Running Head: BRIEFING BY DR.

EDGHILL-WALDEN
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Briefing by Dr. Vernese Edghill-Walden

Day 2

The Chicago Seminar on Business and Society

BE/SO-425

Kristie Archer
International College of the Cayman Islands
May 18th, 2016

BRIEFING BY DR. EDGHILL-WALDEN

At the end of our day, we were given a presentation by Dr. Vernese Edghill Walden, of
who is the senior associate vice president for academic diversity and chief diversity officer at
Northern Illinois University. She has a bachelors degree in sociology, a masters degree in
higher education administration and a doctorate in sociology. The topic she presented to the
group was Diversity and its role in business development. She spoke on important diversity is
and asked us our opinion on what diversity means to us. We all basically answered along the
same lines of diversity meaning: race, ethnicity, beliefs, sexual orientation, gender, and culture.
She also discussed the difference between diversity and inclusiveness among individuals and
also asked the group what it meant to us. Inclusive as she concluded is to value someone elses
opinion or identity and still maintain your own.
A Tedtalk video on the topic of diversity was also shown to the group titled Color blind
or color brave? by Mellody Hobson. In the video, Mellody spoke of how being not only female,
but a woman of color has affected her throughout her life. She is one of the top businesswomen
in America and holds the position of President at Ariel Investments. She spoke of how many
people stereotype individuals of color, and at one point mistaken for the help at an event, when in
fact she was the guest of honor. Mellody encouraged individuals especially the youth to
empower themselves and believe that you can do anything or be anyone you want to be, and not
to be brought down by discrimination. As highlighted in her Tedtalk, Mellody encouraged
individuals to be color brave and not color blind; to break down the walls of everyday stigma and
stereotypes, and be brave to stand up and speak about racism and discrimination. For most this is
a sensitive subject to speak about, because it makes people uncomfortable in various ways. After
watching this video it really got me thinking again that even though the United States are ahead

BRIEFING BY DR. EDGHILL-WALDEN

in many ways, they are still behind when it comes to diversity. For most, they can only see white
or black, and that there is no in between.
Dr. Edghill Walden continued on the topic of diversity and inclusiveness and suggested
that if we were all to come together and unite, and not feed into the negative stereotypes of
racism we could break and overcome many barriers. Also, she spoke of implicit bias, which
means that it is not something we have direct control over; rather its an unconscious act. Implicit
bias occurs when we grow up being fed by the media, society, our community or our families, to
believe or discriminate amongst race, even though as we get older we may not necessarily
believe what has been ingrained in our minds. For example, if you were walking down the street
and a man of color was approaching you suddenly unconsciously hold onto your bag tighter and
are unsure later why you did that. It is because of what has been shown and taught to you
growing up; that a white man is probably less dangerous than a man of color. That is the stigma
that has been embedded in our minds on an unconscious level. She also encouraged the group to
watch a video titled, Implicit bias. I will be watching this time permitting and sharing with
others the knowledge gained, especially being a human and social services major Ive studied
this topic before and its interesting to learn more about it.
In relation to Cayman, we are a very diverse island with over a hundred plus nationalities
living and working on island. Due to this fact prejudice and discrimination is not only amongst
the locals but to the expatriates working on the island; both within the private and public sectors.
There is a law put in place to ensure Caymanians are hired if qualified and suited for the job.
Unfortunately sometimes this isnt always the case, and an expatriate can or is hired over a
Caymanian, and this, in turn. causes angst towards the individual or the company hiring.
According to the text, All businesses are required to obey the laws mandating equal

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employment opportunity and prohibiting sexual and racial harassment; those that fail to do risk
expensive lawsuits and public disapproval (Lawrence & Weber, 2014, p. 393). The text
continues, Companies that manage diversity effectively take a number of related actions, in
addition to obeying all relevant laws. Research shows that these actions include the following:
articulate clear diversity roles, set quantitative objectives and hold managers accountable
(Lawrence & Weber, 2014, p. 393).
I believe the world still has a long way to go before diversity will be fully accepted by all.
Until individuals can be rid of stigmas, isms, discriminations, and stereotypes we will always
have separation amongst each other. Quoting Dr. Edghill Walden she said, That there is a way to
maintain some type of inferiority, and thats how you really keep people from not unifying, and
you find ways to divide. She continued and also said that If there was a unity of people that
came together regardless of what was going on it would probably be pretty powerful.

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References

Lawrence, A. & Weber, J., (2014). Business and society: stakeholders, ethics, public policy (14th
ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill