Responding to Bigotry and Intergroup Strife on Campus:
Guide for College and University Administrators
Programs to Help Prevent Hate
Crimes and Intergroup Conflict
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Residence Hall Programs for Freshmen on Anti-Bias Education |
Most universities and colleges have cultural programs, either focusing on one culture or an array of cultures, in the residence halls. These programs are intended to bring about diversity awareness among fellow residence hall students of different backgrounds. Additionally, anti-bias education programs in the residence halls educate students about themselves and the other residents living with them. It is an effective method to focus on diversity with incoming new and transfer students and can be an effective way to proactively avoid hate and intergroup strife. If a hate crime or dispute occurs
within the residence halls, it is crucial that modes of dialogue are instituted immediately within the same environment. The major drawback with programs in the residence halls is that they are not all-inclusive. Incoming new and transfer students who live off-campus usually do not participate.
It is also essential to make resident assistants (RAs) aware of all available resources on campus (Office Multiethnic Student Education, Counseling Center, Disability Support Service, Office of Human Relations Programs). Staff members from these offices can do training programs or intervene when incidents arise. RA training should include more than just information on how these resources can best be used.
For example, at the University of Maryland, an African-American History Month poster was defaced, outraging many community members. The RA called an open forum where students could discuss their feelings and work toward a positive solution. Representatives from the Office of Human Relations and the Afro-American Studies Department attended the forum and led the discussion.
Working to maintain strong relationships among the various offices and among the RAs themselves is an important responsibility of the professional resident staff. An essential skill for an effective RA is keeping professional staff informed about all diversity-related incidents.
Among the most effective training methods are peer-led discussions and problem-solving sessions. Experienced RAs are often very effective in preparing new RAs for the challenges they will inevitably face in diverse living situations. At the University of Maryland, the Resident Life Department provides ongoing training for all staff members and works to deliver training in new and different ways, often hiring off-campus experts.
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Dialogue and Workshops |
If intergroup strife or hate crimes take place, it is necessary that immediate dialogue between these groups happen with the supervision and implementation by the university/college
president, top administrators, and other concerned faculty/staff.
Campus-wide workshops and minicourses should be compulsory for all groups and levels of population (administrators, faculty, staff and students) on anti-bias education. These workshops need to be administered only by trained and experienced professionals or students.
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University Web-Site Links about Cultures Represented on Campus |
From the main university or college Web site, a great way to give all cultural groups on campus a voice, coverage and exposure is to create links to the Web sites of all campus cultural groups (i.e. Hillel, Black Student Union, Asian Student Association, etc.). Further, most schools have students from all over the nation and the world and many of these places of origin have Web sites to which links could be created. This would be an excellent way to educate staff, faculty and students about their diverse campus population. It is also critical to utilize e-mail and Web sites for dialogue forums if a hate crime or intergroup conflict should happen on campus, as the Internet is an effective and expeditious method to discuss and define the issues and choose interventions. Faculty, students and staff can come together in a private, quick, and potent dialogue to confront and deal with the immediate campus problem at hand.
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Movies, Articles and Books within Course Work |
Many survey courses and required courses have integrated material from and about various cultures. Many professors and lecturers do not just want to have material representative of the white male culture and history in America. At the University of Wisconsin, the English 101 course has students reading books written by Asian, white, African-American, and Native-American authors. This is a course required for all first-year students so that they may become exposed to different cultural life experiences. Many courses at various universities and colleges have also integrated ethnic movies into the course to diversify material when possible.
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Courses (Not Just Ethnicity but Multicultural Course Requirements) |
Although many schools mandate an ethnicity course, many students tend to take classes within their own culture. (It is not harmful to gain more self-awareness, but the aim of these courses is to give students more knowledge about other cultures.) Since it would be practically impossible to mandate a course focusing on an ethnicity different from one's own, it would be a good idea to require a diversity or multicultural course focusing on various cultural experiences. Practically no university or college requires a multicultural course but it would be an effective way to educate students about not just one but a multitude of cultures.
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Use of College/University Newspapers to Voice Dialogue |
A powerful and effective way to foster campus dialogue and awareness regarding hate crimes and strife is through the utilization of campus media -- newspapers and television channels.
If your institution has experienced a racist or sexist conflict, you might develop media messages that highlight the institution's response, the benefits to learning that come with diversity, and the growth that can ultimately result from conflict.
As colleges and universities have become more diverse, some student newspaper editors have been slow to include diverse voices and perspectives in their coverage. As a result, student newspapers have been a source of tension. In some recent incidents, students have stolen, burned and defaced campus newspapers to protest the tone of the coverage or a lack of coverage of diversity issues or hate crimes. In recent years, though, more student newspaper editors have worked to raise awareness of the many kinds of diversity on campus and to reflect the perspectives of diverse student populations.
Many student newspapers have made a commitment to covering diversity. One of these newspapers is the University of Pennsylvania's Daily Pennsylvanian (DP). In addition to having a minority-affairs reporter, DP tries to report on faculty, graduate students, students of diverse religions and nontraditional students. DP works to ensure that an array of views is represented in its news coverage. This goal is achieved in several ways -- by covering special events that celebrate cultural diversity on campus and events organized by student-of-color organizations and by including quotes from students of color in news stories on all topics. DP covers diversity in its daily columns as well -- several students of color have regular columns.
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Increase Awareness |
Create multicultural centers, start anti-hate groups on campus, incorporate anti-bias-awareness programs at freshmen orientation, Greek-system meetings, school clubs, residence halls, etc. Plan cultural awareness periods -- Jewish, Asian, Arab, African-American, Gay Pride, Women Awareness Week or Month, etc.
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