When students see a need, they fill it — eagerly breaking down barriers to make connections, even if it means scaling a 40-foot climbing wall.
When Gursharan Kaur first arrived as a freshman on Oregon State University’s campus back in 2014, an early impression struck her clearly: “I don’t see any people of color here.”
Eager to help give underrepresented students more visibility in the community, Kaur founded DamDiverse, an Instagram account dedicated to sharing the stories of students of color in an open-ended, unfiltered way — Humans of New York-style.
Her idea really took off — by the fall of 2019, DamDiverse had racked up more than 2,000 followers. But something was missing: an opportunity to connect in person. Meanwhile, across campus, Ali Al Mulla and Mohamed Alsaif — two members of Oregon State’s international student community — were having similar ideas.
Leaning on their extroversion and friendships with peers in the university’s Adventure Leadership Institute, the pair joined forces with Kaur, launching what would become one of OSU’s most successful cross-cultural mingling events to date: DamDiverse Climb Nights.
Bolstered by the fact that rock climbing is undeniably fun, DamDiverse Climb Nights provided international students a clear path to building up their social networks by connecting with peers outside their immediate circles in a low-pressure environment.
“It was so important for us to build trusting relationships with other international students,” Alsaif says. “They felt safe with us, so they were more willing to come to our events.”
And the events had other social benefits too. Not only did the Climb Nights provide a meaningful opportunity for international students to overcome the adjustment fatigue associated with attending college in a new country, they also brought some much-needed diversity into the rock climbing community at Oregon State.
“Rock climbing is a really white-dominated space,” Al Mulla explains. “And if you only see white people in a club, it can be really hard to feel safe attending, unless another person from your group comes with you.” Just one more reason visibility is so important.
Through events like climb nights and storytelling via social media, Kaur believes DamDiverse has made a lasting impact at Oregon State.
“I think we planted seeds and helped bring more representation to campus,” she says. “Students still message me to say that DamDiverse helped them know where to look for other students of color on campus. I’m proud of what we did.”
“To be truly diverse, we need to be inclusive. Everyone is different, but we can still unite as one.”