Do you often find yourself walking around campus and mentally making stereotypes based off your first sight of people? We all have these ideas in our heads about what people look like and what that means as far as what they do and who they interact with. The key to ending stereotypes is dialogue, engaging with other students on campus. While St. Thomas heavily encourages and makes readily available resources to find more about other people and groups on campus, it’s up to each individual student to make that step to join that club or speak with that fellow student.

One of the seven convictions at the University of St. Thomas is Diversity. The conviction reads “We strive to create a more diverse community in which, together, we work for a more just and inclusive society.” We must consider that conviction and apply it to our daily lives to make sure we are a part of creating the just and inclusive society.

When thinking about how we start out stereotyping the community around us it is all about how we have taught our brains to think. When researching this I came across an article by Robin Thornton in the Leaderswest Digital Marketing Journal titled “How stereotypes happen”. She states that people stereotype for a sense of comfort. “People like order and consistency. Most of us like a certain amount of routine and continuity. This is how we reduce the mistrust and anxiety linked to the foreign or alien. The unknown is frequently feared; at the very least it is viewed with trepidation.” She says that we all succumb to stereotypes because people feel comfortable if they can have a preset idea of what someone is like and how they act. Discussion helps break these stereotypes. When you allow society to shape your views of people you are taking a shortcut. When you choose to make your own perceptions on people after taking the time to talk to them, you are opening yourself up to new experiences and information you otherwise would have closed yourself off to.

In today’s society the most important thing we can do as citizens of the United States of America is break down these stereotypes and come together as united individuals. Ed Koch, the 105th mayor of New York City said, “Stereotypes lose their power when the world is found to be more complex than the stereotype would suggest. When we learn that individuals do not fit the group stereotype, then it begins to fall apart.” By acknowledging diversity and accepting it holistically we are accepting that the world is more complex than the stereotypes themselves. By starting dialogue, we begin to break down these stereotypes not only on campus, but in the world as well. Checkout the Diversity Activities Board page on the university’s website and find out how you can get involved in strengthening the seventh conviction.