Black Ink February 18,1991
By Debbie Baker
Staff
imi
Multiculturalism: The Need To
Diversify Curricula
Striving to incorporate a minority view into the traditional college setting
Racial bigotry is spreading on
college campuses across the na
tion. Ethnic and racial minorities
have become the victims of ever-
increasing numbers of hate crimes
at these universities. Hate crimes
are disturbing because the nature
of the country is becoming more
and more diverse as people of color
begin to comprise a larger propor
tion of the population. Several
college cam puses around the coun
try have realized the importance
of examining the cultures of mi
norities in their courses. Some
universities have also decided to
incorporate a minority view into
their curricula because too many
are taught from a Eurocentric per
spective. Multiculturalism has
become a standard across the
country as colleges attempt to
address the needs of its increas
ingly diverse student population.
The Rise in Bigotry and Biasness
on College Campuses
The reports of racial harass
ment and other incidents have
increased across the nabon. On
today’s college campuses, the
problem is no longer just racial —
there is also an increase in ethnic
discrimination, sexism and homo
phobia. The bigotry that exists on
campuses indicates the need for
better understanding among dif
ferent groups of people.
“Racial incidents on college
campuses have made people aware
that prejudice still exists in our
society,” said Dr. Greg Ricks, a
multicultural educator at Stanford
University. “One way for people
to reach ar. other level of conscious
ness would be to develop a more
diversified curriculum.”
The National Institute Against
Prejudice and Violence, a non-
profitorganization, has catalogued
hate crimes in the country for
several years. These crimes in
clude many that occurred at the
nation’s institutions of higher
learning. Over the past five years,
more than 174 campuses have
reported incidents. At Malacaster
College in Sl Paul, Minn., five
Asian students found their dorm
vandalized and “KKK” written on
their door. A black counselor found
the words “death nigger” carved
on the ofT^ce of his door at Purdue
University in West Lafayette, Ind.
At Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore, Md., an anti-apartheid
shanty was set on fire while two
student protesters sat inside. At
the University of Mississippi in
Oxford, Miss., the Phi Beta Sigma
fraternity house there was de
stroyed by arson. These are just a
few of the hate crimes that have
occurred on college campuses, and
the numbers seem to be growing
evCTy day.
Some 20 percent of minority
students surveyed by the institute
said they had been harassed at
least once, and some had encoun
tered multiple harassments.
One institution that has experi
enced an increase in hate crimes is
the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill. UNC is aplace that
can be examined as a case study in
how groups of people get along.
Several hatecrimes have occurred
over the past few months, which
show that UNC is not indeed the
“southern part of heaven.” All
people at UNC are not allowed to
live freely.
Provost Dennis O’Connor said
hatecrimes have increased because
some students have not been ex
posed to different groups of people.
“1 think that a lot of our students
still come from areas where they
have never had to socialize or deal
with minority students. Some of
them may become scared or even
intimidated by the presence of
other students who are, for the first
time, different fix)m them.”
Deep-seeded prejudice and
hatred must also be seen as rea
sons for the growing number of
hate crimes on campus. Some
students are taught from the time
they are young to dislike people
based on skin color, religion or
ethnicity. Historical prejudice must
be taken into account when trying
to explain the recent batch of hate
crimes on campus.
Hate crimes at UNC probably
occur every day, but several over
Universities across the country,
including UNC-CH, must make
attempts to ensure that all students
are allowed to live peacefully on
their campuses.
Defining Multiculturalism
Universities usually have a
difficult time defining exactly what
multiculturalism is. Everyone says
it’s a good policy but no one really
knows what it means. The inabil
ity to define multiculturalism
seems to be one of the biggest
obstacles facing students and
administrators who want to diver
sify their curricula.
Dr. Ricks said multicultural
ism may not even be the appropri
ate word. “One of the biggest
problems with multiculturalism is
that multiculturalism includes
everyone. The term is expanded to
include the culture of white Ameri
cans, when the primary purpose is
to educate them about the culture
of nonwhites,” he said.
In a general sense, multicultu
ralism is an attempt to include
aspects of nonwhite cultures that
had not previously been included
in the curricula. The incorporation
of multiculturalism involves the
development of courses that in
clude a minority perqjcctive within
an established course. In other
words, you could possibly take a
history course that now exists and
include a minority perspective. A
second aspect of multiculturalism
requires that students take acourse
dealing specifically with the his-
Cover Story
the past few months have really
stood out The defacement of a
Harvey Gantt campaign poster
initiated a wave of hate crimes at
the University. Laura Anderson,
the 1990 homecoming queen, re
ceived racist notes on her car. The
Cube in front of the Student Union
seemed to be an open forum for the
expression of bigotry. More re
cently, a poster announcing the
Martin Luther King Jr. celebration
was defaced with slurs linking
King and the questioned plagia
rism of his doctoral thesis. An
announcementby the CarolinaGay
and Lesbian Association was de
faced with homophobic slurs.
Posters belonging to UNITAS, a
multicultural living and learning
program, were also defaced.
UNC’s renowned reputation
has been threatened with the racist
environment th it exist on campus.
tory or culture of a diff^ent group
of people. AF AM 40 would be an
example of a survey course aimed
specifically at examining the his
tory and culture of a racial minor
ity.
Dr. Darryl Gless is the associ
ate dean of general education in
the College of Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Gless gave his own definition
of a multicultural curriculum.
“It is one in which faculty in
any discipline are aware of teach
ing strategies that are best used in
classes where students come from
different racial and ethnic groups.
No matter what the subject matter,
the courses should be taught in
ways that satisfy minority needs
which have not been done before.”
As students and administrators
work to initiate multicultural pro
grams, they should also develop a
universal definition of multicultu
ralism.