Establish a diversity curriculum sub-committee to suggest courses for units to
propose, screen proposed new courses in the core diversity curriculum and to
ensure that they accomplish the intended goals (Kent State University Diversity
Implementation Plan 2001-2005).
Integrate multicultural programming, speakers and events into course syllabi and
class discussion (The Report of the Diversity Action Committee to the University
of Connecticut, Board of Trustees, 2002).
Encourage greater co-sponsoring of speakers and events between academic
departments and cultural centers (The Report of the Diversity Action Committee
to the University of Connecticut, Board of Trustees, 2002).
Develop and offer intensive seminars for faculty to transform their courses to
incorporate multicultural perspectives (Virginia Tech University Diversity Plan,
2000).
Increase the number of courses that incorporate multicultural perspectives and
require all students to take at least one course that incorporates multicultural
perspectives (Virginia Tech University Diversity Plan, 2000).
"Fields such as Women's Studies, Black Studies, Latino American Studies, Asian
American Studies, and American Indian Studies, must not be relegated to nominal
programs, viewed as self-serving and solipsistic. Instead, they must be
developed as strong academic entities within the university to provide the
scholarship specific to the human experiences they explore. By means of
documentation and analysis, the programs should provide the wellspring of
information and scholarship necessary to revise the traditional disciplines from
their white, male, Western bases and perspectives" (Butler, 1991).
An emerging curricular trend is the integration of community service into
academic courses. The community service is not merely an add-on to an existing
course. These programs, often called "service learning," provide students
intellectual preparation for the first-hand experience of working across
cultural differences in a community setting (McTighe Musil et. al., 1999).
A popular curricular model infuses diversity into existing curricula rather than
creating a diversity course requirement (McTighe Musil et. al., 1999).
"Course descriptions in which diversity issues are explicit are another strategy
for institutionalizing diversity in the curriculum. They reinforce the
commitment to diversity as an educational priority for a department or the
institution as a whole. Many campuses have incorporated diversity into general
education requirements, the major, and electives" (McTighe Musil et. al., 1999,
p. 36).
"One of the most common ways to guarantee that scholarly expertise in diversity
will continue to be a permanent part of an institution's faculty profile has
been to establish special studies programs where marginalized or
underrepresented groups become visible" (McTighe Musil et. al., 1999, p. 36).
"House diversity courses on a permanent basis and provide a continuing
institutional vehicle for generating new courses. Such home departments also
insure that a given school has a core of faculty with scholarly expertise in a
given subject area and for whom research and teaching in diversity will continue
to be a priority" (McTighe Musil et. al., 1999, p. 36). "While some campuses wonder whether it might be better to transform the existing
curriculum rather than to develop specialty areas, the presence of both can be
educationally beneficial. Specialty areas provide expertise and a consistent
source of scholarship" (McTighe Musil et. al., 1999, p. 36).
"At Arizona State University West, for example, diversity in the classroom has
become an integral part of a comprehensive faculty development program.
Throughout the semester a series of videos address diversity in the classroom,
business, and society. On the day after the screening, faculty members come
together to discuss how to incorporate new ideas into their syllabi" (McTighe
Musil et. al., 1999, p. 37).
" . . . the establishment of official diversity courses does not preclude the
need to discuss relevant issues of diversity in other mainstream courses. To
relegate the issues to special topics not only ghettoizes the material and the
course but also sends a clear message to students that issues of diversity are
tangential" (Brayboy, 2003).
" . . . the message appears to be that only faculty of color are able to teach
diversity courses. Clearly, there are White faculty who can teach courses like
'Diversity in America' or 'A Diverse American Society.' By sharing in the work
of instituting diversity, these White faculty illustrate the importance and
salience of the course for the department and its students" (Brayboy, 2003).
There must be assistance in teaching diversity courses. The assistance should
come in the form of a research and/or teaching assistant (Brayboy, 2003).
