It was really a good opportunity 
to have a smaller conversation literally 
around a table today and 
I so appreciate the madison society 
helping us to think about how we 
can connect with student not just 
through leadership or student organizations
 but literally in this case, a randomly 
selected group of students different 
classes from different places and in 
different majors so we had a good 
cross section of students that were
 here today and we were able to 
have a real conversation where the
 students could listen to each other 
and react to each other and it was 
more intimate perhaps than
 some of the larger events. 
Today we had a rich conversation
 about diversity on campus and what
 it means and what we need to be 
thinking about going forth.
 One student mentioned for example 
that its great when we talk about diversity
 of thought but its much more than 
just that we have to be thinking 
about providing access and opportunity
 for students of all backgrounds
 that we want everybody here to feel 
welcomed and part of the community. 
One of the interesting things we talked 
about there are students organizations 
that focus on different aspects of diversity
 and that’s important we want people 
to feel that they have a community within
 the larger community but at the same 
time we want all of those students and
 organizations to feel apart of the larger 
JMU family and community so we talked 
about Yes acknowledging and celebrating
 our differences but also what brings us 
together in making sure that students 
have both of those opportunities to 
relate to people who have similar 
backgrounds perhaps but then also 
opportunities to bring all of that together 
in the larger community. We need to do both
 and that’s what we heard today from these students 
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