Like many Syracuse University students, I have had the idea of diversity pushed to the front of my consciousness by the administration to what seems like no end.

On numerous occasions I have heard Chancellor Cantor speak about the importance of breaking down barriers.

‘Diversity, both intellectual and social, is central to our work. It is not a side pursuit. We must do more to include those who are crucial to our success, and we are developing ways to do this well,’ said a transcript of a speech Cantor made on Jan. 23.

I have seen the ‘Talk 2 me 2 Know me’ shirts on campus. Like my classmates, I read ‘Life on the Color Line’ by Gregory Howard Williams the summer before my freshman year.

But despite all this emphasis and good intention, the integration between racial and ethnic groups is limited.

Granted, the university doesn’t lie when it says it has a diverse campus. Students from every race, religion and corner of the globe call SU home for nine months of the year.

There is a big difference, however, between having a statistically diverse campus and a campus in which diversity is embraced.

The problem is overexposure.

Pushing diversity down our throats has become counterproductive. Everybody has become so concerned with being politically correct, that in many cases, normal interaction feels unnatural. Instead of emphasizing our similarities, the university has highlighted out differences.

When I was growing up, I realized quickly that the suburb I called home had little in common with the real world. In high school, 99 percent of my peers were white Catholics from upper middle-class families like mine. As a result, SU’s large, diverse campus was one of its biggest selling points for me.

But something isn’t working up here on the hill.

‘People mingle mostly with their own groups,’ said Ridhima Oberai, a freshman biochemistry major. ‘There are things on campus for individual groups, but nothing to bring them together.’

I know that it is comfortable to cling to what is familiar, but isn’t college about breaking free from old comfort zones? There will never be another time like this in our lives when we are given access to such a diverse group of people.

‘I have tried to intermingle with other groups before and felt awkward and inferior’, said Oberai. ‘Ninety percent of my friends are minorities.’

Unfortunately for many SU students, diversity at SU has begun to feel more like a homework assignment than a natural inclination.

It is time for us to put ourselves out there and seek out different groups of people, different experiences and different perspectives – and not because the university wants us to – because it is our responsibility as the future of the nation to learn to work together.

The university can’t expect students to come together while they’re emphasizing all the ways we’re different. Until SU celebrates all the things we have in common, the campus will remain fractured.

Meghan Overdeep is a featured columnist whose columns appear Fridays in The Daily Orange. E-mail her at meoverde@syr.edu.

Published on February 22, 2007 at 12:00 pm