Caucasian, African-American, Hispanic, Asian, Other.

These are the traditional check boxes used to identify races. But planners of this year’s Diversity Conference want to “break out of the box.”

Although the 2001 Diversity Conference is seven months away, the planning committee has met three times since the end of Winter Quarter. Organizers have unveiled the theme for the Nov. 17 conference: “Diversity and Perception – Break out of the Box.”

“To me, it’s a concept of being more open-minded,” said committee co-chairwoman and Weinberg junior Sucheta Misra.

The planning committee currently has 10 members, but Misra said that number will grow to about 15 after more sub-committee chairmen are named. Organizers, who meet every other week, have brainstormed new programming ideas for the conference.

There will be three themed days held the week leading up to the conference. Multicultural events such as ethnic food nights and music performances have always preceded the Diversity Conference, but this will be the first year the programming will be themed. The themes will be ethnic cuisine, religious diversity and diversity in entertainment.

Misra said the upcoming planning meetings will focus on which speakers and student groups the committee would like to be involved in the conference. For her, the Diversity Conference will be a way to expose the campus to a variety of multicultural issues that aren’t frequently discussed.

“We have a lot of diverse people, but we don’t have a lot of diversity awareness,” Misra said. “We don’t have a lot of integration.”