APU Blogs

Yesterday, I attended CCLC (Christian College Leadership Conference), which is a huge conference for over 1,000 student leaders from APU, Cal Baptist, Point Loma, Bethany, Vanguard, etc. I went specifically because I will be planning large-scale events that promote diversity awareness as a MESA Co-Leader through the Multi-Ethnic Programs Office.   I realized throughout CCLC that APU is of the rarer Christian colleges that offer diversity programs. I don't say this to bash other schools or use this as an admissions tool, but in all honesty, it really devastates me to hear so many students at other schools don't have many (if any at all) multi-cultural organizations.

Throughout the different seminars I chose to go to, there were a lot of great issues brought up. Some students didn't understand why ethnic organizations should exist. Some saw diversity programs as useful tools in helping them learn more about those different from themselves. Some cringed at the word "diversity" and didn’t think it was a topic worth discussing.

But on a college campus, I feel it is absolutely valuable for students to interact with people who think, act, and live differently. And on a Christian campus, I feel it is absolutely necessary for students to care about the differences of others (these differences that help form who a person is) in order for true love to happen.

There are some things that are very discouraging for me. Discrimination against a certain race, social class, gender, or etc. happens and people get deeply wounded ( ..and yes, this does still happen on Christian campuses too.)  But what disappoints me the most is when I encounter people who are honestly oblivious that these kind of injustices exist and don't care to know more about it. Ignorance is NOT bliss. Ignorance hurts. A lot. If we claim to love God and the people he created, then shouldn’t we not be ok or comfortable with being ignorant? Shouldn’t we care to know how to love better, understand more, and hurt less? By no means am I any kind of expert on diversity issues, but I am sure that God has no limits to his love. But sometimes that is something we do whether we mean to or not. I pray that we would continue to question and refuse to be apathetic toward diversity issues. Thank God that he created a beautifully colorful and flavorful world when He could have just made it homogeneous and gray.