As any of us who have logged into our e-mail or paid any attention on Grounds knows, the University will be holding a Day of Dialogue Sept. 24. On this day, the goal is to start conversation - to talk to your friends and neighbors in the community about 'mutual responsibilities' in regard to bias, discrimination or outright hate. Such discussion and emphasis is encouraging, as many of us in the bubble of Mr. Jefferson's University are discovering these sentiments persist here every day. But as I applaud the administration's attempt to shed light on these issues, there is another way to promote social understanding of our differences through engaged dialogue and critical analysis that the University is undercutting, and more importantly, underfunding. I am referring to an academic course that is, at least at first, popular with students because of its grade distribution. But those same students, including myself, also appreciate the course for teaching skills that we can use for the rest of their lives. The course is Multicultural Education.
Taught in the Education School by Prof. Bob Covert, this class engages students with varied perspectives to consider multiculturalism. Ranging from classic racism, sexism and homophobia to classism and ableism (which many still cannot define), students are put to task to engage others who are not like them, share personal experiences with discrimination and bias, and discuss the effects of prejudices in our society. Students experience the same dialogue and community interaction that President Teresa A. Sullivan seeks to create with the Day of Dialogue later this week, only more intensively and constructively. Students experience an open environment where 'the invisible is made visible,' and the comfort zones within the racial, ethnic, gender and sexual orientation groups in which we belong are absent. But as the administration weighs budgeting with priorities, a classic battle of talk versus action sends another blow to funding this course - a course with a central purpose to address our society's fundamental cultural divisions.
This course was first introduced in the 1970's in the backdrop of integration, the battle over civil rights legislation and the shamefully late entry of women into the full student body in 1970. Clearly there is significance to this course other than the grade distribution. When Prof. Covert first took over the course in the 1990s, funding was provided for two student sections with five teaching assistants. The course has raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars in terms of a tuition-to-credits ratio. Student interest and demand is high. Course evaluations consistently report students learn skills in this class that they will use for the rest of their lives. But the demand, interest and results of the course are being ignored. Funding has been cut from three sections last year to two sections this fall. The spring semester is expected to see more cuts with the number of teaching assistants also sliced. The administration denies and ignores the value students place on Multicultural Education and effectively dictates curriculum. Funding has dropped inversely with a rise in student enrollment and interest. And to further gauge the budgeting hypocrisy, the course requires 12 hours of community service. Can you say 'giving back to the community?' What is more Jeffersonian than that?
I see great strides forward in the University's support for diversity. Outrage against perceived threats to nondiscrimination status of the LGBT community in Virginia's colleges and universities was widespread among students, faculty and administrators. There is always an outcry when terrible things happen in the wake of sexism, racism, or homophobia and the like in our community. But the University can take a preemptive strike against such biases. To borrow a line from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, "there are no acceptable prejudices in the 21st century" - administrators ought to fund a course that speaks to the heart of that message.
At no other time in life will I be immersed in an environment discussing deeply emotional issues of diversity with others who are not like me. Never again will such constructive engagement address some quite hefty elephants in the room. In this course, students experience a new paradigm of instruction and learning that engages, educates and presents opportunities to interact with those from other cultures, creeds, races and identities. As Prof. Covert often remarks, the lessons taken from this course cannot be gauged in an exam.
The lessons I have taken from this course will influence me every day to act as an agent of change. The University has a decision to make. It can either take the opportunity to press forward with a course offering that reflects student interests, addresses fundamental social divisions and promotes the strong values of this community, or it can concede the classic battle of talk and action and sustain the status quo.
Rex Young is an opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at r.young@cavalierdaily.com.
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