The university hosted its third annual Iowa State Conference on Race and Ethnicity (ISCORE) Friday. More than 500 staff, students and faculty from around the state attended this year’s event. Its point was to promote and encourage diversity awareness and appreciation, drawing on perspectives of several speakers. And there were more than 30 activities for people to participate in.

The event is based on the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE), which is the leading national forum on issues of race and ethnicity in higher education, attracting more than 1,500 people every year. NCORE aims to assist institutions of higher education in creating living environments on campus that are inclusive to all ethnicities and races, by providing workshops, training and information that can better the multicultural climate at universities.

Every year, a group of ISU students and staff attend the NCORE event, then come back to help organize the ISCORE event.

ISCORE models itself after NCORE, concentrating not only on race and ethnicity issues at Iowa State but those beyond our campus. It is a notable event and one that is sorely needed at Iowa State, which continues to work on its long-standing commitment to diversity.

Despite Iowa State’s seeming lack of ethnic diversity, Friday’s ISCORE was a great success. This event is a celebration of diversity and issues centered around improving the environment for minorities. It is a tradition that must be continued at Iowa State year after year and should be expanded upon throughout the entire year.

There are plenty of students on this campus who are willing to put in the time to make Iowa State the welcoming place it should be.

One option is for the university to add diversity panels who are “guest speakers” in classrooms. That way, through the regular curriculum of anything from engineering to education to economics, ISU students are exposed to an environment more representative of the United States’ current population. After all, once students leave school, they will face this reality in the workplace anyway. This should be a time to prepare for that.

No doubt there are many more ideas floating around in the heads of students who want to make a difference on this campus.

Let’s push new initiatives, new events and situations that can further the goals of the university in regards to diversity.

Iowa State is a unique place in this state that brings people from many backgrounds, ethnicities and races together to receive their education here together. We must encourage open dialogue and more interaction between ethnicities.

ISCORE was fantastic in that sense, and the organizers and participants should be commended for its success. Now it’s time to work on this year-round.

editorialboard: Andrea Hauser, Tim Paluch, Michelle Kann, Charlie Weaver, Omar Tesdell