NSU Horizons Winter 2008 - 2009

spotlight As one of approximately 800 African American students attending Austin’s University of Texas (UT) in 1975, Debra Nixon and other black students created their own community within the 39,000-student population. Nixon, Ph.D., now an as- sistant professor and associate chairperson of the Department of Family Therapy in NSU’s Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, con- fesses that she did not recognize how much of a cocoon she had cre- ated for herself. That is, until the day she walked by a lighter skinned black woman—whom she knew—without speak- ing. “My school-mate, Clair, called out ‘Debra?’ before I recognized that I was walking right past her. As I think about the way she called my name, I suspect that this hap- pened to her a lot. In those days, we realized we were filling a quota and were not wanted, so we created our own community in which only persons of color showed up on our ‘speak- ing’ radar.” Today, Nixon’s pri- ority is to get people talking to each other across cultural and racial lines. The experience is cathartic, she said, for herself and for those who come to monthly “Diversity Dialogues,” which she began in Feb- ruary 2006 on NSU’s main campus. These forums are designed to invite an open discussion about all aspects of diversity. Nixon believes that a diverse com- munity is a strong community, but fears many people view inherent differences as somehow bad or wrong. While Nixon’s epiphany at UT was instrumental for her own understanding, the idea for this open dialogue evolved from her faculty experiences. “I teach a state-required diversity course for people training to be family therapists,” Nixon said. “I was finding that the course was more than informational, it was transforma- tional. Not only was the class changing the students, it was changing me.” Students began having epiphanies of their own. “We were having such a great time with lots of dialogue from all kinds of students who never thought they had a prejudiced bone in their bodies, as well as those who knew they had problems with others. I shared with my colleagues how stu- dents were reacting, admitting to the class things that they’d nev- er normally say to other people.” Curious about the transformations Nixon described, Honggang Yang, Ph.D., dean of the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, suggested that Nixon make the dialogue a campus-wide discussion. He has be- come one of its most dedicated attendees. “I think these con- versations are valuable to the faculty and staff, because it allows them to be part of the multiculture student discussions,” Yang add- ed that everyone learns from open dialogue. “Faculty members are learning how to ap- proach a diverse class- room, making room for these multicultural voices to be heard.” According to Nixon, the monthly discussions continue to grow and often change composition. What began with mostly NSU staff and faculty members now includes students, alumni, and even participants from the local Broward County community. “Our group’s discussion takes many forms of diversity: religious, gender, social class, etcetera,” Nixon explained. “We have African Talking Across Cultural Lines By Lisa Bolivar and Felecia Henderson 30 horizons Continued on page 44 Debra Nixon,Ph.D.(center)