By Nicholas Pandolfo
Staff Reporter
The Hearts of Diversity Club may be for you if you have ever been racially discriminated against-know someone who has been-or if you wish to support what many people of color are being faced with everyday.
Hearts of Diversity, is a brand new club that was brought about to Sacred Heart University this past year.
Currently, the club is small, as there have only been a total of three meetings this year. Despite being a small club, their members are hoping to significantly expand throughout the upcoming meetings ahead.
The main purpose to these meetings, is to offer social gatherings for students who belong to a minority to come and talk about their experiences with racial discrimination.
Members also watch videos, and look at current events and issues surrounding discrimination of any kind. From there, members then reflect on their own thoughts and personal experiences with racial discrimination.
“I have had experiences with these issues, and I wanted to make a comforting place for people with similar experiences,” said President, Annabeth Gullo.
Gullo, is a sophomore political science major with a minor in human rights and social justice. She wants people to be aware of the reality to this important matter.
Gullo started the club as a way to aid students who feel out of place, and to insure that with the support of Hearts of Diversity, students will come to know that they are never alone in these types of situations.
“Annabeth is the most passionate woman I know,” said sophomore, Haley Petersoli.
Once the club gains more members, they will use the meetings as a way to brainstorm and plan out future events they want to create or partake in. Some of the ways in which they plan on expanding the club to spread awareness, is by partaking in ‘Social Justice Week’, and the Involvement fair.
‘Social Justice Week,’ occurs at the end of March. Its mission, aims to promote open forum discussions regarding prevalent issues in society. Getting a spot would greatly help the club get their voice heard.
The Involvement fair, is where students can approach the board members, and learn about the club before they decide to join.
They have already started working towards getting a colloquium added to the series, about these specific problems in the world today.
“We want to start dialogues on these issues around campus,” said senior and club secretary, Rachel Zacharczyk.
Spreading awareness about these issues is one of the club’s main goals. Most of the issues they discuss, are issues that people may not talk about as much as they should within everyday conversations.
So far, the only way they are informing students updates to the club, is through the access of global emails sent to all Sacred Heart students. However, members want to start using more ‘out-of-the-box’ methods, such as handing out flyers, putting up posters, and possibly creating a presence on social media.
Even though the club is small, all of the members care about what they believe in, and will not stop until their voices are heard.
Even if students may not be a member of a minority group, or have encountered any situations related to these issues, they are still encouraged to join the club. Everyone should know what is happening around them, whether they notice it or not.
“Please take a chance and join, it is a very important subject in today’s world that can sometimes go unnoticed. Everyone is welcome and we are focused on hearing perspectives from everyone,” said Gullo.
If students are interested in joining, the club has weekly meetings on Modays at 8pm in SC231A.
