Diversity in the Dark, an event hosted by the Mississippi State University Student Association, will be held tomorrow at 5 p.m. in Foster Ballroom S located in the Colvard Student Union.
Diversity in the Dark is a new event orchestrated by the Diversity and Outreach Committee: a cabinet of the MSU Student Association. 
It is one of a series of events that the directors of the Diversity and Outreach Committee created to have an open discussion about diversity.
Roxanne Raven, SA president, said a lot of people will go to events such as this, but will not always want to speak up.  Raven said she hopes this event will get people to open up a lot more. 
“So it’s about just trying to give people a new way to talk about the uncomfortable issue that is diversity,” Raven said. “A lot of people will go to the talks, but won’t always want to speak up or maybe they’re even afraid to go, so hopefully this new spin on it, having it in the dark with not a lot of light makes people open up to conversation more.” 
The program will allow students to anonymously ask questions, make comments and offer their concerns. Students who decide to attend this program will enter a room filled with no lights. The intention of creating a dark room is to make students feel more comfortable. 
By having the Diversity in the Dark event in a dark room, the Diversity and Outreach Committee hopes to create a storytelling environment that will be similar to a campfire. The Diversity in the Dark event will be a moderated discussion. The Diversity and Outreach Committee’s conversation initiators will serve as the moderators and main “storytellers” for this event according to Isaac Lias, Jr., director of Diversity and Outreach.
“Students are given the opportunity to enter a room filled with no lights and no opportunity to feel ostracized, ashamed, or afraid to reveal their beliefs about certain issues,” Lias said.
The Diversity and Outreach Committee would like to inspire acceptance of different races and cultures by exposing those differences in an environment where people feel comfortable to speak and share their minds.
 
“Overall, the concept of this program is to inspire the acceptance of difference through exposing such differences within the most supportive setting possible,” Lias said. 
Lias said not all students will end up sharing their opinions. Although not all students who attend the event tomorrow will be willing to speak out, the Diversity and Outreach Committee would still like to attempt to inspire students here at MSU to have an important conversation about their differences in opinions so that a more diversified student body can be reached. 
“Will all students share their opinions?” Lias said. “The answer to this question is surely no, however our committee is willing to attempt to inspire students at Mississippi State University to at least discuss differing opinions in order to strive for a more diverse and unified student body.”
Raven, a senior political science major, said she assumes that the current race relations, especially after this year’s election, will peak people’s interest in this event.
“I’m hoping this conversation will be a good way for them to continue the conversations they want to have and find the answers that they are looking for due to the context that we are kind of living in right now after the election,” Raven said.