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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

Diversity Dispatch: Diversity Day May 21


May 21 is Diversity Day, a commemoration the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed in November 2001 in response to the events of 9/11. Diversity Day’s full name is World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (https://www.un.org/en/events/culturaldiversityday/).

The UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity supports the benefits of cultural diversity and its association with human rights. “Affirming that respect for the diversity of cultures, tolerance, dialogue and cooperation, in a climate of mutual trust and understanding are among the best guarantees of international peace and security … Freedom of expression, media pluralism, multilingualism, equal access to art and to scientific and technological knowledge, including in digital form, and the possibility for all cultures to have access to the means of expression and dissemination are the guarantees of cultural diversity” (
https://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13179&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html). These values mesh well with those of a democratic society and of an academic institution such as MCC.

The MCC student delegates who recently returned from the National Model United Nations conference in New York City, and the faculty who teach them in the POS 234 Model United Nations course, would join in affirming the benefits of cultural diversity and freedom of cultural expression. Themselves a diverse group, the MCC Model UN delegates “get” cultural diversity. They had to portray UN diplomats from Iceland, a small European island nation about which most of them had little previous knowledge, and work with delegates from other colleges and universities from around the world on real issues that face the UN today. They were the only community college delegation to win a conference award for Outstanding Position Papers, and also won a conference award for Distinguished Delegation. These students exemplify MCC’s commitment to cultural diversity.

Follow-up to last month’s column about MCC’s Pride Week: you can check for information about Rochester’s Pride Week (Friday, July 8-Sunday, July 17, 2011), sponsored by the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley, at:
https://www.gayalliance.org/pride/

This is part of a monthly series of articles from the Diversity Council about topics related to diversity and multiculturalism.

Debbie Mohr
ETS: Libraries (Diversity Council member)
05/16/2011