Discrimination is all over campus, according to the planners of the Atrocities and Heroes diversity forum, held in the Union Ballroom Tuesday.
The fair featured booths and displays from diverse groups both on and off campus. Neither students nor groups invited to participate really showed up.
The fair included a poster depicting tragedies in the Mid East, a display honoring Elizabeth Blackwell, Jesse Owens and Colin Powell, and tables with literature from other organizations.
A dancer from the Eastern Arts club performed dances from the Mid-East cultures.
“Each organization represents groups that are discriminated against,” said Emily Justice, who helped plan the event.
The diversity theme was chosen to coincide with End Discrimination Week because learning more about diverse groups helps students “recognize commonalities,” according to Erin Gill, the Student Advocacy Office director who helped organize the fair. She also said this recognition can help end discrimination.
“It’s an education thing,” she said. “You get to see some of the positive side, which eliminates the need for discrimination.”
“My hope is that people will see the human side of it,” Justice said. “It’s easy to just judge a group of people; this makes people think a little bit.”
According to Justice, ending discrimination is necessary at the University of Utah.
“Walking around campus, you see and hear a lot of discrimination,” she said. “Some people are ignorant to the fact that there is a problem with it. Hopefully this will help.”
Despite the good intentions, the diversity fair was poorly attended. Of the 25 groups contacted to participate in the fair, less than 10 tables were filled. Gill attributes this to the disorganization of many diversity groups on campus.
“Some were not really a standing organization,” she said. “It was hard to get someone that could really commit to coming.”
The few tables set up did not have many students there to hear what participants had to say. Between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., around 100 students came through.
“I really wish we could have had more,” Gill said. She attributed the lack of student interest to poor advertising.
“I’m disappointed,” said LaMont Green, who was at the fair representing the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People. “It seems like no one’s aware and no one cares about people’s rights.”
Utah Transit Authority also participated in the diversity fair and paid for the refreshments. According to Green, who also works for UTA, the transportation service contributed to the fair because it wanted to make students more aware of the transportation options around campus and become more comfortable with it.
“The more we educate about the transit authority, the more we realize that [transportation] is controllable,” Green said.