Faculty consider new take on diversity course

Any class in the Multicultural Certificate Program would qualify under the proposal.

By Jimmy Hibsch

Published Nov. 5, 2010

A proposed approach to address the diversity requirement from the General Education review committee was met with the disdain by several members of the Faculty Council at Thursday's meeting.

“Because we are in a global world and a global society, it is important for students to be more familiar with different kinds of cultures and backgrounds,” said Victoria Johnson, MU American Association of University Professors vice president and presenter of the committee’s findings.

In what Johnson originally said she thought was a clever way to approach the requirement, the committee suggested requiring one of the General Education courses to be listed in the Multicultural Certificate Program. Hundreds of courses fall under the certificate program, from Cross-Cultural Journalism to Stress in Families. Johnson later said the high number of courses could be a cause for question.

“Personally, I’m a little concerned because it’s almost anything and everything,” Johsnon said. “I’d rather see it a little more subordinate to society.”

Black Studies program assistant director April Langley took offense to the committee’s proposal, claiming it completely opposes the initial mission of the diversity course initiative.

“This is problematic on multiple levels,” Langley said. “It seems in some ways that it is apathetical to the statement and the mission on the university’s commitment to diversity.”

Instead of being a diversity requirement, the committee’s idea would be referred to as a world cultures requirement. This could potentially cause another problem, Faculty Council Chairwoman Leona Rubin said.

“What if a Korean student, for example, decides to take Korean Cultures?” Rubin said. “There’s absolutely no expansion of their cultural horizons.”

A class teaching cultural issues would not prevent issues such as last year’s cotton ball incident, Langley said. She said this is why a class centered about diversity is crucial.

“The list of Multicultural Certificate courses is so general that you can almost take ‘dancing on one leg’ and you could get your diversity requirement complete,” Langley said. “The point of this was precisely to expose our students, to equip them and prepare them to engage in a world that is vast and that considers a vast number of cultures and of contexts. This will not educate our students on honor and respect.”

Langley tossed around the possibility of creating a specific course to address the intended purpose of the diversity course requirement and said she would be more than willing to look at ways this could be composed.

“We really need to slow down and look at this very carefully,” Langley said. “That’s if we want to stay true to the stated mission and the commitment of the university.”

She added MU already has several courses that could satisfy an acceptable course requirement.

“It’s not as difficult as you may think, and there are courses that we already teach that can do this,” Langley said. “We need to identify those. We don’t have a multicultural or world culture mission statement. We have a diversity mission statement.”

Rubin said she would be willing to help Langley identify these courses and also that though nothing is finalized, she isn’t confident the committee’s proposal would quench MU’s thirst for a diversity course.

“It’s certainly going to take a lot more discussion then just taking this big pack of courses and saying, ‘This works,’” Rubin said.

The committee will continue its discussion on this issue at its next meeting.