By Stephen Collins '74

Students gather in the Pugh Center at Colby during the third annual CBB Diversity Conference in February. Hundreds of students took part in workshops and programs about diversity at selective colleges.

Two years ago a handful of Colby students decided that one thing missing in the ubiquitous discussion of diversity on American campuses, and at Colby in particular, was a forthright discussion of diversity issues between and among diverse groups of students. From that idea was born the first Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Diversity Conference, and on February 8 and 9 this year the third annual CBB Diversity Conference was held at Colby with the theme "Bridging the Gap."

Hundreds of students took part in activities that included 10 workshops during the day on Saturday and stage performances in Cotter Union Friday and Saturday evenings. An estimated 150 people attended workshops and discussions about diversity at selective colleges. Titles of the sessions were "Aesthetic Prejudices: A New Look at Stereotypes," "Identity in Coalition Building," "Privilege: What Are You Going To Do About It?" and "Gatekeeping," among others.

"I think it surpassed what we accomplished the first time around," said LeAndrew Rankin '03, who was a primary organizer of this year's conference and of the original CBB Diversity Conference in 2001. "I think it had a positive effect. I'm still getting compliments about the Sarah Jones performance two weeks later."

Jones, whose one-woman performance, "Surface Transit," was the highlight of the weekend, portrayed a range of characters whose message was, "Don't prejudge; don't label people," Rankin said.

On Friday night Gretchen Groggel '03, president of the Student Government Association and the other main coordinator of this year's conference, introduced The Kinsey Sicks, which describes itself as "America's favorite dragapella beauty shop quartet."

"I'm proud to say the most popular events on campus last year were the drag show and the a cappella festival. We've embraced the best of both here tonight," Groggel said as she launched the raucously, sometimes raunchily, funny and musically accomplished celebration of queer culture.

Lisa Hallen, director of student activities, estimated that more than 300 people attended the Kinsey Sicks show even though the performers arrived on campus more than an hour late because of weather delays during their trip from San Francisco. Between 400 and 500 saw Sarah Jones, she said.