Diversity Training Mandated

Columbia's Office of Multicultural Affairs has unveiled a diversity education and training initiative, a previously unaddressed demand from the 2004 protests, to begin in the fall of 2006.

According to Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Melinda Aquino, who drafted the initiative, training will be required of certain student leaders and administrators. The four-year curriculum will have four tiers, the first of which will be mandatory for all incoming students through the New Student Orientation Program. The last three will be offered through optional trainings and workshops.

Although NSOP already has a mandatory diversity education component, Community Forum, Aquino said she envisioned something parallel to Health Services' program, which includes a discussion with trained facilitators.

The initiative's four tiers correspond to levels of achievement in an understanding of diversity: cultural competency within the community, cultural competency through community sharing, ally development, and social justice and equity.

While specific elements of the initiative are still under discussion, Aquino said diversity education might be accomplished through certificate programs or a co-curricular transcript that would "supplement students in the job market."

Although a new NSOP program on diversity education will take effect next fall, Aquino said it might take two years for the plan to be fully developed, as the OMA needs enough trained facilitators to instruct students at the higher levels.

According to Aquino, the program needs to be a "part of the fold of campus culture" for it to be successful.

"Ultimately, what we want is that it's not just a curriculum on paper, but part of the lived experience or culture of being a member of Columbia University," she said.

Bryan Mercer, CC '07 and the Black Students Organization's representative for Stop Hate on Columbia's Campus, agreed. While Mercer said the initiative is "strong because it is based in conversation," he noted that it needs substantial support from the community, especially from administration.

"We feel the administration hasn't been clear about how it will implement the program," said Mercer. "We'd like to see the support needed for it to be successful. It's important to have a campus culture that supports the training."

Mercer also said such training could combat institutional racism in a powerful way.

"Honestly, it's not about telling people, 'This is how people are oppressors.' It's about seeing things we do that reproduce oppression without our being aware of it," Mercer said. "There are structural norms that can play out badly if we are not paying attention to them."