Bi-Weekly Newsletter Promotes Diversity

The Diversity Dispatch club published its 1st online newsletter tackling the issue of lack of diversity at Campolindo on August 24.

“I have long felt that the curriculum in our schools does not teach enough about the amazing things done by women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities etc., instead treating them like victims or side characters in the white male story,” explained Club President junior Namratha Kasalanati.

Kasalanati said that the “spirit of activism” going around is what inspired her to create the club.

“Diversity Dispatch aims to combat that by highlighting the contributions of these marginalized individuals and reminding people that white heterosexual males are far from the only people who can do great things for the world,” Kasalanati added.

Newsletter editor senior Jacqueline Artiaga explained a goal she had for the club. “[Only] a niche group [of students were] really involved [with diversity efforts,] but the greater majority of the school wasn’t well informed. By making this newsletter and publishing it to the whole school, I hope more people can have conversations comfortably in classes and with friends and family.”

Kasalanati revealed the kind of content the club sought to publish.”We aim to cover content that shows people of diverse backgrounds succeeding in various fields, to give students a chance to see people like them doing great things, reassure students that they can do anything regardless of their race, gender, gender identity, sexuality, disability, or other factors, and educate students about the contributions of marginalized communities.”

The club accomplished this goal in this 1st issue by featuring several famous people of color, including composer Scott Joplin, photographer Zanele Muholi, and movie director Bong Joon-Ho.

Senior Sadie Habas said, “most of what we are taught in school is Eurocentric…it’s so important to educate people about diverse authors, musicians, and artists and bring their works into our curriculum in order to make Campolindo students more knowledgeable and defeat ignorance/any racial biases that they may have.”

Kasalanati’s hopes “to see teachers discussing or referencing Diversity Dispatch in the classroom. I would also like to see it go beyond Campo, to the other schools in the district to have a larger impact on our community.”

“In the future, we are going to choose a theme for our issues,” Kasalanati added. “Our next theme is individuals with physical disabilities, and therefore our literature, art, music, film, and featured figure will all relate to individuals with physical disabilities in some way.”

According to Habas, students will be able to send in their own opinion pieces and experiences to be featured in the newsletter through visiting the club website’s “Contact Us” page.