The Diversity of UMD: an African student's perspective on diversity and the cultural divide of blacks

The University of Maryland prides itself on the subject of diversity. After all, diversity is the reason why many students attend Maryland. They want to get a well-rounded experience with people of other cultures. Diversity is so big at this school that I used it as a topic for my admission essay. But, is Maryland as diverse as it claims to be. Many students speak on the fact that while according to the stats Maryland may be very diverse; in actuality it is very much divided. I often see the people of the same background separating themselves from other groups.

I got a chance to speak with Michele-Corrine Ako, sociology major from Cameroon. I asked her to explain her feelings on the diversity of Maryland.

Because she stated that she didn’t feel the university is diverse as it claims to be, I asked her to explain the divide between Africans and African Americans here on campus, which is very prevalent on this campus. Her presence on the Executive Board of the African Student Association shed some light on the situation.

Michele Ako explained a divide in the black community. In the university’s past, there was only the Black Student Association. Because Africans felt under represented and a lack of respect for the culture, they created their own African Student Association. Even farther, The Carribean Student Association and Ethiopian Student Association developed from this divide in culture. This divide stems out farther than our UMD boarders.

As she stated, this is just her opinion, but I found it very interesting. It makes me question, is the University of Maryland as diverse is it claims to be?  

The Largest Group of Ethnic Radio, African Americans, need to continue to close the coverage gap without personifying stereotypes

     African American radio is the largest group of ethnic radio listeners. Yes, some stations cater to America’s Spanish speaking nation or other ethnic groups, but African Americans dominate as ethnic radio listeners. In her article, Liana Fahle stated “Asian and Native Americans preferred ethnic newspapers and Arab Americans preferred television.” Ethnic radio is a way to cater to a specific group of people providing them with news, music, and other nuggets of information. Fahle stated that ethnic radio stations serve to close the coverage gap between the information that the mainstream radio stations provide and that information that the smaller ethnic stations. Because some groups go to the radio for their information, quality information should be provided to its listeners. When asked if Fahle thought the quality of the ethnic radio stations suffered because it had such a targeted audience, she disagreed.

     In Liana Fahle’s article, she also pointed out the fact that that sometimes ethnic radio stations personify stereotypes. She gave the example of the widespread support of President Barak Obama on black radio stations mainly because he is black. This personifies the stereotype that a black person should vote for a black candidate because of their race and they are a democrat, with little knowledge of the candidate’s actual platform. Fahle stated that when radio stations personify these stereotypes, it just narrows their audience.

     With the focus on African American radio, it is noted that their audience is the largest. The ethnic radio needs to widen its horizon as far as providing a smaller group with a more diversified view. America is a melting pot, therefore even smaller radio stations that target a smaller audience need to display this diversity to their audience.

Event Planning...More than just a 9 to 5

     

     Being in college is a journey to find what you would like to do with your life. A person might come to college thinking they know what they want to do with their life and end up changing their major two or three times. I came to Maryland as a Communications major with an interest in radio and I already I have ventured from this idea. I have now become more interested in event planning.When I say event planning, many people give me this confused face. The next think out their mouth is “like a wedding planner?” Event planners do not only plan weddings. Being an event planner can mean a variety of events like conferences, school functions, charity events, parties, and festivals. It is a high stress job that needs people who are dedicated and efficient workers. 

      When interviewing Briana Davis, a graduate intern for Green with Envy Events, she pointed out the fact that being an event planner is more than a nine to five job. She stated that some weeks she might work might not work at all while some weeks she is working 70 hours. She also made an interesting point that often the work is done out in the “field.” This statement reminded me of journalism because often journalists don’t sit at their desk, they have to go out and find a story. Like journalist, event planners have to go out and talk to people in order to get things right.

     When asked what a typical event planner did from the beginning of an event to the end, Briana Davis explained her day in the life of an event planner. It starts with the company being contacted by the client, then the company and the client must sit down and review what kind of event they actually want to put on and how much involvement the client would like the event planner to have. Next the event planner has to go out in the field and make reservations, do tastings, budgeting, and so on. The day of the event, the event lanner is there from the start to finish.

     Event planning seems like an exciting, yet stressful job. The planner needs to have good customer service skills, networking skills, connections, budgeting abilities, and a creative touch. I think it’s an interesting career choice that not many people notice.