Dartmouth NAACP demands mandatory ‘inclusivity and diversity education’ courses
You would have to take them in order to graduate
A petition has started at Dartmouth College urging “inclusivity and diversity education” for all students, circulating under the hashtag #DoBetterDartmouth.
The NAACP at Dartmouth created the petition, entitled “Mandated Inclusivity and Diversity Education at Dartmouth College”, saying: “We believe it should be the school’s responsibility to provide mandated inclusivity and diversity education that give all students a basic understanding of systemic racism, structural inequality, and inclusivity.
“Optional classes or discussion events are not enough to combat the ignorance that still exists on this campus and it should not be students or student group’s responsibility to educate one another on these issues.”
Under this petition, which has been signed by nearly 200 people, students would have to take a course that “challenges their notion of institutionalized injustice around issues of race and inequality” in order to graduate.
This petition is personally addressed to the top personnel of the administration, including President Phil Hanlon, Provost Carolyn Dever, and Dean of the College Rebecca Biron.
It says if the administration “can not incorporate these recommendations for mandatory inclusivity and diversity education into their plan, than it is clear that Dartmouth is not willing to work with its students to create an inclusive learning space for them.”
The full body of the petition can be read below:
“According to the school mission statement, Dartmouth College prepares the most promising students “for a lifetime of learning and responsible leadership” through its core values. The core values claim that the school, “embraces diversity with the knowledge that is significantly enhances the quality of a Dartmouth education”. It appears on paper that Dartmouth aims to produce responsible leaders that embrace diversity, however, the reality is that so many students graduate this institution without a basic understanding of race and inclusivity.
“We believe it should be the school’s responsibility to provide mandated inclusivity and diversity education that give all students a basic understanding of systemic racism, structural inequality, and inclusivity. Optional classes or discussion events are not enough to combat the ignorance that still exists on this campus and it should not be students or student group’s responsibility to educate one another on these issues. This is not a radically new concept. Many liberal arts institutions across our country (such as the University of Missouri or the University of Oklahoma) have introduced some form of diversity education and many private corporations require some form of cultural competency training for all employees to better ensure to cohesiveness within the company. This concept must be applied to Dartmouth College students in order to provide students with at least enough base knowledge to begin to think critically about these issues and develop informed opinions on these topic areas.
“The primary goal is to create a distributive requirement that requires students to take a class that challenges their notion of institutionalized injustice around issues of race and inequality for a class credit in order to graduate. While the Dartmouth curriculum currently has a Cultural Identity distributive requirement, we want to push this further and actually help educate students to be the responsible leaders we hope to create. Curriculum changes take some time to institute and must be approved across the faculty, but in the meantime, co-curricular programs can help serve the role of providing this basic information to students. Similar to the DBI program or seminars on high risk behavior that students are required to complete at orientation, a co-curricular program should be instituted to help bridge this gap in education. At the very least, a temporary way of addressing this issue can be as easy as assigning a summer reading book on structural inequality, and requiring students to submit an assignment on the book in their freshman writing seminar.
“In May of 2016, Dartmouth’s Inclusive Excellence working groups plan to complete their recommendations and present them to the executive committee. According to the Inclusive Excellence plan, these recommendations will define clear metrics for accountability and identify strategies to create robust and sustained inclusion and diversity that sets a standard for higher education. If administration can not incorporate these recommendations for mandatory inclusivity and diversity education into their plan, then it is clear that Dartmouth is not willing to work with its students to create an inclusive learning space for them.
“On behalf of the NAACP at Dartmouth College, we strongly urge our student working group to recommend these changes and the executive committee to approve and institute them.”