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Matt Holland, an English student at Oregon State University, is the winner of an essay contest put on by the Office of Community and Diversity. The winner of the contest receives free tuition for one year.

Student wins tuition, OSU wins ideas

Office of Community and Diversity essay contest drew 101 submissions

By: Gail Cole

Posted: 7/1/09

By Gail Cole
The Summer Barometer

The chance of winning a year of tuition certainly draws attention, something Terryl Ross and the OSU Office of Community and Diversity hoped for when the "This is My OSU: A Destination of Choice" essay contest was developed last winter.
And attention it got: by the February 27 deadline, over 100 applicants submitted an essay in the contest that awarded in-state, undergraduate tuition to the winner.
Director of the Office of Community and Diversity Terryl Ross, who describes his office as a way to "help people connect with people who are different than them," thought the essay contest was a great starting point for students to share their ideas about their university.
"I've been meeting with a lot of students, and for a lot of students, diversity is kind of P.C. for them," Ross said.
"I was trying to figure out a way to make it real and meaningful for them and I thought, what would be better than to start by asking them what they think."
According to Ross, after the deadline, the essays were collected and distributed in groups of 20, and the authors kept anonymous.
The essays were first read by 37 different students, faculty and staff around campus - including President Ed Ray - before the final five were selected.
Pat Ketcham, associate director of health promotion at Student Health Services, was one of the 37 readers of the essays, and found the students "really putting some thought around practical application of ways to experience diversity on campus."
"What struck me was really some very thoughtful responses from all of the individuals that had submitted their essays," she said.
After the five finalists were selected, all students, faculty and staff had the opportunity to vote online to select the winner - Ross said over 400 participated in the final voting.
In the end, Matt Holland, a fifth-year in English, won the contest and a year's worth of tuition.
Holland first heard about the contest in his class, Philosophy 280: Ethics of Diversity, taught by Lani Roberts, last winter term - and it was this class that drastically changed his way of thinking about diversity.
Holland grew up in Corvallis, and admitted that prior to taking Robert's class, he believing society had moved beyond discrimination found in teh past.
"This class taught me that absolutely wasn't the case," he said.
For Holland, some of the most impactful lessons of the class were presented by the student panels.
Holland said groups of students from underrepresented groups on campus - such as African American, Asian, Latino/Latina and Native American students - were each given an opportunity to talk as a panel and discuss with the class how they are treated poorly on a regular basis.
"… They were just regular students that wouldn't have been talking about this stuff if they hadn't have been invited to this panel and given the opportunity to talk about it," he said.
"It made you face the reality of how people are still treated today based on how they look."
He acknowledges that he re-examined his way of thinking, forcing him to realize issues like discrimination and prejudice continue to exist in America.
"The biggest point I came away from that class learning: I thought I knew, but I didn't know at all," Holland said.
"And that was the starting point of my essay."
Holland begins the essay with a quote from Stephen Hawking: "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge."
In the essay, he discusses that the class "destroys the illusion of knowledge" by showing students how racism and discrimination is still found in today's society.
"Yet PHL 280 is one of the 23 courses that are offered just once this year," Holland continues in the essay.
"Freeing only 50 students from the illusion is not nearly enough."
Holland recommends in the essay that OSU incorporate more ways to remove the "illusion of knowledge about diversity," such as by making PHL 280 a graduation requirement for all students.
According to Ross, Holland's ideas - and the ideas from other participants in the contest - will not soon be forgotten.
The Community and Diversity office has recently been asking for input in other ways; in May, the office hosted a Student Diversity Summit, where students contributed ideas on curriculum, life skills and community service that would in turn help students.
Some of the ideas from the essays and from the summit will be discussed with students in the near future.
"We're going to convene a group of students and we're going to look at which of those we want to tackle - and the choice will come from students, not from me," Ross said.
Along with Ethics of Diversity, Holland said that a course taught by Kerry Ahearn of the English department developed his writing skills by helping him develop and argue a thesis, a skill he learned he would need to improve on after beginning one of Ahearn's literature courses.
"I had always thought I was a good writer, and it kind of shocked me into realizing that maybe I had the talent but I didn't have the discipline," Holland said.
"If I hadn't taken that class, I don't think I would have won, because he really gave me the tools to write that essay."
In addition, Holland said he studied the impact of American literature around the world in Ahearn's class, opening his mind to different and diverse ideas of America and elsewhere.
This upcoming fall term, Holland will be studying abroad in Chile, what he feels as a continuation of what he has learned in Ahearn's literature class and Ethics of Diversity.
"I think taking [Ethics of Diversity] also influenced me to want to experience more diversity and see how other cultures live and how other people think, what they feel and what they go through," he said.
Ross got a chance to speak with Holland after he was informed he won the essay, and saw for himself how the lessons at OSU changed his view of the world.
"I just can't tell you how excited I was talking to him," Ross said.
The prize money - the year's tuition - came directly out of the budget for the Community and Diversity office. Though expensive, Ross feels the cost was worth it.
"It's the beginning of a dialogue that we need that we don't know that we need," he said.
Holland's essay and four finalists' essays can be read at oregonstate.edu/diversity.

Gail Cole, editor in chief
news@dailybarometer.com, 737-2231