As you settle in, you’re all probably thinking about getting involved. UNE has so many clubs and organizations to be part of. As you’ve probably noticed, the student population at UNE roughly resembles a Hersey’s Cookies and Cream bar… if the cookie part was only in one square of the bar. So, perhaps a good place to start is looking into clubs that promote diversity.

As we think about diversity, there may be one particular topic that comes to mind. For instance, I brought up racial diversity, but there are more types of diversity. UNitEd is a club that looks to advance multicultural knowledge and understanding within and beyond the UNE community. One of their largest events during the year is Culture Fest in which the club organizes a series of performances and activities from cultures other than our own, for the community to participate in and watch.

The Alliance yearns to cultivate an environment on campus that is accepting and knowledgeable about both the LGBTQ community and LGBTQ issues. One of their biggest events during the year is the Drag Show. The club brings a drag queen to campus to lip sync for her life, often a former contestant of Ru Paul’s Drag Race, and she usuall talks about how she got into drag, or answer any questions the audience may have.

A new club is the Women’s and Gender Studies Club, which focuses on issues surrounding gender inequality. It is a club that is built on a feminism foundation. UNE features two religious clubs, which some may not initially think of as a type of diversity. UNE has EDGE, which is the Christian (generally Protestant or nondenominational) group on campus, and Franciscan Faithful, which is the Catholic group on campus. FF arranges for transportation to an off-campus place of worship, St. Joseph’s, as UNE does not currently have such a place on campus. We’d love to see a Jewish or Muslim group on campus, and perhaps you are the perfect person to start it!

Another important aspect of diversity is writing about it! Columns like mine and stories on diverse events, issues and opinions are very important facets of diversity and representation- so feel free to join or write for Nor’easter News to get your information, opinions and advice out there.

If you want to start a new club because you feel there’s something lacking, come up with a proposal and get a staff member who is willing to sponsor (advise the club) and send it to the student involvement interns. To join clubs, receive annoying emails, and know what’s up, log into [email protected] with your UNE account info. There will also be an involvement fair August 28th between the volleyball court and Alfond from 4-6 pm.

Getting involved is a great way to give back to your community, especially at UNE. The campus is so small that one individual’s effort goes a long way. The whole point of these various diversity clubs is to make people feel included by educating the community and by providing a space where people know they’ll be understood. While some may think these clubs focus on what makes people different, thus causing further segregation, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. These clubs help everyone realize that despite what may be said to them, they are still people. For every thing that makes us different from one another, there’s at least one thing we have in common. We are all people.