MLK Day busy for Chief Diversity Officer

Just as Martin Luther King, Jr. sought peaceful attainment of racial equality during the Civil Rights era in America, IU Vice President of Student Affairs and Diversity, Charlie Nelms, seeks to sustain that dream at IU today.\nGrowing up in the Delta region of Ark. in the 1950s, Nelms experienced life as a second-class citizen. He attended segregated schools, entered through the back door of homes and was not allowed to use the public library or swimming pool.\n"I knew that it wasn't right," Nelms said. "It may have been legal, but it wasn't right. I vowed to change that."\nDuring the August heat of 1963, King's march on Washington profoundly impacted Nelms as he watched from a small black and white television on a farm near his home in rural Ark..\n"I felt a sense of pride and excitement to see that many people gathered in one place to denounce a system that was unjust and immoral," Nelms said. "That dream was about me and people like me."\nThis experience ignited a lifelong fire in Nelms to do everything possible to assure equal opportunities for minorities, he said. While legal segregation no longer plagues America, Nelms said much work needs to be done to end segregation of a different kind -- the subordinate quality of housing, healthcare and public education that many African Americans still receive today. \nDuring Nelms' busy MLK Day, he attended an Interfaith Service, the Student Leadership Brunch, the Student Leadership Summit and visited various volunteer sites around Bloomington.\n"My goal for (MLK Day) is the same as my goal every day," Nelms said. "When I retire this evening, I will have done everything possible to make King's dream a reality."\nUnited in Faith\nNelms, along with students and community members of diverse backgrounds, celebrated King's ideals at the third annual MLK Day Interfaith Service in Whittenberger Auditorium Monday morning. \nThe service highlighted the belief that no faith is superior to another and spoke of the need to compose a culture based on nonviolence.\nThat single message bound together speeches and prayers from the Hindu, Jewish, Islamic, Christian and Buddhist faiths. Despite different backgrounds and languages, each prayer spoke of understanding differences and achieving peace. \nSheila Desai, a junior and director of diversity for IU Student Association, spoke of the importance of such events in which people experience other cultures.\n"It is important for cultures to be able to share religion and spirituality," Desai said.\nDesai, a practicing Hindu, said her religion encourages peace through ahimsa, or nonviolence.\nAfter the service, Nelms gave out scores of hugs, smiles and handshakes to men in suits and ties, women who had softly cried "Amen" throughout the service and students eager to have a word with him.\n"Despite what it looks like, I'm not running for office," Nelms said. "I just love people."\nNelms said while events such as the Interfaith Service celebrate progress, it is important to think about diversity and equality more than once a year.\n"IU and this community should remain cognizant 365 days a year about the work that needs to be done," Nelms said.\nPerseverance of a Dream\nNelms, along with IU students and staff and the Bloomington community, came together at the Student Leadership Brunch Monday to recognize strong, moral individuals committed to the persistence of King's dream. \nAt the breakfast, the first place winners of the King Day 2004 Essay Competition read their essays.\nCarol Bennett, a history graduate student and winner of the graduate competition, said she wrote her essay as a reflection of the past, observation of the present and hope for the future.\n"You have to step outside of your environment to understand others," Bennett said. "Let's look outside the circle we live in."\nDuring brunch, Nelms sat with Bennet, IU-Bloomington Interim Chancellor Ken Gros-Louis and Board of Trustees President Fred Eichhorn and discussed the significance of the holiday.\nThe observance of MLK Day as a national holiday is due largely to the work of an Indiana congresswoman, Katie Hall. As a member of the House of Representatives, Hall's dream of celebrating a national holiday in honor of King was realized in 1986.\nIt was not until 1998 IU canceled classes in observance of the holiday.\nJohn Conyers, a Michigan congressman, was the original writer of the bill to make it a national holiday, and is the leading proponent of reparations for African Americans in return for the free labor they supplied America during slavery.\nNelms said over eggs and bagels individual monetary reparations would be difficult to orchestrate.\n"Individual monetary reparations don't make as much sense as benefits in the form of healthcare, education and housing," Nelms said.\nMany Voices, One Hope\nNelms listened attentively as students voiced their opinions on the state of integration at IU during the Student Leadership Unity Summit 2004 at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.\nAs students spoke of the lack of minority students and self-imposed cultural segregation of the Greek system, Nelms highlighted the strong aspects of diversity at IU.\n"Students are interested in diversity," Nelms said. "Things are going on -- people are curious and want to learn in a civil way."\nNelms praised the faculty and staff for addressing the subject of diversity through classes and the board of trustees for investing in recruitment and retention.\nIt's only natural for a person to feel close to those with whom he or she shares a similar background, Nelms said, but it is important for students and staff not to limit themselves to one community of people.\n"You can be a part of more than one community," Nelms said. "It's about the ease with which you move between the groups."\nNelms said he recognizes his job and the jobs of students and staff are not yet finished. Among his goals are the need for more minority students to decrease feelings of isolation and the need for more diverse faculty and staff.\n"Diversity is not one monolithic thing, it's complex," Nelms said. "We can't see diversity as someone else's responsibility."\n-- Contact senior writer Alli Stolper at astolper@indiana.edu.