Organizers of the Minority Student Organization Exposition, which will be held Nov. 1, hope to inform students of the various minority organizations on campus.

Larry Robertson, associate hall director in the Grant North residence hall and freshman experience programmer for the Grant North Complex, said, “Minority organizations are important in retaining minority students at a university, especially at a university that is predominantly white.”

The exposition will be held in the Grant North Cafeteria from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Robertson said invitational letters will be sent to all of the minority organizations Monday.

Robertson said, “Minority organizations are not a divison; they are embedded in retainment strategies in the university. Minority students should realize that being active helps them in their studies and in completing their education.”

Robertson said this is a cultural awareness experience, an educational experience and a social experience.

“Last year, we had 40 or more minority organizations on campus. We’d like to have as close to that number as possible.

“The expo will help them (minority organizations) and benefit them. It will benefit them for two reasons: memberships will increase immensely … and also, it will benefit the organizations, allowing them to become more unified,” Roberston said.

“It (the expo) brings together different types of organizations on campus, which have different types of roots.”

He said the expo makes recruitment easier for organizations and, through the increased membership, large scale programming can be accomplished.

The expo is an open invitation, a campus-wide event, bringing together a great part of the minorities on campus, Robertson said. He said he would like to see 500 to 600 students come to the expo.

“It encourages students to participate in campus activites and, through participation, they are retained at the university,” Robertson said.