Lawrence and Kansas University should work more closely to promote diversity and solve cultural and community problems, those attending a Saturday forum agreed.

About 20 people participated in a daylong diversity summit sponsored by KU’s Graduate Professional Assn. at the Multicultural Resource Center.

Discussions ranged from attracting or developing technology “incubator” businesses that hire graduate students to publicizing the area’s different cultural offerings and dealing with the controversial statute that limits the number of students who can rent a single-family dwelling.

“In a lot of ways everything we talked about here came back to diversity,” said James Owen, a KU law student and executive director of the association.

Diversity, according to Owen, is the concept where all cultures, societies and religions work together.

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The summit was open to any KU student and administrator, and Lawrence city officials. All six of the Lawrence City Commission candidates attended at least part of the forum.

One of the ideas to come out of the summit was the development of a publication to identify and inform students and visitors about cultural attractions in Lawrence.

Incumbent City Commissioner Mike Rundle noted that efforts had been under way to get a national heritage designation for Lawrence. He said such a designation would help Lawrence publicize its Civil War era cultural history, such as the Underground Railroad.