Daniel Araniz '09 used to think that when Cornell officials said "diversity" they meant only ethnicity and race. After 10 minutes on Ho Plaza April 28, he now knows they mean a lot more.

"They're talking also about gender, religion, a larger orientation that encompasses everything," said Araniz. "It's good to get on the same page as them on diversity. It gives us a chance to move forward from there."

Araniz was one of dozens of students who talked with senior administrators during a weeklong series of five "Day Hall Talks Diversity" events around campus. Other locales were Bailey Hall Plaza, Robert Purcell Community Center and the Statler Hotel's Terrace Restaurant.

For many students, Cornell will be the most diverse place that they ever live, said David Harris, deputy provost and vice provost for social sciences. "We want to help our students make the most of this unique social context, the same way we help them make the most of this unique intellectual context," he said. "We're not perfect on diversity. But we're more engaged with it and doing more than most people realize."

On Ho Plaza, members of the University Diversity Council (UDC) handed out flyers, pointed out posters with diversity data and drummed up conversations with students.

Among the participants was President David J. Skorton, who said of the "Day Hall talks" series: "This is a very robust concept. It gets the facts out to the community, allows us to all deal with the same information and increases communications between Day Hall and the community. It's been nothing but positive. I think it's a big success. We had a lot of interest, a lot of good conversations."

Also on Ho Plaza, Makoto Bentz '09 talked with Mary G. Opperman, vice president for human resources, about recommending Cornell to other Asian American students. A postdoctoral fellow in architecture spoke with Susan H. Murphy, vice president for student and academic services, about the lack of women and blacks in her field.

Meanwhile, Harris pointed to a chart from the 2006 Senior Survey -- it indicated that Cornell seniors were slightly less likely than seniors at peer schools to have questioned or rethought their beliefs about religion, politics, race/ethnicity and sexual orientation -- and asked Stephanie Brosig '11 what she made of it. Said Brosig of the conversation: "It's really nice to see faculty out here who can answer questions, who actually went through the data."

In their interactions across campus, the UDC members aimed to get two messages across, according to Harris: What the university means by "diversity" and why it's important to pursue diversity goals. He added that Cornell's goals are "composition -- to have a campus that's representative of society; engagement -- to have a campus where individuals are engaging with each other across lines of difference, where they're getting out of their comfort zone; inclusion -- to have a community where all members feel like this is their home; and achievement -- to have a community where everyone is achieving to their full potential. Each goal is necessary and none is sufficient on its own."

He continued: "We're saying to students, hopefully coming out of Cornell you've sat down and talked to different people, and taken the opportunity to participate in unfamiliar cultural events. If you're Catholic, maybe you've taken opportunities to enhance your understanding of people who are Jewish or Muslim. Hopefully you develop a better understanding of how someone's perspective could be different from yours. That's engagement. It doesn't require that you change your beliefs."

In the fall, UDC members plan to attend residence hall gatherings and have lunch at spots on campus where students can drop by to chat.

"It shows that they care, and it shows that they know what's really going on," said undergrad Brosig.