Maura Cullen, author of “35 Dumb Things Well-Intended People Say”, speaks to members of University of Maryland Greek life about diversity and inclusive language in the Grand Ballroom in Stamp Student Union on Monday, April 20, 2015.
At the beginning of Maura Cullen’s speech for this university’s Greek Week diversity event, she asked every member in the audience to make a fist and have the person beside them open it.
While some students attempted to open one another’s hands using force, others asked their partner kindly to open their hand.
“Some of you had the wisdom to actually seek cooperation and ask,” the international diversity public speaker and author said. “The purpose of this was that we make things harder than they need to be.”
During her 90-minute speech at the Grand Ballroom at Stamp Student Union, Cullen encouraged the more than 975 members of Greek life in attendance last night to try to be more mindful and inclusive with words and actions they use.
“You don’t know how one decision you make could change the course of your destiny,” she said. “Just be careful of the decisions you make and make them your own.”
A push for diversity awareness on this campus ignited after an offensive email sent by a former member of this university’s chapter of Kappa Sigma member in January 2014 garnered attention. An investigation of the email found it did not violate any university policies.
Greek life officials required 20 percent of all Greek Life chapters to attend the event, said Kaley Smith, the Panhellenic Council vice president of external affairs.
The attendance numbers exceeded the requirement of about 800 Greek life members, she said.
“There is just not a lot of unity going along across the council, so we decided to bring in a speaker that would focus on inclusion and embrace the diversity across all four of our Greek councils,” she said.
Originally, last night’s planned Greek Week event was going to be a group studying event called “Academic Night,” but that event was postponed to make room for this diversity event.
For over 20 years, Cullen has spoken about diversity at more than 40 universities, such as Johns Hopkins University and University of Delaware, and authored the book 35 Dumb Things Well-Intended People Say.
During the event, she shared some phrases from her book such as “Some of my best friends are,” “That’s so gay or retarded” and “I don’t see color” to show how they might not seem harmful but could still hurt people listening.
Cullen also shared multiple anecdotes from her own life with the crowd to explain the power of words. In one story, Cullen — who is married to a woman — detailed her experience dealing with gender stereotypes while shopping for a car.
At one dealership, she said employees didn’t help her. At another, a salesman asked, “Why don’t you bring back your husband?”
At a third, a salesman simply walked up to her and asked if she needed help, which Cullen said illustrated the importance of treating others with kindness.
When dealing with problematic or potentially hurtful conversations, Cullen told students to follow the acronym BAR: Breathe, acknowledge and respond. Usually, people tend to respond first and say something hurtful, she said.
“I’m just kind of excited that we have this new addition. Given the climate on the campus right now, it was pretty beneficial, and hopefully we’ll see positive change,” said sophomore marketing major and Sigma Delta Tau President Jennifer Franklin.
The Panhellenic Association plans to continue diversity discussions in more inclusive events to keep the conversation alive in the future, Smith said.
DFSL Director Matt Supple said the event is part of a continuing effort to start conversations on both diversity and inclusion and should raise awareness for multicultural competency.
“It’s a chance for the community, 800 to 900 of them, to come together and … have a shared common experience that would allow them to then go back to their own smaller conversations and discussions within the organizations,” Supple said.
