By Marie Williams
Armed with pens and hand-held tape recorders, a nearly anonymous team of eight students works to create an awareness of BYU’s cultural diversity.
Their office, a small cubicle in the Wilkinson Student Center, produces the Eagle’s Eye, a journal that has attracted more than 2,500 readers nationwide.
The Eagle’s Eye is the official publication of Multicultural Student Services. It focuses on updating alumni and informing potential BYU students on the services of MSS, said Eagle’s Eye advisor Lynette Simmons.
“We also provide training for students so they can gain valuable experience on the job,” Simmons said.
The Eagle’s Eye is published three times a year and is composed of mainly in-depth features about diversity at BYU and updates on campus events. From research on shared bloodlines between Africans and Native Americans to editorials on Beowulf, the student staff has a lot of ground to cover.
“Every issue we try to include information on all the cultural groups represented by the Multicultural Office,” said Eagle’s Eye editor Gabriel Gonzalez, a senior majoring in Spanish translation from Montevideo, Uruguay.
Despite the large range of issues covered by the journal, very few students know about the Eagle’s Eye, said circulation specialist Isuara Arredondo, a senior from Houston, majoring in psychology.
“It would be nice to see more readership since we’re really informative on the different cultures here at BYU,” Arrendondo said.
Although the journal does not enjoy widespread notoriety on campus, it has been published for more 30 years. In 1970, Arturo Deltoyos founded it as the official publication of BYU’s Indian Education Program.
“From this beginning we have evolved enormously into a journal that is professional and focuses on many ethnic groups,”Gonzalez said.
Not only does the Eagle’s Eye educate its readers about diversity at BYU, but it educates its multi-cultural staff as well.
“Before I worked here I didn’t feel there was a lot of diversity at BYU. Now I realize that there is a lot of variety, which is great,” said staff writer Carolina Hulet, a senior from Venezuela, majoring in international law and diplomacy.
“This job will help me in my future since writing is such a basic skill,” Hulet said.
All staff members of the Eagle’s Eye are sponsored by the MSS’s career training program.
