Communities have tailored the movement, “Stringing Us Together.”
The initiative, which runs April 20 to April 23, is centered around distributing orange string, a color that symbolizes equality, cultural diversity and harmony. The string is intended to be worn by students and serve as a conversation starter between students and community members — a visible form of tying together the threads of difference on campus.
Senior Lizzie Guillaume, a member of the class, said the lack of discussion and awareness surrounding diversity is why such movements are necessary.
“It is so easy to make assumptions about others,” she said. “College is supposed to teach you about who you are, but how can you know who you are if you don’t really know anything about the students right beside you in your classes?”
Using a Moseley table as a platform to hand out individual strings and packs of strings for students to distribute, the organizers provided students with opportunities to learn something about diversity or advocate for difference. Questions pertaining to diversity-related issues were written on popsicle sticks, creating conversation starters among peers.
Students were also invited to fill in the blank in the sentence, “I care because…” to share personal reasons for why diversity matters. The movement will culminate in the debut of a video on Friday which captures students’ responses and the overall message of the movement.
Within the first day, the bundle of orange yarn unraveled quickly and it became clear to the organizers that their initiative transcended beyond a Moseley table.
“We prepared ourselves for a lot of people not wanting to engage with our message because that’s the nature of Moseley tables,” said sophomore Camryn Bindra. “But people have been walking right up to us — [identifying] the movement from our social media platforms, talking about a string they received from a friend or to just have a conversation.”
The movement’s various social media platforms encouraged students to share their thoughts with #IamandIcare. The popsicle sticks assist with prompting conversations, starting with questions like how do you celebrate diversity at elon, does diversity matter on college campuses or how do you define diversity?
According to Katie Cotter, the course instructor and adjunct instructor of human service studies, these instances of spontaneous, as well as intentioned discussion surrounding diversity, are what the class project initially intended to accomplish.
The overarching goal of the course was for students to learn how groups can influence change within communities. The bi-weekly class was charged with researching and identifying a need in the community and taking specific action to address that need. After one-on-one interviews, focus groups and surveys, their research found that lack of apathy and diversity on campus were two primary issues affecting Elon students. These two findings inspired “Stringing Us Together.”
“I have been consistently impressed with the students’ passion and leadership for this project,” Cotter said. “It is clear that they are not only treating this as a class assignment but as an opportunity to make a difference on Elon’s campus.”
Freshman Alonzo Cee said while the initiative has good intentions and conversations about diversity are necessary, it alone cannot solve Elon’s “diversity problem,” and that it has the potential to simplify the issue. Cee pointed to other opportunities including guest lectures where engaging in the conversation surrounding diversity may be more educational.
He added that at the end of the day, he is always skeptical about how people at Elon, especially those who represent the majority white population, take in this information.
“[As a member of the minority on campus] we live this conversation,” he added. “So yes, I’m always going to talk about diversity because we don’t have that veil of white privilege — we can’t shut it off or turn away from it whenever we want.”
While Guillaume admits that the idea is not completely seamless and can not lead to immediate campus-wide diversity, she stressed that the orange strings symbolize three first steps to spark necessary dialogue surrounding differences: collective awareness, respect for difference and desire to ignite change.
“I think a big problem at our school is that people often think a small symbol doesn’t make a big difference to people on our campus who feel misunderstood,” Guillaume said. “To the person who thinks an orange string doesn’t matter, I would say wear the string because it matters to me.”
Guillaume also stressed the importance of realizing that diversity is not just skin deep — an assumption she believes many college students tend to make.
“Anything that makes you who you are makes you diverse and valuable on this campus,” she added.
Elon’s “unprecedented commitment to diversity and global engagement” boasts “an aggressive and sustained effort to support and increase ethnic and cultural diversity.” Diversity programming is supported on campus by a variety of institutions including the Center for Race, Ethnicity & Diversity Education, the Inclusive Community Council and the Gender and LGBTQIA Center. But Guillaume said change begins outside the administration.
“Elon has made a commitment to diversity and I think it’s time that students need to follow up on this,” Guillaume stressed. “I hope this event will unite the community and remind students that getting out of your comfort zone is a part of the college experience [and that] asking tough questions is an essential part of that.”
Sophomore Zach Gianelle, who approached the table when he spotted it and its message, said that the orange strings represent a willingness to think critically about the culture students are surrounded by and pushes students to consider Elon’s flaws.
Gianelle added that Elon’s lack of diversity significantly hinders educational horizons.
“It’s like when you read a book by a close-minded author with whom you identify and their ideas in the work speak to you and shape the reality in which you live: what they say seems like truth when it is only the truth for one voice,” he said. “Elon speaks with only one voice, and it detracts from our education to learn from only one perspective that is consistent with our own. There really isn’t room for critical thinking in a culture like that.”
Kat Chang, who identifies as Asian and therefore part of the minority on campus, said that while the initiative means a lot to her as a member of the minority, the success of the event will depend on how students will carry forth the movement after the week ends.
“If students at Elon aren’t willing to take that step forward [after the week is over], it isn’t going to be as effective as it could be,” she said. “The student body has to try to understand that this is a problem if things are going to really change.”