A diversity campaign called “This is Me,” originally developed for resident assistant training, has caught Quinnipiac’s attention and grown into a campus-wide initiative.

“I felt like diversity was always met with negative connotation around campus,” Dennis Lue Yat, one of the campaign’s developers, said. “In RA training, we touched on stuff like white privilege and it always ended up with someone upset because they didn’t think it was a fair reflection of them.”

Lue Yat, a residence hall director at the Crescent, and Dustin Martin, residence hall director at Ledges, were in charge of the diversity component of RA training at the start of the spring semester.

“We felt like diversity should be more of a celebration, and we wanted to bring a more positive twist to the word diversity, not just for the RAs but eventually for the campus,” Lue Yat said.

The result of their discussions is “This is Me,” a campaign advocating for students to be proud of who they are and where they’re from.

During training, Martin said the RAs responded to the idea with enthusiasm. Instead of hall directors presenting on diversity, the RAs presented to one another about themselves.

For one aspect of the training, RAs had to begin conversations with, “If you really knew me, you’d know that…”

“It helped dig a little deeper and answer challenging questions in a positive way to show what people are proud of and tell their accomplishments through life,” Martin said.

Stephanie Malone, a senior RA, helped the campaign by creating a “This is Me” video. RAs volunteered to appear in front of a camera and say what they are proud of. The confessions ranged from someone being proud they were adopted to one being proud of being a Dallas Cowboys fan from New York.

The video, posted on YouTube, has been so well-received on campus and on the Internet that Martin and Lue Yat plan to have Malone aid in the production of another video, open to all students.
Media credit: Youtube