Earlier this month, Nancy Dye sent a letter to the Oberlin community, introducing students to the new Task Force on Diversity and Multiculturalism. In her statement, Dye stressed that the College needs to reaffirm its commitment to diversity, to seek out better ways to sustain its cultural dynamics and to reexamine its mission in order to anchor solid, campus-wide support of tolerance.
It will be the job of the Task Force to spark community dialogue on these topics and to synthesize its findings for publication later this spring.
Dean of Students Peter Goldsmith said that the Multicultural Resource Center is a primary focus for the Task Force to ensure that the office is properly supported and that its future is assured. It will also look at new student orientation with the intention of finding how to best address diversity.
The Task Force, comprised of four subcommittees, has been hard at work for the past few months collecting data on the diversity of the campus to provide a snapshot of cultural trends. “We are reviewing the Oberlin College Strategic Plan published in 1997, which provides recommendations about diversity, and using it as a template by which to assess the committees’ goals,” Assistant to the President Diana Roose said.
Another subcommittee has been examining the history and structure of the MRC and comparing it to similar multicultural centers on other campuses. First-year orientation will be reviewed closely by one of the committees. “The first six weeks is a key time where expectations and values are firmly set,” Roose said.
Finally, a committee will oversee focus groups, which will begin meeting early in March. These groups will provide a small forum in which the six to 10 constituents can foster awareness and express concerns. Meeting for about an hour in the presence of two facilitators, participants will also answer some general questions about campus diversity.
“People’s attendance to provide feedback through the upcoming focus groups will help the Task Force immensely to achieve [its] goals,” the Task Force’s facilitator, Ombudsperson Yeworkwha Belachew said.
The idea of creating a Task Force on diversity is hardly unique. Hundreds of institutions across the country are formulating their own like committees, albeit with varying motives and goals.
Of course, the primary endeavor for most institutions has been to increase the diversity among faculty, staff and students. In order to achieve a diminished homogeneity, some administrators have had to reform the core values of their institutions, while others have had to clarify the misconception that diversity is only about minority representation.
Given its progressive tradition, Oberlin is in a position unlike that of most colleges. This advantage has made the task of enhancing the College’s cultural perception in some ways more easily attainable for the Task Force, although its mission is still daunting.
Belachew said task force members are up to the challenge.
“Everyone I talk to at Oberlin wants to have a place at the table,” Belachew said. “The Task Force is working hard to make this happen by looking into a very inclusive program that will affirm the commitment of the institution’s mission to diversity and multiculturalism.”