Students of different races, backgrounds and beliefs came together to share their thoughts on race and culture in an open forum Thursday night in the Alumni Memorial Union Multicultural Center.

The discussion was part of "Outspoken," a program designed by the Office of Student Development to encourage students to openly discuss issues of diversity.

"We want to create cross-cultural understanding of each other," said Brent Bray, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences. "We emphasize unity. We may disagree on some topics, but at least we're having a productive conversation."

Thursday night's discussion, which had 12 participants, focused on students' views on the difference between a person's race and a person's culture.

"They're not interchangeable, but people talk about them like they are," said Ma Nee Xiong, a junior in the College of Health Sciences.

One topic of discussion dealt with children adopted into American families from foreign countries.

"We talked about the example tonight of someone who is Asian, but adopted into a white family in America," said Julie Knorowski, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences. "Though racially Asian, the person will identify oneself with the quote-unquote 'American' culture."

Dialogues such as this attempt to meet the objective of the Intercultural Programs, a division of the Office of Student Development, said Pam Peters, assistant dean for intercultural programs.

"Our goal is to create well-rounded students," Peters said. "By the time students graduate from Marquette, I hope feel like they can have a comfortable conversation on culture or diversity."

Peters said she started the discussions after hearing about caustic arguments students had on campus last year.

"Last year, students experienced people bashing each other — not just on issues of diversity but also politics — but not wanting to talk about it," she said. "I think this program helps people talk about their differences."

Students in attendance were pleased with the outcome of the conversation.

"We're actually engaging in discussion and discourse not normally brought up in society," Bray said. "We hope people come out of this with a broader worldview."

Xiong agreed.

"It's a way to get people more aware and talking about issues that they are uncomfortable talking about alone," she said.

Having students explore and understand diversity is important to Keenan Grenell, associate provost for diversity.

"It's really about education," he said. "Diversity is about exploring different possibilities and exposing individuals and opening up their worlds."

Grenell said he would love to see more programs that address issues of diversity.

"I do think more programming needs to take place," he said. "Young people don't have the level of exposure that we adults have and it's our job to get them to that level of exposure."

Thursday's race and culture discussion was the third in the "Outspoken" series. The dialogues are slated to become a regular bi-monthly program as they progress, according to Peters.

Next week's "Outspoken" discussion will be "A Day in the Life of an American Indian" to commemorate November as American Indian Celebration. Topics for the future include race and sexual orientation and the concept of Asians as the model minority.