The 70 students selected to participate in the Multicultural Leadership Summit will arrive at the Memorial Union on Friday to discover how to become agents of change in the community.

The Multicultural Leadership Summit will begin its first session at 6 p.m. Friday and continue with the second session on Saturday. Many involved in past summits said they were very successful and informative. The summit is now in its seventh year.

“If you’ve been doing the same thing for more than five years, than you must be doing something right,” said Japannah Kellogg, interim director of Multicultural Student Affairs.

Though only 70 students are allowed to attend, the application process was open to any student who wanted to participate. Kellogg said the summit is an opportunity that can and should be taken advantage of by every student.

“I encourage all students to get involved,” Kellogg said. “It is an opportunity to learn and grow. To learn and understand an appreciation for human difference.”

The Multicultural Student Affairs office works to increase students’ awareness of other cultures and to encourage understanding between cultures. This summit was designed to achieve this understanding.

“As we try to impact the climate at Iowa State, initiatives like this make a difference,” Kellogg said. “It provides an opportunity for students to come and learn about multiculturalism in a structured environment.”

The summit was organized by a planning team of students and faculty members directed by student planning team coordinators. Karin Brandt, senior in political science, is one of the coordinators.

Brandt said the goals of this year’s summit was to give students the skills necessary to be agents of change on the ISU campus, and to address acts of hate.

“This year we are giving special focus to the Stop the Hate program,” Brandt said.

The focus on this program is a response to some incidents of vandalism that have occurred at the Farmhouse Museum and the Student Services Building.

“In the past, we have had acts of hate and acts of ignorance on campus,” Brandt said. “Iowa State does not have a plan to address these specific instances like this. When these events happened, nothing was really done.”

Laura Bestler-Wilcox, graduate of Iowa State, will be an ongoing speaker at the summit. She will speak during the Stop the Hate program.

“Laura will give students the skills to address issues like this,” Brandt said.

Kellogg said that meeting the goals of this summit, and other related events to come, is an continuing process that can and will continue.

“Multiculturalism is a process that is never really complete,” he said.

The Iowa State Conference on Race and Ethnicity on March 2 and the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in May are upcoming events that will address the problems and issues dealing with race and ignorance.

Kellogg said he hopes students who attend the Multicultural Leadership Summit this year will be inspired to gain more knowledge about issues dealing with race by participating in such events.

“We typically get a number of our student participants from the Multicultural Leadership Summit, so it’s like a continuum,” Kellogg said. “As people attend the summit, they get intrigued on the topic.”