A group of 160 people gathered in the Memorial Union to discuss what diversity is and what it means to them on Friday.

The second installment of President Gregory Geoffroy’s Friday Conversations on Diversity provided participants with a definition of diversity, offered by the President’s Advisory Committee on Diversity.

A group of panelists were invited to discuss what diversity means to them.

“I have a deep, personal responsibility to diversity on campus,” said Jacquelyn Litt, associate professor of sociology, who spoke on the panel. “As a feminist activist, mother of a multiracial child and a New York Jew, I am deeply invested in understanding systems of inequality.”

Litt said white people enjoy privileges because of their skin color.

“[Caucasians] are taught to not recognize privilege,” she said. “As a white woman I can be sure that my voice will be heard, that I can find writing of my race at the University Book Store, that I can write a check and my skin color will attest to my financial stability and that I can do well without being called a credit to my race.”

Derrick Rollins, associate professor in chemical engineering and statistics, used the analogy of oil and water to help the crowd understand diversity.

“The word diversity paints a picture of immiscible liquids, like oil and water, or maybe even a rainbow. These things are clearly separated or isolated,” he said. “[Diversity should be] a better mixture of things, a dispersion of liquids to better maximize abilities to impact society. We need to mix it up and not just have diversity in a container.”

Todd Herriott, program coordinator for the Dean of Students office, disagreed with Rollins.

“I don’t want to mix away who I am,” he said. “Diversity is not something we can create. It’s not something we can barter for. Diversity just is.”

Herriott said Iowa State does not need to create diversity. Instead, Iowa State should honor it. “I am not valued because I am white. I am not valued because I am a man. I certainly am not valued because I am gay,” he said. “I am valued because I am a human being.”

Angela Laury, senior in animal science, said diversity is about more than racial differences.

“[When I think of diversity] I think of mind state rather than background,” she said.

“You can have a room full of African-Americans or a room full of Caucasians and still have a diverse room. Diversity is of the mind and we need to educate the mind before people can be as one.”