Starting Monday, the University of Portland will be hosting Diversity Dialogues, a series of events happening on campus from Jan. 20 to Jan. 31 intended to spark discussion of diversity on campus. A variety of talks, discussions and demonstrations will be hosted from clubs and organizations across campus, including First Generation Club, Vietnamese Student Union, Filipino American Student Association, along with others.
Diversity Dialogues has gained traction since Yuri Hernández Osorio became the Diversity and Inclusion Programs coordinator in 2017, a new position at the time. Each year since then, Diversity Dialogues has continued to grow in size. This year, there will be 20 events hosted over the 11-day period. Hernández Osorio believes that this series of events brings something vital to the UP community.
“I hope that students can be exposed to something new by attending these events,” Hernández Osorio said. “Hopefully, the conversation can continue past these two weeks and these events can serve as a starting point for further discussion.”
This year, the keynote speaker is going to be D’Lo, a queer/transgender Tamil-Sri Lankan-American speaker. At this event, D’Lo will be performing a stand-up comedy routine, which will be largely focused on social issues.
From Jan. 20 to Jan. 30, Diversity Dialogues 2020 will bring events that cover a variety of racial, cultural, religious and gender topics. Photo illustration by Jennifer Ng.
“This is the first time we’ve ever had a trans person of color as the keynote speaker, so I am very excited for that,” Hernández Osorio said. “In the past, I’ve been very intentional with highlighting underrepresented voices, and I think D’Lo is a great pick to be this year’s speaker.”
All of the events are free and open to the public, although advanced registrations are required for some events. RSVP options for these are indicated in the calendar below.
For further information on events or ADA Accommodations, the Diversity and Inclusion Program can be found on Engage.
Carlos Fuentes is a reporter for The Beacon. He can be reached at fuentes22@up.edu.
