The administration can make all kinds of changes to promote a diverse campus, but it is the students who are the true vehicles of change, said David Harris, Cornell's interim provost, Oct. 27. That is because students are often the first responders in student-to-student interactions that involve bias or intolerance and they can act in more "subtle ways" than administrators can.

Harris co-led a diversity forum with President David Skorton in Willard Straight Hall's Memorial Room; Harris and Skorton are co-chairs of the University Diversity Council's executive committee. About 50 people attended the forum, which centered around small-group discussions.

"The administration has made efforts to improve access and climate for all groups, and to help us understand how and why our experiences, perceptions and expectations might differ from those around us," said Harris. "But tonight what we want to talk about is not what the administration should be doing to improve access and climate, but rather to discuss what members of the community, especially students, can do to be positive agents of change."

Skorton reminded the group that of the "any person" founding ideology of Ezra Cornell and of Cornell's long tradition of valuing diversity and an open community. "This diversity council was set up my first semester as president as a way to make issues of diversity and inclusiveness the intention and visibility to be observed throughout the university," he said.

To encourage participants to share personal experiences with intolerance, Harris said that during fraternity rush as an undergraduate at Northwestern University, he was the target of a racist joke. The fraternity brothers immediately ejected the "comedian," taking a stand in their actions for what they believed in. Harris illustrated that such student actions to combat intolerance are integral for embracing diversity within university communities.

In the small group talks, attendees shared their personal experiences or observations of prejudice on campus and discussed how best to react in such situations. They discussed the value of program houses and diversity education in orientation programs. Several students said that a cohesive diversity program was important to create a sense of common experience among freshmen and transfers.

Skorton commented that the forums and diversity dialogues, in general, were learning tools for him and the general Cornell population and that the University Diversity Council used them to help implement their goals of promoting critical thinking about human diversity and a community that embraces all kinds of diversity.

Laura Janka '09 is a writer intern at the Cornell Chronicle.