The Oregon Diversity Institute

By AMY STAPLES

Speech instructor Larry Dawkins’ office at Mt. Hood Community College is a place of much history.

Plaques and clocks dress the walls, photos are in frames and tacked to corkboards.
He tells a story of an instructor that told him since Dawkins will spend a lot of time at work, his office should be as comfortable as possible. “My office is pretty comfortable, so I can get a lot of work done here,” Dawkins said.

The music playing in Dawkins’ office embraces diversity. A jazz vocalist evoking Frank Sinatra sings sorrowful words that still manage to sound happy. The disk changes and Ricky Martin is living “La Vida Loca.”

Dawkins, who has worked at MHCC since 1972, said, “Diversity goes through phases, times in which we’re energetic, and times when we’re not so energetic. There’s not a consistent line you could graph.” He is currently working with the Metropolitan Diversity Institue locating speakers for the conference, and “anything else they need me to do.”

Dawkins formed the Oregon Diversity Institute 11 years ago with four other people with a grant from the Ford Foundation. The group is working on creating more regional programs that focus on bringing diversity to different facets of society. Dawkins said, “We’re working toward diversity in law enforcement, medical care, education, working with people, the scope is broad.”

He said a local program in Multnomah County is important because the bulk of the population in Oregon is in the county, and driving to Bend from the Portland area can take eight hours, a drive many people won’t take considering the costs of fuel and staying overnight out of town.

“We need a regional organization,” he said.

Dawkins’ work at MHCC includes teaching a diversity course, Introduction to Intercultural Communications, which is offered each quarter, including summer. He also teaches basic speech communication, fundamentals of public speaking, and argument and critical discourse.

Dawkins acknowledges the strides society has made in diversity and sensitivity to diversity issues, but says the battle for equal treatment of all people is not over. “The major issue in diversity today is application. It’s the theoretical. If you call someone a racist they consider that an insult. Now how do you apply that in your life? That’s our biggest struggle.”

He explains such applications issues can be resolved through exposure and increasing knowledge. “As long as you’re seeing people who are different, as long as you have contact and exposure, you realize, some people are jerks and some are not. We learn to deal with people on an individual level, not as a class or race.”

With increased exposure comes the time you meet someone who does not fit the stereotype. Dawkins asks, “how do you reconcile your idea with reality?”

Dawkins said people also have to have a knowledge base that is large. “I’m talking about real knowledge, opening yourself up. There are lots of opportunities we don’t take advantage of. We get comfortable in our niche. We have to be internationalists.”

He said the theater, games and conferences are places people can go to meet a diverse group of people. “When you have reality looking you in the eyeball, the problem with stereotypes is, you are wrong. Through exposure and knowledge you find [stereotypes are] just wrong when you look at the world.”

He said many people agree that people are equal, but their behavior may say something else. “We won that battle. On the other hand, how do they treat you? One is as important as the other. It’s one thing to say ‘women are equal,’ then, ‘now go get the coffee.’”