Diversity Week 2023: Broader Horizons

A plethora of cultures and backgrounds at Yale-NUS is showcased every year during Diversity Week, an annual tradition held at the beginning of February. The week-long programme brings students, staff, faculty and alumni together by encouraging discussions about multiple facets of diversity such as ethnicity, race, disability, identity and lived experiences, and sexuality, through workshops, panel discussions, and casual lunches. This year, Diversity Week focused on different themes each day, such as heritage, language and accessibility.

To enable Yale-NUS and NUS College (NUSC) students to explore different facets of language, Yale-NUS and NUSC collaborated on a ‘Kristang for Beginners’ workshop led by Kevin Wong. Participants learnt more about the Kristang language, the critically endangered creole heritage language of Singapore and Melaka’s Portuguese-Eurasians by examining Singapore’s MRT map written in Kristang and discovering how current MRT station names have roots in Kristang.

Student reading Singapore’s MRT station names in Kristang. Photo taken by Luo Wen for Yale-NUS College.

Although the session focused on the language, Daniel Lim (Class of 2023) shared that the workshop spoke very well to the fluidity and malleability of identities. “Kristang, as a diaspora language, is inherently full of variations in spelling and vocabulary, which I thought was a really beautiful example of how identity need not have a rigid standard that everyone must perfectly adhere to.”

Another way individuals were able to delve into different cultures was through book discussions, such as the ‘Brown is Redacted Book Discussion’ held by two Yale-NUS alumni from the Class of 2019, Kristian-Marc James Paul and Myle Yan Tay. They are co-editors of the book Brown is Redacted: Reflecting on Race in Singapore, a collection of essays, academic works, poems, and stories. During the book discussion, they reflected on their experience editing the book and their personal stories as members of a minority race in Singapore.

Besides exposing people to new cultures, Diversity Week provided opportunities for individuals to reflect on how they could apply their experiences with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at Yale-NUS to life after college. Former staff and alumni of Yale-NUS held a lunch panel at the College to discuss how they remained heavily involved with DEI through their work in different industries, such as technology and finance. Tanya Sharma (Class of 2023) reflected on how DEI extends beyond her experience at Yale-NUS. She shared, “Their honest, vulnerable sharing helped me reflect on various DEI-related practices that are so closely tied to the ways Yale-NUS’ community operates but might still be relatively new in other contexts. As I graduate and enter new communities soon, I hope to bring Yale-NUS’ practices and spirit with me to help create inclusive, safe spaces.”

The community also learnt about how diversity can be applied to the workplace. Alister Ong, who leads Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Client Solutions at Michael Page, shared more about disability inclusion in the workplace. Participants learnt about the qualities of an inclusive workplace, regulations on discriminatory practices, and self-advocacy. Along with this session on workplace inclusivity, an exhibition on accessibility was also set up on campus. As part of the exhibition, individuals were asked to answer questions on accessibility on discussion boards, which revolved around different aspects, such as how Yale-NUS could work on making different features of campus life more accessible to others.

Students discussing their responses to the prompts given to encourage deeper thinking on accessibility. Photo taken by Desmond Lee for Yale-NUS College.

While Diversity Week reflects the medley of cultures and backgrounds evident at Yale-NUS, it also embodies a greater purpose. Yale-NUS alumna from the Class of 2017 and Assistant Manager (Intercultural Engagement) Annette Wu shared her hopes for future iterations of Diversity Week, “I hope that in future years Diversity Week will continue to build community, celebrate difference, and catalyse important conversations about the work that still needs to be done to ensure an equitable and empowering campus environment.”