Diversity

National Inclusive Schools Week focuses on diversity and why it's important. Boylston Elementary School students will be participating in the event all week, making posters and writing essays on the topic as part of the country-wide contest. - Matt Gunderson

Comedian Andy Dick has agreed to enter a pretrial diversion program that, if completed successfully, would absolve him of sex abuse charges arising from a 2010 nightclub incident, authorities said. Corky Hammers, an assistant prosecutor in West Virginia's Cabell County, said Monday that the program requires Dick to stay out of legal trouble for the next six months under the agreement. It allows for no drug use and no arrests during that time. If Dick fails to comply, Hammers says Dick could be tried on felony charges stemming from the club incident in which he was accused of...

The mayor's Commission for Diversity and Tolerance is seeking residents to fill several open positions. The nine-member volunteer panel meets monthly and works with city officials, police, local service agencies, and businesses to eliminate incidents of hate and ensure that Newburyport is a city welcoming to all. In addition to outreach, the commission awards small grants to organizations that promote tolerance. The deadline to apply for one of the open positions is Jan. 9. Letters of interest, with resume detailing applicable experience, may be mailed to Donna Scott, chairwoman of the Commission for...

Three Boston city councilors are pushing for the city's high schools to better integrate studies of African-American, Latino, and Asian/Pacific Islander history into their core curriculum. Councilors Felix G. Arroyo, Tito Jackson, and John R. Connolly have called for a hearing to discuss ways to better reflect the school district's diversity in the classroom. "It's important that all students in the schools can see themselves in the curriculum," Arroyo said Tuesday. "So much of what makes the world what it is today are contributions from all backgrounds.

WITH REGARD to Joan Vennochi's Jan. 12 op-ed column "Brown - the master of political theater," in which she asks whether Massachusetts voters want "an all-Democratic delegation, which votes in virtual lockstep on every major issue? Or, do they prefer a little more diversity and a little less predictability in Washington?" Perhaps in 2012 what we should really ask is whether Massachusetts wants a virtually all-white-male delegation? Monica Nelson

The YWCA of Greater Newburyport is scheduled to hold its second annual fall forum on "Diversity and Housing: Enriching our Community," at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the auditorium at City Hall on Green Street. Three regional specialists on fair housing, open communities, and the positive impact of increased diversity will lead a discussion to explore how to make Newburyport - with a population that is nearly 95 percent white - and its surrounding communities more welcoming to people of color.

In Roxbury, as Christians stood with Muslims and as white college students stood with a black woman who recently lost two nephews to gun violence, the voice of the Occupy Boston movement sounded more diverse than ever in the three weeks since protesters set up tents in the Financial District. "We're one family," said True-See Allah of the Nation of Islam, addressing a crowd of more than 500 in Dudley Square during a rally for Occupy the Hood, a movement in Roxbury allied to Occupy Boston and other Occupy movements around the country.

THE AUTHORS of “In Boston, diversity is a mixed bag’’ (Metro, June 5) misinterpret the diversity index they cite to suggest that, in Suffolk County, “residents now [have] about a 50-50 chance of living next to someone racially different from themselves.’’ The index is purported to illustrate the probability that two people, “chosen at random’’ from a geographic area, are of a different race. This measure is different from the probability of two people living next to each other being of a different race.

A group of minority police officers wants Boston city councilors to put pressure on Mayor Thomas Menino to promote more members of minority groups as supervisors and in specialized units after promises were made last year to diversify the department’s ranks. The City Council has scheduled a hearing today on police diversity, and minority officers are promising to crowd the chambers. “We aren’t further along than when we started,’’ said Larry Ellison, president of the Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers.

The NBA isn’t resting on its laurels as a pacesetter in sports diversity. The league has again earned an A grade in a study of the diversity of its leadership in its front office and its 30 teams. The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida released its annual report on the league Thursday. The NBA received an A-plus for race and an A-minus for gender. It is the only men’s pro league to be awarded an overall A. Using data from the 2010-11 season, the study found that for professional positions at the league...

