Oregon State University student earns year’s worth of tuition for diversity essay

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Growing up in Corvallis, Matthew Holland said he didn’t used to give much thought to diversity. Now, thanks to a class he took at Oregon State University, Holland believes that we are standing on the shoulders of those who have come before us. His beliefs - expressed through his award-winning essay - have earned him one year of paid tuition at OSU.

Inspired by his philosophy class, Ethics of Diversity and his professor, Lani Roberts, he says that “from slavery to suffrage to civil rights, the road ahead is not as long as it once was, and we must do our part today,” 

Holland, a fifth-year English major, entered the “This is My OSU: A Destination of Choice” diversity essay contest during winter term and spoke passionately about the need for all OSU students to take classes such as Ethics of Diversity.  

The contest was created by the Office of Community and Diversity to demonstrate a campus commitment to diversity and to get student input on diversity efforts. It invited OSU students to submit a one-page essay outlining their best idea for making OSU a destination of choice for people who are committed to diversity and inclusion. 

The term “Destination of Choice” came from one of President Ray’s University Day speeches and the “This is My OSU” slogan was created by the University Advancement office.    

“As we move forward on our ambitious diversity agenda, it is clear that we cannot do everything, and we have to develop priorities,” said Director of the Office of Community and Diversity Terryl Ross.  “Student voice is our true north. This essay contest has generated some great ideas.”

The contest yielded 101 essays. The identities of the writers were kept anonymous and 37 students, staff and faculty read the essays. Each essay was read by at least five different people. The top five essays were presented to the campus for “American Idol” style on-line voting in May. President Ed Ray, who served as one of the readers, was impressed with many of the essays. 

“I’m glad to see that so many people from different backgrounds took time to participate in the contest,” Ray said. “We are looking forward to implementing some of these creative ideas.”

Holland will graduate in Fall 2010, after studying abroad in Chile this fall. After graduation he plans to attend Marine Officer Candidate School and perhaps graduate or law school. 

Holland appreciates that OSU is interested in what students have to say, and encourages others to reach past their comfort zone and get to know people and experiences that are different from their own.  He encourages others to embrace the opportunity to take Ethics of Diversity and other classes from OSU’s nationally recognized Difference Power and Discrimination program.

You can read Holland’s award winning essay and those of the other finalists at http://oregonstate.edu/diversity/ . You can learn more about the Difference Power and Discrimination Program athttp://oregonstate.edu/dept/dpd/home. To see a photo of Holland and President Ray, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/33247428@N08/3635179655

About Oregon State University: OSU is one of only two U.S. universities designated a land-, sea-, space- and sun-grant institution. OSU is also Oregon’s only university designated in the Carnegie Foundation’s top tier for research institutions, garnering more than 60 percent of the total federal and private research funding in the Oregon University System. Its more than 20,300 students come from all 50 states and more than 80 countries. OSU programs touch every county within Oregon, and its faculty teach and conduct research on issues of national and global importance.