Brookhaven highlights unity

DOE Brookhaven Site Office personnel who helped provide or organize the international exhibits for the Second Annual Unity Day were: (from left) Patricia Quit, Emily Lalima, Mohammad Ali, Nand Narain, Judy Badal, Lou Sadler, and Jerald Bond.

Brookhaven highlights unity
Flags, arts and crafts from different nations, and a warm welcome transformed the DOE Brookhaven Site Office's Second Annual Unity Day into a celebration of people and cultures working together. Says Site Office manager Michael Holland: "We're fortunate here at BNL. We are a little slice of the world community, all different, yet we work toward a common goal: to perform world class scientific research."

Diversity Office manager Shirley Kendall was accompanied by representatives of several Brookhaven Employee Recreation Association cultural clubs: the African American Club; the Asian Pacific American Association; the Gay, Lesbian, or Bisexual Employee Club (GLOBE); and the Hispanic Heritage Club. Deborah Bauer of GLOBE emphasized the need to treat each other with respect. "If the target of a joke or remark is offended, that's harassment," she explains. "It's how the target feels that is the deciding factor."

An international buffet and quiz games based on international cultures completed the day. Kendall concluded: "Unity Day is one tradition I hope has a long life at BNL." 

Liz Seubert, Brookhaven National Laboratory