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Well tonight we wanted to have the first of our Diversity Lecture series here at JSU.
To talk about issues of diversity and inclusion.
The impact that various issues that have been a part of the national state and local discussion, the impact these issues have on the university.
And how we as a community of stakeholders can come together to find solutions to bring us together as a community and break down some barriers.
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I'm Steven Tsikalas, i'm a Geography professor. I've been at JSU for three and a half years, I work in the Department of Physical and Earth Sciences.
This was initiated by the Diversity and Inclusivity Committee to try to pull together members of different religious or non religious beliefs
In a comfortable and encouraging environment to share our ideas and answer several questions that were posed to us
in a form where students and faculty alike were invited.
I'm Steven Whitton, i'm a member of the JSU English department. My name is Safoa Al-Hamdani the Biology department.
The event was the greatest opportunity for me to learn from my colleagues.
Different faith's and we shared common things and we found out we have more things in common than differences.
We all believe in God, we believe in doing good, and thats great.
We need something like this we need to see this continue.
And I very much endorse what my good friend Safoa is saying. This was about inclusion and learning that we share rather than are different.
This was a chance to dialogue with other panel members but also with the audience about faith
and about its place in the university community. And how we interact with one another.
