Tucked away on the second floor of the Rhatigan Student Center, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) serves as a “home away from home” for students of all backgrounds and identities. On Wednesday morning, ODI and student representatives from the Ambassadors for Diversity and Inclusion (ADI), gathered on the first floor of the RSC to break bread – in the form of rainbow pancakes – during ODI’s Unity Breakfast.
ADI President Anoushka Raju said that ADI members often serve as liaisons between the student population and ODI, with the Unity Breakfast serving as no exception.
“We’re kind of a bridge between the ODI and the student body,” Raju, who has been an ADI member since the summer of 2022, said. “I feel like sometimes people don’t want to go to “scary” staff members, they want to talk to us… It’s on a peer level.”
The aim of Unity Breakfast is to provide students, faculty and staff with the opportunity to mingle and learn about new identities. Kyla Gordon, the ADI director of programming, said the breakfast provides an anxiety-free atmosphere to ask questions and explore new lifestyles, such as varying gender and sexual identities.
“There’s so much unknown…and I feel like (ODI and ADI) just make it so comfortable for you to ask questions,” Gordon said.
Additionally, the breakfast offers new and returning students a safe space to make new friends with both similar and different backgrounds and experiences. Raju said that as a freshman, she felt intimidated and isolated because of her identities, but ODI and ADI were able to provide the sense of home she had been searching for.
“I was definitely one of those scared babies (incoming freshmen), and ADI felt like a big, warm hug,” Raju said.
All members of the campus community are welcome to participate in ADI and ODI events and activities, regardless of identity. Upcoming events hosted by ODI can be found on ShockerSync.
