Contemporary multicultural issues: student, faculty, and administrator perceptions

Community College Enterprise, The, Spring 2005 by Watson, Lemuel W, Williams, Frankie K, Derby, Dustin C

The purpose of this study is to determine how students, staff, faculty, and administrators view campus diversity and multicultural issues and activities. The findings reveal that students, faculty, and administrators view the campus differently in terms of racial and social climate. In addition, faculty and students differ about how diversity and multiculturalism should fit into the academic experience. Finally, faculty and students seem to have the most positive perception of the overall campus environment Recommendations are shared at the end of the report.

Introduction

American higher education is challenged to prepare its youth for active participation in a high tech, multicultural world. The world economy dictates that we educate our citizens for escalating global competition. It is imperative that institutions develop effective learning techniques-in and out of the classroom-as they struggle to create programs which support persistence-to-degree among diverse student populations, particularly important for community colleges because more than 50% of all full-time, first time students begin their education at community colleges (Pierce, 1996; Seidman, 1995; National Center for Education Statistics, 2003). Cultural differences and similarities continue to be topics of concern for educators, humanitarians, and politicians. Books, movies, and documentaries inform us of the advantages and disadvantages to any society choosing to divide and discriminate against its citizens based on race and ethnicity.

In addition, colleges and universities need to move from cultural diversity to multiculturalism-from like groups banding together to address their special needs, to the reshaping of the institutional culture to include minorities in a significant way. To succeed in college, students from all racial and ethnic groups need to experience a variety of challenges in and out of the classroom. Undoubtedly, increasingly diverse student enrollments have created challenges in every area of campus life. Fortunately, most of the challenges have given rise to a discourse about diversity and multiculturalism that has enhanced student learning and development, faculty development, and administrative practices.

Institutions expend enormous resources on multicultural initiatives in the name of creating civility and comfort in the work place. The effort has generated a number of questions: What are we truly trying to accomplish with an integrated society? What do we really mean-short term and long term-when we speak of a multicultural campus community? Do we have a vision of what a multicultural campus should look like? How do we operate a campus to welcome all students while providing a safe zone for free and civil debate?

After thirty years of integration and multicultural initiatives, can we truly say the efforts have provided a better education for all students in community colleges? Are minority and majority students' college experiences similar? Do community colleges and their agents know how to design a campus environment that is welcoming to all students? These are important questions to consider if we are to respond with a sound ethical and moral voice regarding our contemporary multicultural initiatives (Watson, Terrell, Wright & Associates, 2002).

One of the initial steps in accomplishing a truly inclusive and equitable organization is to understand the key terms and concepts relevant to the development of a multicultural campus environment. Multiculturalism is viewed as the process of increasing awareness of, and knowledge about, human diversity in ways that are translated into respectful human interactions and effective interconnections (D'Andrea & Daniels, 1995). Therefore, multiculturalism is seen as an action or set of interactions that intentionally promote respect for human difference and positive, meaningful interactions. Such interactions have, as their base, a fundamental belief that race, ethnic and cultural differences are valuable and should be included in the college's programs, curricula, and services. More specifically, multiculturalism might be seen as a state of being in which humans feel comfortable in their communication with people from any culture, in any situation, because they desire to learn about others and are empathie in their quest. Accordingly, a "multicultural organization is one that is genuinely committed to diverse representation of its membership; is sensitive to maintaining an open, supportive and responsive environment; is working toward and purposefully including elements of diverse cultures in its ongoing operations; and is authentic in its response to issues confronting it" (Barr &. Strong, 1988, p. 85).

The pathway to providing a quality education for all students while recognizing the diversity they bring to the academic setting in the community college is not a simple one. In fact, it takes a concerted effort and a sincere commitment by all involved for any institution to realize its vision for multiculturalism. Diversity and multiculturalism are of great importance in the community college, for it is the community college that provides the initial exposure to higher education for most non-traditional and minority students. Adopting a multicultural stance in the community college is helpful in serving a diverse student clientele (Burstein, 1997). Though student diversity on community college campuses is increasing rapidly, community colleges are not achieving similar levels of diversity among their administrators (Foote, 1996). Some experts believe that community colleges will not reach their full potential as a catalyst for educational and social progress without increasing the commitment to multicultural leadership (Bowen & Muller, 1996).