The inevitability of a nation the size of the United States is clusterization into groups, rather than coming together as a nation, a professor from Washington University says.

Professor Stephen Legomsky spoke at the SIU School of Law Tuesday, discussing the lack of unity in the nation for the Hiram H. Lesar Lecture Series.

In Legomsky’s speech, E Pluribus Unum:Immigration, Race and Other Deep Divides, he said it is not realistic for the people of America to really be one nation.

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I don’t think that 260 million people can achieve an enduring kind of kinship, he said. Sometimes it is necessary if there are going to be insiders that there be outsiders as well. It is a natural thing that exists here.

The benefits of learning from different cultures was something Legomsky also addressed.

He said people can learn from people of different generations, religions and races of the country.

People have different basic desires when it comes to basic things, he said. This could be a positive thing for people to learn.

Instead of being one, it should be few, because we really are not one. We are a lot of different cultures, and that should be recognized, he said.

Legomsky also discussed immigration, which he said is the core of the country’s make-up.

The pioneer immigrants came here with work ethic, family values, initiative and optimism, he said. Some of these people had to leave everything behind in search for a life here in the U.S.

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He said his life has been touched and enriched by immigrants. In closing, he gave a recipe to the 50 people in attendance.

I like to eat granola, so I want to share the recipe with you, he said. You take wheat flakes, peanuts, wheat germ, raisins and dates, and you mix them all up. When you’re ready, you pour in milk, and then you add to it some peaches, raspberries, strawberries or whatever fruit is in season.

I find when I go to eat my bowl of granola, each of these individual ingredients somehow manages to enhance one another.

Maria Frankowska, an international law professor at the SIU School of Law, said she was very impressed with the speech.

I think he addressed a very important question, she said. He made the positive point of diversity and its strengths. One should feel enriched after this presentation.