PVCC Celebrates School’s International Diversity

Skye Scott, assistant editor

On Wednesday, Feb. 1, Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC) students, faculty, and staff gathered in the Bolick Student Center to celebrate the cultural diversity at PVCC.

Before the speakers started, participants were encouraged to put heart stickers on a colorful world map to show where their families were from. Participants could also write their name and ancestry on name tags to wear for the rest of the day.

The first speaker was Connie Jorgensen, an assistant professor of political science. She started by introducing herself and where her ancestors came from. She said, “We are a loving and supporting environment.” Concluding by saying this environment is what makes PVCC the community that it is.

After Jorgensen, Jessica Kingsley, an English professor, read from PVCC’s official statement in response to the Executive Order on Immigration. This statement says that everyone should have access to a PVCC education, and that PVCC takes pride in their diversity. Then it says, “The international members of the PVCC community enrich our campus. They are a welcome and vital part of our global mission.”

Next, Jennifer Koster, another English professor, read a poem written by Warsan Shire. The poem, titled “Home,” starts with “no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark. you only run for the border when you see the whole city running as well.” Koster read, with tears in her eyes and her voice cracking, the ending of the poem, “no one leaves home until home is a damp voice in your ear saying leave, run now, i don’t know what i’ve become.”

Colum Leckey, a history professor, followed Koster and spoke of the historical contexts surrounding the Executive Order on Immigration.

Wadah Al Mulhim, the Student Government Association president and the only scheduled student speaker, was next. Al Mulhim is a refugee from Iraq; however, his speech did not center around his personal experience. Rather, it focused around things almost anyone could understand and appreciate. He addressed political unity: “It doesn’t matter if you’re red, blue or neither. Our strength is in our unity.” He said that the Executive Order did not reflect on the American people whom he knows. Smiling, but with a cracking voice and tears in his eyes, he ended  saying, “Open your mind to the world and understand that we can make our country great again if we love, tolerate and respect each other. This is the U.S.A and it won’t be great without U.S!”

The last scheduled speaker was Bruce Glassco, an English professor. His speech concentrated around fear, mainly the fear of people that are not like us. He used the example of the Phoenicians, who were ancient sea-traders. They traveled all over the known world gathering items from the countries and trading them to other people. He said, “ People could have thrown them out, or killed them and taken their goods, but the ones who were willing to trade got something in exchange that was even more valuable than the ships’ holds full of goods.” Apparently the Phoenicians had developed a written phonetic alphabet  they would share to the people they traded with. Glassco said that our whole modern education is thanks to these simple sea-traders, and “the people they traded with who managed to overcome their fear of different people with different customs.”

All during the speeches, participants sat and stood rapt in silent attention.  The crowd grew steadily bigger as students and professors coming and going from class would stop in the sunny hallway to listen.

After Glassco, the microphone was open and anyone could come up and speak. About 13 other faculty and students stood and used their personal stories as encouragement for the people at PVCC who might be affected by the Executive Order.

Kris Swanson, an assistant professor of French, talked about the welcoming symbol of the Statue of Liberty. She read from Emma Lazarus’s poem, “The New Colossus,” which is engraved in the Statute. She began tearing up near the end, when she read “‘Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’”