As an institution, the American university is charged with providing a suitable environment for higher learning, a place where people from all walks of life come together to develop cutting-edge ideas, new approaches, and resolutions to global problems and issues. For decades now, universities embraced the notion that a diverse student population provides educational benefits to both students and faculty, and enriches the learning environment as a whole. Defenders of affirmative action at the university level argue that this is, in fact, a critical component to developing a setting in which students can expand to become the leaders of tomorrow in a world that is increasingly global, multi-cultural, and diverse on a multitude of levels. Regardless of the benefits, cultural diversity offers in a higher education context, the challenge for universities often lies in fostering campuses that are truly integrated, inviting diverse groups to come together and learn from each other in productive ways.
A Case for Cultural Diversity at the University Level
Many education experts view a multi-cultural, multi-racial, and otherwise diverse student body as an educational asset. Not only does it extend educational opportunities to underrepresented groups who might otherwise not have access to higher education, it also gives all students the opportunity to learn to function in a more realistic representation of our very diverse society. Various studies show similar findings that point to benefits, in terms of not only academic development, social responsibility, and personal development, but also extending into levels of cultural awareness, intellectual and social confidence, and commitment to promoting racial understanding and cross-cultural unity in their adult lives.
Most agree that cultural diversity affects not only the individual experience of all students (regardless of race) but also the social environment of the campus community as well. Thus, a diverse study body leads to campuses that are higher functioning and more united as a whole.
Establishing Truly Intercultural Campuses
While the physical challenge of establishing intercultural campuses has fallen by the wayside with the increase in “minority” populations seeking a higher education, and the opportunities afforded those populations by way of affirmative action, college campuses across the country still struggle to create environments that honor diversity while facilitating unity. The first step is recognizing that there is a difference between racial desegregation and racial integration, between the mere existence of physical contact between races, and the facilitation of complex interactions and exchanges between racially and culturally diverse students. Essentially, the mere presence of diverse students is not enough; an environment needs to be fostered by the relationships that are formed and a sense of unity is created.
A core problem that consistently arises in the embracing of cultural diversity within the setting of college campuses is the subtext by which whiteness is rejected in favor of embracing those of color. Greg Tanaka (former Director of the Intercultural Initiative at Loyola Marymount University), Parker Johnson (Acting Assistant to the President for Intercultural Affairs at Loyola), and N. Brian Hu (Loyola Director of Institutional Research) formed a research team in the late 1990s aimed at addressing this issue. In their opinion, the multicultural approach was in fact hindering efforts to bring the culturally diverse Loyola campus together. Rather, they sought to foster an intercultural campus, “where ‘interculturalism’ is defined as ‘learning and sharing across difference where no one culture dominates.’”
To do this, they developed a three-year project in which intercultural interventions were introduced across all of the university’s major internal functions, including staff interaction, curriculum, pedagogy, and faculty hiring. A student certificate program in intercultural competency was also initiated. Their innovative program was considered highly successful, having measurable, positive impacts on the cultural climate of the campus in just two years.
Another example of a diversity program that works on the college level is the Intergroup Relations Program (IGR) at the University of Michigan. This is a series of courses for first-year students that incorporate as a main component of their curriculum participation in intergroup dialogues, specifically between students from two identity groups with a history of disagreement. The program is predicated on five theoretical principles that are believed to have a positive impact on the development of intercultural environments. These include the physical presence of diverse groups, a change of context from the students’ pre-college experiences, the establishment of equality among peers, the facilitation of productive discussions under the rules of civil discourse, and the normalization and negotiation of conflict, whether personal or cultural.
Cultural diversity creates a higher education experience in which all students have the opportunity to be immersed in all the richness the world has to offer. By being forced to operate within a diverse milieu, students are challenged to overcome differences in background, language, world-view, politics, and culture in order to live, work, and socialize with those who have had experiences quite different from their own. In the end, students — whatever gender, race, ethnicity, or other qualifier they identify with — gain the opportunity to push beyond familiar boundaries in order to seek common ground, preparing them to be global citizens in a culturally diverse world.
Sources:
Chang, Mitchell J., and Alexander W. Astin. 1997. “Who Benefits from Racial Diversity in Higher Education,” Diversity Digest: Winter 1997. Retrieved on December 13, 2010, http://www.diversityweb.org/digest/w97/research.html.
Gurin, Patricia, Biren (Ratnesh) A. Nagda, and Gretchen E. Lopez. 2003. “The Benefits of Diversity in Education for Democratic Citizenship,” Journal of Social Issues: January 2003. Retrieved on December 12, 2010, http://www.personal.umich.edu/~pgurin/benefits.html.
Milem, Jeffrey F. 2003. “The Educational Benefits of Diversity: Evidence from Multiple Sectors.”
In Mitchell Chang et al (eds.), Compelling Interest: Examining the Evidence on Racial Dynamics in Colleges and Universities, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 126–169. Retrieved on December 13, 2010, http://www.stanford.edu/~hakuta/www/policy/racial_dynamics/Chapter5.pdf.
Pettigrew, T.F. 1998. “Prejudice and Discrimination on the College Campus.”
In J.L. Eberharde & S.T. Fiske (eds.), Confronting Racism: The Problem and the Response, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 263–279.
Tanaka, Greg, Parker Johnson, and N. Brian Hu. 2001. “Creating an Intercultural Campus: A New Approach to Diversity,” Diversity Digest: Winter 2001. Retrieved on December 13, 2010, http://www.diversityweb.org/Digest/w01/interculturalism.html.