Speaker Patricia Gurin answers questions from the audience regarding her talk about engaging diversity on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013. The Diversity Summit is a two-day event hosting talks throughout the day and into the evening. (Connor Dudley/CU Independent)

The 19th annual Diversity and Inclusion Summit, held Wednesday, Nov. 13 and Thursday, Nov. 14, presents on-campus opportunities for CU to discuss its mission to diversify the staff and student body.

The events, which are free and open to the public, are being held in the University Memorial Center.

The Summit is one of the university’s many recent efforts to foster a more diverse community, emphasizing the Blueprint for Action plan and its three primary goals: create an inclusive campus environment, develop a diverse student population and diversify employment of staff.

The theme of this year’s summit is “Building the Road Map,” aiming to engage CU and the greater Boulder area in dialogues about the community.

Junior ethnic studies major America Ramirez, 20, was one of the students encouraged to participate.

“I’m really excited; they’ve reached out to a lot of the diverse groups on campus,” Ramirez said. “I work for S.O.R.C.E. [Student Outreach Retention Center for Equity], and we have been encouraged to go to different forums and events, and a lot of them do sound interesting.”

Some of the offered events include “A Hip-Hop Road Map to a Diverse Future, Normal Heights,” “Transgender Inclusion in Policy and Practice: Examining U.S. Collegiate Sports” and “Made in America: Jay Z and Representations of American Blackness(es).”

Junior psychology major Carina Gilford, 21, said the summit goes beyond addressing race at CU.

“For me, diversity isn’t limited to ethnicity, but diversity through perspectives, religion and culture,” Gilford said. “To have an edifying education, you have to have diversity.”

Keynote speaker Patricia Gurin presented her talk “Engaging Diversity: More Important Than Ever” at noon Wednesday in the UMC’s Glenn Miller Ballroom. Gurin, a distinguished professor at the University of Michigan, specializes in group dynamics research. 

Her session looked at the the social science evidence used in the 2003 Supreme Court Affirmative Action ruling. In a majority ruling opinion on the case, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote: “The Court expects that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today.”

By 2030, CU will be the flagship university of O’Connor’s vision, according to the Diversity and Inclusion Summit Planning Committee. Summit sessions continue at 8:20 a.m. Thursday.

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Ari Browne at Shikari.browne@colorado.edu, twitter/aricbrowne.