ISCORE is definitely a good cause, and I mean to take nothing from it, but how much good does it do?

As the majority of the students here are of the Caucasian race, how many of them care that racism is still a battle for so many in our country? Furthermore, how many of them even know that it happens? It is far too easy to take an out of site, out of mind approach when it comes to issues such as race.

Iowa State, in doing their part, has off set this by requiring one U.S. Diversity course, as well as one International Perspectives course.

Those are both good things, as they force many of us to face issues other than our own. The keyword though, is force. I recall my first class period of African American Studies 201.

The lecture hall probably contained between 100 and 150 students.

Over the next few class periods however, the class size was at the least cut in half. The reason being, I assume, that the course required reading 15 autobiographical novels as well as writing a timed essay once a week.

This apparently is too much work for a class that is only taken to fill a requirement. So what good does it do for the student if they frankly don’t give a damn? Are those students entering the “real world” with a better understanding of diversity, but more importantly, people unlike them? Of course not.

For that reason, I would like to applaud Emeka Anyanwu on his column, “The Fallacy of Cosmic Diversity.” The issues he raises finally bring up the real diversity matter at hand here at Iowa State. You can call this a “diverse” campus if you want to, but I have many classes where the only faces I see are white like mine.

If I notice this, then I can only imagine how the lone one or two (or the occasional three) students feel that make my classes “diverse.”

Cheri Popelka

Sophomore

Sociology