The newly appointed chair for the Associated Students of Madison’s Diversity Committee said he hopes to make the committee a more effective entity on campus, something it hasn’t been known for recently.
According to Jeff Wright, ASM representative and constitutional committee chair, the committee has not been active since last year’s chair’s term ended in May. Wright added ASM did not aggressively seek a replacement because of the transitions taking place in the government alongside the instatement of the new ASM Constitution.
After speaking with the recently-appointed ASM Diversity Chair Steven Olikara at the beginning of this semester, Wright said he was impressed with the vision Olikara laid out for the committee and encouraged him to run for the position.
Olikara said he plans to reassess the committee’s goals and restructure its organization.
“My goal is to form a comprehensive network of students, faculty, administration and community leaders so we can discuss issues and address them in a way that is agreeable to all the corners of campus,” Olikara said.
Dominique Chestand, point person for diversity education in the Multicultural Student Coalition, said MCSC does not believe the diversity committee has worked to its full potential in the past, and its success or failure can be attributed to the people filling its positions.
“The type of person who needs to lead the committee is a person connected with all the student organizations, someone who shares a common goal with those organizations,” Chestand said. “The committee should be used as an umbrella to support all the multicultural student organizations and to ensure all goals will be met.”
Olikara has been meeting with members of various multicultural student organizations for the past few months in order to broaden his perspective as committee leader.
He added the current focus of many of the organizations on campus is on increasing the statistics of minority presence on campus, an emphasis with which he disagrees. Olikara said he believes the committee’s goal should rather be how to increase the diversity of ideas.
“Our initiatives can’t be focused on a statistic; we need to be focused on education,” Olikara said. “Diversity of ideas is so important because we need to have a campus where ideas and values are being challenged. It’s how we become exposed to new things and become open-minded.”
With increased contact between the Diversity Committee and other multicultural student organizations, Olikara plans to reassess the impact and procedures of diversity programs and initiatives instated on campus.
He said he is also in contact with the directors of diversity admissions at other universities and is hoping to use their insight to reevaluate admissions procedures at UW.
“I’m just generally curious and interested in learning other people’s perspectives, which is absolutely critical when addressing diversity issues,” Olikara said.
Olikara said developing a diversity of ideas on campus would eventually lead to more diversity in race, both among the student and faculty populations. He said UW needs to be regarded as an open-minded, cohesive community that is comprised of people with different perspectives.
“We become open-minded by meeting that person that blows us away, that challenges stereotypes and changes how we view other people,” Olikara said. “Those are the exchanges we need to have all the time on campus.”