A few years ago I attended a party. I met a lovely woman there. She was excited to meet me because she had just met my husband. This was exciting news to me as well, especially since I'm not married. I scanned the room quickly to determine who she might consider a good candidate and chuckled when I recognized immediately who she meant. I then asked her to point out my husband. She gestured toward the man I had picked. How did I know? Simple: I am black and he was the only other black person in the room.

In the mid-'90s, around the time Elizabeth Warren's name was appearing on a list of minority law professors, I was applying for entry-level reporting jobs at dozens of newspapers. In a few cases — one of which involved a summer job at a paper tartly critical of affirmative action — something odd happened. First came the nibble of interest; later, the bashful questions: What, exactly, was my ethnic background? Perhaps I'd like to be considered for a minority internship? At the time, I was in my early 20s, underemployed, and eager to please.

To survive and prosper, more of the region's farmers are looking for creative ways to generate revenue and appeal to consumers. Siena Farms, Sudbury Starting to raise chickens to sell eggs and supplement produce operation, runs a small produce store in Boston's South End. Atlas Farms, Deerfield Grows many varieties of vegetables both for farmers markets and wholesale, and operates a farm store that sells other people's locally...

Olympia Dukakis as a bawdy, butch lesbian; gay Arab men fleeing their homeland in order to live openly; a Jesuit priest who rankled Rome when he declared homosexuality to be compatible with Catholic church teachings; the most famous '70s rock star no one's heard of, and more. There's little that's generic or PC about the films and subjects in the 28th Boston LGBT Film Festival. Running Thursday through May 13, the oldest festival of its kind delivers features, documentaries, and shorts from around the world as well as parties, filmmaker visits, and panel talks.

Actor and psychologist Michael Fowlin will focus on diversity and creating an atmosphere of worldwide inclusion to all people in performances Tuesday for seventh- and eighth-graders at Ashland Middle School.A performance for parents will take place at 7 p.m. in the school's Little Theatre. For more information, visit the district's website, www.ashland.k12.ma.us, or www.michaelfowlin.com.

BERKELEY, Calif. - Fifteen years ago, California voters were asked: Should colleges consider a student's race when they decide who gets in and who doesn't? With an emphatic "no," they made California the first state to ban the use of race and ethnicity in public university admissions, as well as hiring and contracting. Since then, California's most selective public colleges and graduate schools have struggled to assemble student bodies that reflect the state's demographic mix. Universities around the country could soon face the same challenge.

Spike Lee just premiered the fifth film in his "continuing chronicles of Brooklyn, N.Y.," at the Sundance Film Festival, but the filmmaker is still frustrated at the lack of diversity in the entertainment industry. Lee said Monday that in the "upper echelons of television and studios, it's 1950. It's Eisenhower. " He says there is much work to be done before the film industry reflects the diversity of the United States. He noted that the U.S. Census shows that "white Americans will be a minority by 2045, maybe sooner," and said it makes "good business sense" for companies,...

Yousif Hanna entered Boston College High School as a sophomore in 2009. Hanna and his parents are Iraqi and had recently fled their homeland, fearing for their lives. Although he did not speak or read much English, Hanna quickly adapted to his new learning environment, earning honor-roll grades at the all-boys' private high school. Among the first classmates to befriend him was Frankie Davis, whose mother is from the Dominican Republic and whose father's roots are Irish-Italian.

The city's Commission for Diversity and Tolerance is seeking nominations for one man and one woman for its 17th annual Peace Prize. Nominees must be residents of Newburyport who have demonstrated peacemaking skills through good conflict resolution techniques and through their association with a diverse mix of peers, and have made Newburyport a more welcoming place to live. To nominate a candidate for the prize, send a brief letter describing how your nominee exemplifies peacemaking, furthers Newburyport's policy to promote and support a sense of welcome, inclusion, and worth for all, and works...