By: Paige Scofield
Campus Life Editor

As part of the Associated Students of Western Oregon University’s Diversity Series, food was served in the Werner University Center plaza for their event: Food from Around the World.

This event was put on to help bring students together and educate them on different cultures.

“Along with the foods, we also made flyers that talk about different important aspects of cultural diversity, and why cultural competency is important,” said Desi Root, junior interdisciplinary major and co-coordinator of the event. “So, it’s a little bit of an education and a little bit of a fun thing to help you remember it, but it also gives you a taste of what different cultures are like, and in a way that everyone can feel comfortable and can relate to, which is through food a lot of the time.”

“This week, we’re really focusing on different types of cultures and the importance of diversity,” explained Ami Diaz, senior criminal justice major and co-coordinator of the event.

For their foods from around the world, ASWOU served Mediterranean couscous, orange chicken, spring rolls, tacos, German sausage bites and mozzarella sticks.

“We would of liked to make it a little bit more unique to each culture,” said Diaz. “But since we have to go through school catering, this is what was available to us.”

Despite this, ASWOU made the best with what they had, and the food was served on campus for free to anyone who was interested in eating different foods and learning about different cultures. The pamphlets that ASWOU gave out explained that to understand diversity, one must learn about culture first. They reminded the hungry students that all people come from different backgrounds, and that diversity, inclusion and cultural competency are important to know to have a true understanding of others.

“We work to represent some marginalized groups within the school, such as the LGBTQ community, a lot of different identity and cultural based communities that are sometimes overlooked,” explained Root. “They are a huge and important part of our school’s population, so we want to highlight those, we want to bring awareness to all students that we are a diverse campus, that celebrates diversity and celebrates cultures and identities.”

ASWOU will continue to have events like Food from Around the World on campus as part of their Diversity Series. Keep an eye out for more upcoming ASWOU events that discuss diversity.

Contact the author at journalcampuslife@wou.edu