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WWW.GUILFORDIAN.COM NEWS GLOBAL Guilford makes progress on long-term international diversity goals Continued from page I Strategic Long-Range Plan for 2011-2016 or SLRPII. Bahrain is one of the many abroad destina tions being surveyed for potential students. In addition to the Middle East, locations of inter est include India and China. "Expanding our recruitment of full-time in ternational students is an important long-term goal for the college," said Doss. "(In addition to Bahrain) we've also taken trips to India recent ly and will be going to China in the spring." The SLRPII draft for October 2010 describes the recruitment of international students as a way to "enrich the global perspectives of our students and encourage exchanges of faculty and students." "It certairUy isn't just about increasing diver sity," said Nancy Riemer, assistant director of admissions. "It can introduce new voices and perspectives. We need to think of education on a global-level." The draft outlines improvements to inter national programs and language education as part of these initiatives. New positions are planned for language education faculty and study away/abroad staff. Additional language resources will support both international edu cation and study abroad. "Promoting international diversity is in credibly important to Guilford," said Jeff Fa- volise, assistant to the president for planning and management via e-mail. "SLRP II and the Diversity Plan place a very high priority on preparing students for a globalized society. which is very consistent with our core values and principled problem solving." Although the changes proposed by the SLRP II were expected to be gradual, recent success in Bahrain suggests that Guilford may attract interest from the Middle East sooner rather than later. "So far everything has gone well," said Doss. 'There has been a lot of student interest and we're following up on inquiries." Riemer believes that increased international diversity will be well-received. "According to what we hear from prospec tive students, they are seeking diversity," said Riemer. The SLRP II draft states that an increased international focus will help students "under stand, respect, accept, and celebrate differences of all kinds in a culturally, ethically, and social ly diverse world." Conversely, support from international stu dents benefits students by enriching the com munity and encouraging appreciation of cul tural diversity. "Lots of work and planning has gone into this," said Associate Director of Admissions Tania Rachkoskie. "ITs an important goal for the college because it's good for students to have diverse perspectives. It enhances their overall experience." Rachkoskie believes that the benefits of in creasing international diversity on campus are obvious. "For me, it's a given," said Rachkoskie. "One of the things that's great about college is that you're exposed to new things." Diversity Action Committee hosts hate and bias prevention workshop By Terah Kelleher Staff Writer In September 2009, a Bryan Hall resident found two anonymous letters containing threatening ho mophobic slurs in their room. Soon afterwards. President Kent Chabotar issued a statement to the Guilford community. "There is no room whatsoever at Guilford for per secution, oppression and harassment of individuals or groups," said Chabotar in his statement. Student Success Mentor and Hall Director Meg Evans and Binford Hall Head Resident Advisor Bri an Daniel decided to educate themselves on ways to prevent these acts in the future. They attended a training called "Stop the Hate, Train the Trainer" by Campus Pride, a national non profit organization. Evans and Daniel decided to share what they learned. "We wanted to be able to come back to campus and facilitate conversations, rather than stay angry at what had happened," said Evans. The Diversity Action Committee (DAC) heard that Evans and Daniel attended this training. Sherry Giles, associate professor of justice and policy stud ies and co-chair of DAC, said DAC asked the duo to share what they learned with the Guilford commu nity. On Nov. 17,2010 Evans and Daniel held a presen tation entitled "Preventing and Responding to Bias and Hate at Guilford." "The DAC felt that it would be important to spon sor workshops for students, staff, faculty and ad ministrators that would help us to create a culture on campus that will prevent bias incidents and hate crimes in the future," said Giles. The presentation covered the differences between a hate crime and a bias incident, taught ways to pre vent and respond to these types of incidences, and touched on the roots of bias and hate. They began by teaching the audience the differ ence between a bias and hate crime. "Many people, me included, assumed the (Bryan) incident was a hate crime," said sophomore Emily Stamey. "But something being labeled a 'bias inci dent' does not detract from the horror of the event." In 2003, Chabotar formed the Bias Incident Group to respond to anonymous acts of bias on campus. "The (Bias) Group addresses acts when no per petrator can be identified: acts that are anonymous, serious, publically known, and seen as potentially threatening to an individual or group," said Profes sor of Theatre Studies David Hammond, who attend ed the presentation. The presentation also deconstructed the miscon ception that bias or hate crimes happen to strictly one group of people. "Oftentimes, people think hate and bias are only directed to minority groups," said Daniel. "This is not true. Everyone has potential to experience bias and hate." A pyramid designed by the 2003 Anti-Defamation League and Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation demonstrated the levels of hate. The lev els included prejudiced attitudes, acts of prejudice, discrimination, violence, and genocide. Prejudiced attitudes included acts such as accept ing stereotypes and not challenging belittling jokes. Acts of prejudice involve name-calling and more. Evans and Daniel want to stop hate and bias at these first steps above. They want people to confront the biased and hateful statements they hear. The pre sentation then moved to participating in role plays to practice ways to prevent and respond to these in cidences. They shared the slogan "Name it. Claim it, and Stop it." This slogan combats inappropriate com ments one may experience. The "Name it" part of the slogan involved asking the person who shared the undesirable comment: "Did you just say that?" This gives the individual the power to confront the comment and not let it simply pass. "You are responding immediately and focusing attention effectively then and there on the inappro priate comment," said Hammond. "You also buy yourself a moment of time that gives you a chance to think on your feet and, if necessary, calm down." "Claim it and Stop it" means that someone ex plains why it is offensive to them and asks the speak er to stop. Also, the one offended has the opportunity to educate the speaker. The presentation closed by illustrating how the In ternet can be a tool to spread hate. It featured a video "Hate.com: Extremists on the Internet." "The Internet has created a place for people to spew hateful, bigoted, and oftentimes violent mes sages while being able to hide behind a blanket of anonymity," said Evans. Both Evans and Daniel shared their desire to give the presentation again. The audience's survey com ments, filled out after the presentation, also indicated the thirst for more events like these. Evans read the comments to Daniel and they both smiled at the responses: "Not long enough," "want to go more in depth," and "interactive and relevant."
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