As students at Auburn, we become consumed with our schedules. From hours of homework and projects to the various organizations we belong to, we barely have time to think ahead about the next week we have to face. Each day we walk to class with ear buds plugged into our brains, tuning out most of the environments that surround us. All of this to say, when was the last time you ever thought about the racial climate of our campus?

Is Auburn really a “diverse” campus? If you’ve ever walked to class before, which is hopefully 100 percent of the student body, chances are it is extremely common to see a sea of Caucasians flowing through the concrete and brick sidewalks and into their respective classrooms. To most white students this feels like the visual norm, but to African-American, Asian, Indian, and other ethnicities and diversities it screams loudly into their ears like a giant megaphone.

Whether we can see it or not, diversity is a large issue on Auburn’s campus. Because of this pressing issue, people committed to spreading awareness for diversity are on the move. In what is known as the Research Initiative for the Study for Diversity, faculty scattered among the university are putting forth their efforts to see Auburn to a more multi-faceted diverse climate. This initiative focuses on the equality of race, sex, socio-economic status, belief systems, gender identity, age, geographic origin, physical abilities, and sexual orientation. One of these individuals among the many dedicated is Dr. Joshua Inwood.

Dr. Inwood is an assistant professor of Geology and Geography in the college of Sciences and Mathematics. Inwood received his undergraduate degree from Michigan State in Geography and went on to receive his masters at Kent State and later his PhD from University of Georgia. In his freshman year of college, Inwood explained to me that after seeing a copy of one of his roommate’s books, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, in his dorm room he started to read it and became so entranced with it that he skipped his class that day. This is one of among other events that really sparked his interest in the necessity of social justice and diversity in America.

In his research, Inwood is specifically researching on a focus on the politics behind urban development of Auburn Avenue, a historically significant African-American community in Atlanta. As for a more broad perspective on his perception of diversity he explained to me some of his thoughts on diversity in Alabama and our university.

Inwood says he feels that one of the biggest problems with diversity is that there are still a lot of entrenched inequalities in our American society today. These inequalities lie in social classes, areas where people live, sexual identities, health insurance and so on. Aside from this insight, Inwood also described the issues of social injustice that are happening in what is known as the “Alabama Black Belt.”

This is an area that is considered one of the poorest areas of our nation. It is made up of counties such as Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Dallas, Montgomery and thirteen others mostly located in the southern central area of Alabama. This is largely due to a long line of poverty and oppression starting with the cotton plantations of the region to the Civil Rights Movement in Montgomery. The weak state of this region still exists today. It is issue such as these that Inwood is trying to make clear to unaware persons. He believes that the up and coming diversity convention at the university will benefit the “nascent” and “relatively new” diversity program that Auburn currently has.