"So much to learn, so little time —"

What is culture? The August 1999 issue of National Geographic, on "Global Culture," described culture as: "food, dress, tools, dwellings, laws, manners, art, myths – (it) can be described as the manifestations of human existence that are transmitted from one generation to the next, as a pool of the collective intellect and memory." Cultures evolve, influence each other, and cross-pollinate. Multicultural education, or the study of different cultures, is an ever-expanding subject encompassing a wide variety of topics. It involves the study of not only culture and subcultures, but also the more than 6,000 languages spoken in the world. As one colleague of mine joked, "It's not like there's a finite amount of information on the topic."

Multicultural/diversity education is becoming one of the most important areas of study in our nation. As Dr. James Boyer of Kansas State University declared, "If we are not exposed to diversity education, we will be under-educated for now and the future."

America supports multicultural/diversity education. In 1998, the Daniel Yankelovich Group surveyed 2,011 registered voters and asked them about their attitude toward diversity education. The survey found that 69% of Americans favor teaching of cultural diversity in higher education. In addition, 82% of those surveyed agreed that the changing characteristics of the American population "simply make diversity education a necessity."

If students are going to be effective in the workplace once they graduate, they need to step out of their comfort zones and learn to value and respect perspectives and cultures different than their own.

Getting Started

Student Activities/Campus Life departments are often directly responsible for two very integral areas of multiculturaleducation: diversity workshops and multicultural programming. With such an expansive, overwhelming topic, this can be daunting task at best.

So, what do you do when you are mandated to program multicultural/diversity events, but you have limited time and resources? Or, what if you live in a rural community where the vast majority of the population is white and there are few, if any, people of color.

There are at least four places to turn:

1. your community;
2. the Internet;
3. other colleges; and
4. NACA

Your community. Seek out diversity within your nearby community. Watch for local ethnic festivals (especially at churches and other places of worship) and talk to the producers. Inquire if they might be interested in cosponsoring an event on your campus (you provide the facility and they provide the entertainment). Not only do you share expenses and build alliances, but it is an excellent goodwill gesture on behalf of your institution. If your immediate community is not diverse, approach the nearest urban center for support.

The Internet. Here are just a few diversity-related sites from the World Wide Web:

• The Anti-Defamation League (www.adl.org);
• The National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education at George Washington University (www.ncbe.gwu.edu);
• NCBE's links page provides lots of great resources (www.ncbe.gwu.edu/links/langcult/multi.htm);
• The National Multicultural Institute in Washington, D.C. (www.nmci.org); and
• The Southern Poverty Law Center (www.splcenter.org).

Other Colleges. Call your colleagues and see what works for them. Who has award-winning multicultural/diversity events and how can you modify them to fit your campus' needs? Can you co-produce events with nearby colleges or share expenses by block-booking the events?

If you don't have the time and stamina to make the calls, check out Achieving Quality and Diversity: Universities in a Multicultural Society by Richard C. Richardson, Jr. and Elizabeth Fisk Skinner (American Council on Education, Oryx Press, 1996). This book provides case studies from various colleges and universities in the United States emphasizing diversity-related programs that have been deemed successful. Also, a very informative book which provides an overview of the significant research in the field of diversity is Daryl G. Smith's Diversity Works: The Emerging Picture of How Students Benefit (Association of American Colleges and Universities, 1997).

NACA. The NACA Foundation Resources guide provides a wide variety of publications for purchase. You can also look in back issues of Programming magazine for articles on programming for diverse populations. For instance, in the April 1999 issue, I wrote a feature titled, "A Student Programmer's Guide to Developing Multicultural Activities at Community Colleges."

As the old saying goes, work smarter, not harder. There's a lot of information available to help you provide multicultural/diversity programming for your campus to help your student body prepare for an ever-changing workforce and population.