Discussions continue about GE diversity requirement

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A dinner with faculty members will take place today for students interested in learning about the importance of a diversity-related education requirement, an idea that has been brewing at UCLA for more than 25 years.

The event is part of a larger effort to develop conversations between students and faculty about “Community and Conflict in the Modern World,” the name of a proposal for a general education diversity requirement, said Darren Ramalho, Undergraduate Students Association Council academic affairs commissioner.

Any student interested in learning about the requirement can attend today’s dinner in Murphy Hall room 2121 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The Office of the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, the Undergraduate Students Association council Academic Affairs Commission and the Alliance through Intergroup Dialogue are co-programming the event.

Students and faculty members have been lobbying for a diversity-related requirement for more than 25 years, but UCLA remainsthe only University of California school without one, said Christine Mata, assistant dean of students for campus climate.

Faculty in the College of Letters and Science rejected the proposal in June 2012 with a vote of 224-175. A similar diversity-related requirement proposed in 2004 was also voted down.

Currently, officials do not believe students and faculty plan to resubmit the requirement to the Faculty Executive Committee for a vote this year, said Kyle McJunkin, director of the Faculty Executive Committee.

The requirement would have had students in the College of Letters and Science take one general education course that focuses on understanding differences between people of diverse communities starting this quarter. Students would not be required to take extra general education courses, rather the diversity requirement would be beyond the current 10-course requirement.

The dinner today is one of six programs introduced as an alternative way to foster diversity on campus following the faculty’s rejection of the proposal.

Mata said students and faculty can gather in one space to have their questions about the requirement answered and through the experience gain insight about what it means.

“Learning about other cultures and issues that aren’t necessarily from our background is key to (understanding) how we interact with each other as a campus,” she said. “The more we learn (about diversity), the more open we are to positive interactions.”

Ramalho said he thinks students and faculty did not communicate enough during the previous attempt to get the diversity-related education requirement passed.

“We’re really going to be focusing on having a conversation with the faculty about the diversity requirement because at the end of the day, they will be the ones voting (on the proposal),” he said.

Professor Andrew Leuchter, a former Chair of the Academic Senate and Professor Belinda Tucker, vice provost of the Institute of American Cultures, will attend the dinner to talk to students about the requirement.

Leuchter said he hopes to talk with students about the current status of diversity in education on campus and the steps that should be taken to significantly advance the school’s educational commitment to diversity.

Students can learn about diversity at UCLA, but Leuchter said diversity education should become a requirement because having students participate in a common experience sends a strong message about campus commitment to diversity.

“UCLA is diverse. It’s in Los Angeles,” said Joanne Ramos, a third-year communication studies student. “So, it’s important to be educated not only about our own culture, but that of others.”

One concern raised by voting faculty members in 2012 was the feasibility of the requirement, according to faculty statements about the requirement.

“Thousands of students per year would have to cut out one of the (General Education) courses they had been planning to take, and instead attempt to funnel themselves into a much smaller number of courses that they would not otherwise have chosen,” said physics and astronomy professor Matthew A. Malkan and anthropology professor Joseph H. Manson in a statement.

Approximately 29 percent of the students who arrived on campus in 2011 had taken at least one of the 22 sample courses which may have satisfied the requirement, according to the statements.

For third-year chemistry student Danielle Jones, diversity education is important but should not be a requirement to students.

“I’m from Berkeley so I never had to learn about (diversity). It was just life.” said Jones,”I think being on campus is already a good representation of diversity. And I have other classes to take.”

Students and faculty members had varying opinions on how the requirement would impact them academically and professionally, said Tlaloc Vasquez, a fourth-year Chicana/o and international development studies student, who was involved in advocating for the most recent proposal.

The biggest challenge for those working on the proposal was to bridge those perspectives, Vasquez said.

“I would have started much much earlier on the proposal,” he said. “The timeline with this requirement was very hard to work with. You’re creating the proposal and working the language and figuring out which classes would work all at the same time.”

Vasquez said he thinks a team of students and faculty should start working on the proposal several academic years before they put it to a vote.

The Academic Affairs Commission is planning lobbying workshops for students and outreach events for this year that aim to foster better communication between students and faculty, Ramalho said.

Clarification: The Office of the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, the Undergraduate Students Association council Academic Affairs Commission and the Alliance through Intergroup Dialogue are co-programming the event.