The South Oval will host USG’s Diversity Summit from 4-7 p.m. Wednesday. Credit: Sandra Fu | Photo Editor
Ohio State’s Undergraduate Student Government will celebrate campus diversity for the fifth year in a row with its annual Diversity Summit.
This year’s event will be held Wednesday from 4-7 p.m. on the South Oval and is free to attend. Chay Rossing, a fourth-year in French, philosophy and religious studies and the director of the Justice and Equity committee at USG, said this year’s summit will feature various cultural performances and booths representing a diverse range of student organizations.
These organizations include the Central American Student Organization, the Chinese Women’s Basketball Club, the Ohio State chapter of the NAACP and over 30 others, Rossing said.
“I would like to demonstrate that the student body really does care about diversity and inclusion initiatives, and that also, there’s a huge base on campus organizing about these issues,” Rossing said.
Nancy Angeles Santos, a second-year in medical laboratory sciences and deputy director of race, religion and ethnicity on the Justice and Equity committee of USG, said the Diversity Summit typically centers around a single theme. This year, however, she said it expanded to spotlight a wider range of student organizations, as USG aimed to make them the event’s main focus.
“I want this event to be about them and showcase who they are,” Santos said. “I just wanted to create a space where they could come, bring artifacts, bring cultural dress, bring snacks, food, bring music, anything that is significant to them or holds a deep significance in their identity, and be able to share that.”
Santos said this year’s event has expanded to include not only booths from student organizations but also performances that showcase their identities, featuring groups like the Falun Dafa Performance Group, the ISKCON Yoga Circle, Conscious Ohio State and more.
Following Ohio State’s Feb. 27 discontinuation of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the Center for Belonging and Social Change, Rossing said he hopes the event highlights students’ commitment to emphasizing the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion on campus.
“It is going to be a really cool way for us to learn about how, in this new context where the university is walking away from the institutional support of diversity and inclusion, how we as students who are interested in maintaining inclusive structure can have moments like the Diversity Summit to decide we are going to be in conversation with each other,” Rossing said.
Santos said she hopes events like the Diversity Summit will encourage student organizations to see USG as a resource for support, especially in light of the university’s recent DEI rollbacks.
“I think the biggest thing is trying to build connections with these student organizations and also helping them build a connection to USG,” Santos said. “USG provides a lot of resources that not a lot of student organizations are taking advantage of.”
Rossing said his three goals for the summit are to empower students, build community and send a message to Ohio State about the campus’ commitment to diversity and inclusion.
“I want students to feel empowered,” Rossing said. “I feel very undermined because I was very involved in making a fuss about Senate Bill 1, and when the rug was pulled from under me, I felt like, ‘Now what?’ And my answer was community.”
Ohio Senate Bill 1 — which bans DEI programming and faculty striking, limits the teaching of controversial subjects, requires the online publication of course syllabi and more across Ohio’s public higher education institutions — was signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine March 28, according to prior Lantern reporting.
Rossing said the Diversity Summit can also serve as a broader message beyond Ohio State’s campus.
“I want to send a message, maybe beyond the campus community, that at Ohio State, we really do care, and we are impacted,” Rossing said. “This isn’t some political game. We are students who are hurt and impacted, and we care about this.”
Santos said her ultimate goal is to strengthen the network association among student organizations on campus, hopefully creating more opportunities for future collaborations.
“I’m hoping that this will help ease in, bring more people together [and] build connections, so that we can do bigger events such as the Diversity Summit,” Santos said.
For more information about USG, including information about other upcoming events, visit its Instagram page.
