Angelou highlights Common Ground

Maya Angelou will be on campus to deliver the keynote address for the SGA hosted event, Finding Common Ground Nov. 15. Angelou's speech will be the culmination of this two day event, which will be focused on increasing the student dialog between the many different facets at Tech.

The SGA created Finding Common Ground in response to student interest to bring light to issues of communication.

The first piece of Finding Common Ground consists of two open forums, one held on Nov. 13 and the other on Nov. 15. Lasting for two hours, each one will be comprised of seventy students.

"[These discussions] are aimed at influencing the environment of Tech to one that's committed to dialog between different groups on campus. [They also aim at helping] to explain the importance of recognizing dialog...as an important skill on campus and in the workplace," said Bobby Beaulieu, undergraduate vice president of campus affairs.

The participating students will be broken down into smaller groups and discussion facilitators will help to establish dialog guidelines with each individual group.

"We really don't limit the the dialog. To prompt dialog, questions will be asked about different things going on at Tech, like admission standards or preferred groups on campus. Anything like that we will be discussing," Beaulieu said.

The main goal is to get people from different backgrounds and ideologies to sit down and talk about a variety of issues.

"The discussions people get in with each other will lead to discussions with the table, and eventually at the end, we are looking to share [the discussion] in some way. We are looking to get that feedback down and see what we can do with that on a long term goal, possibly with the Diversity Forum," Beaulieu said.

The diversity at Tech is a main reason for having an event like Finding Common Ground.

"I feel an event such as Finding Common Ground is extremely important to the entire Tech community. The incredible thing about Tech is you have access to so many different individuals that bring unique ideas and perspectives to the table," said Oscar Vargas, vice chair of the Diversity Forum.

According to Vargas, events like Finding Common Ground simplify the challenge for those who simply feel like they do not have the time or have not had the experience to know others outside their box.

Along with the focus on the exposure of ideas, other goals of the dialogs will be to build a sense of community and raise each participant's core competence.

"Right now we have a strong technical competence that everybody leaves with, but we want to make sure that Tech equips [its students] with the core competence to communicate civilly and successfully," Beaulieu said.

Following the last discussion forum Nov. 15, Angelou will deliver the Finding Common Ground's keynote address in the Coliseum.

During her career, Angelou has been a poet, a memoirist, an actress and a figure in the American Civil Rights Movement.

"We want people to see why dialog is such an important part of the arts of literature, but also of being in the workplace," said Beaulieu.

"Maya Angelou has been a part of the public arena for a lot longer than most, so she has this keen sense of what it takes to succeed.... She holds a unique perspective on what skills are necessary in a global society. She has the ability to tie [this perspective] to art, to literature, to self esteem, to development and really bring home the impact that [these skills can] have on you as a person," Vargas said.

"This is the launching of a process. The initiating of a procedure. This is getting Tech to move in the the direction that students we've seen want it to move."

"We hope that the buzz and the hype from this continues on and is especially captured by the rest of campus. We want students to know they are the movers and shakers of campus. Their opinions and thoughts are what define what the Tech community is," Vargas said.

Students can sign up to participate in the forum discussions by going to www.commonground.gatech.edu. Tickets for Angelou's keynote address are available at the Box Office. Students can recieve one ticket for free. Non-student tickets will go on sale at a later date for a price of $10.