Students lined up between Klehm Hall and the Life Science building Tuesday, shirts in hand, ready to express their diversity through tie-dye.

The University Board’s cultural arts representation committee handed out free shirts on a first-come, first-serve basis and also encouraged students to bring their own shirts.

From there, students dunked their shirts in water until they were saturated, then wringed them out.

Next, students went to a table that had different tie-dye designs displayed with rubber bands to hold their design in place.

After choosing and fashioning their design, students were ready to dye their shirts.

Each color offered represented a different aspect that makes people unique.

For example, the color green signified that a person was a vegetarian or vegan, a scarlet red color signified that a person liked dogs, light green was for upperclassmen and yellow stood for members belonging to the LGBTQ community and their allies.

Among the students in the process of applying dye was Breanna Young, a senior applied engineering and technology major.

“When you see a color that actually relates to you, it makes it more interesting,” Young said.

Nia Douglas, a junior family and consumer sciences major, finished her shirt with a myriad of colors she said represented her best.

Her shirt was red, representing her love for dogs, yellow for her support of the LGBTQ community and belief that everyone deserves equal rights, purple because she is an off-campus student and light green for being an upperclassman.

“It was different from just regular tie-dye and makes it more meaningful,” Douglas said. “Each color meant something to me.”

Once students were done applying the dye, they were ushered to another table that was giving out Ziploc bags to hold their newly dyed shirt. The dye is supposed to set for about six to eight hours after the initial application and then should be rinsed and dried.

The UB’s cultural arts representation committee aimed to kick off their semester of diversity events by providing a way for students to show off their diversity through various colors that can be used to dye their shirts.

Angelica Cataldo can be reached at 581-2812 or amcataldo@eiu.edu.