Race Caucus

Dr. Cephas Archie is the Diversity & Inclusion Program Coordinator for Houston Community College (HCC), where he assists in the implementation of the colleges 7 + campus Diversity & Inclusion Plan. Collaboratively working with all institutional stakeholders – both internal and external, Dr. Archie spearheads the institution’s diversity and inclusion efforts for the near 81,000 students, faculty and staff. As an employee of the Office of Institutional Equity at HCC, his efforts are accompanied by the college’s Diversity & Inclusion Council.

African American education systems and colleges faced many issues systematically and socially. The process of integrating colleges was a process faced with opposition because the idea that higher education was made for strictly for white upper-class men was still the underlying ideal. While equal opportunity was promoted in the light, behind the scenes, systematically money, policy, procedure hindered black education and equal opportunity. Realizing this injustice, black students sought to find their own solutions to social justice issues happening not only within higher education but their communities while leading by example.

Racial diversity is something that is often discussed on college campuses. As a student who self-identifies as a minority in more ways than one I often feel like I have a pretty good understanding of the subject of racism and race. However, often times when these issue are discussed I learn something new; this was the case when reading the articles this week. This week’s articles examined the issue of race from different perspectives. This allowed me to re-examine the issue in a fuller manner; it also allowed me to question some of my own notions that I hadn’t really challenged before.

Having served in higher education the past three years, I have grown in my appreciation for the complexities of colleges and universities. Specifically, I am fascinated by how institutions value diversity within their student population and among their employees. Over the past two years colleges and universities have had to confront their racist past to understand their student population. Christian higher education has not been immune to this soul searching. Christian institutions must recognize diversity as a biblical and institutional imperative to embrace institutional inclusive excellence. Diversity needs to be embraced for institutions to survive in a pluralistic and changing society. As higher education faces a tumultuous future, there is a heightened need for diverse administrators who can navigate and effectively lead institutions towards inclusive excellence.

A conversation needs to be had regarding the effects of diversity. Diversity in practical terms is the inclusion of people from different walks of life whether it be color, race, or heritage. This topic is one that is sensitive for many people because of the history attached to this subject. In the past decade there has been instances where the supreme court has had to address the topic of “Diversity” to justify this ongoing debate. Like in the supreme court, college campuses have also discussed diversity in their college for a multitude of reasons. Additionally, they too have found many reoccurring problems relating to diversity, which will be addressed in this paper.

Teaching in racially diverse classrooms often leaves educators feeling uncertain about how to proceed and how to respond to historically marginalized students. There is pressure to acknowledge and accept students of color with different perspectives, to diversify the syllabi, be more aware of classroom dynamics, and pay attention to how students of color experience the learning process.

Furthermore, these people need to be informed about the importance of seeing color when judging, teaching, and writing the policy about students. In order for ALL students to be successful and graduate from higher learning centers, you have to recognize the individual, not the individual(s). We should impose a new paradigm for both public policy considerations and private personal and institutional practice called illuminated individualism. Illuminated individualism seeks to respect the uniqueness of all persons and communities-and thus not to assume that racial identity or country of origin, as in the case of non-citizens seeking to become residents, automatically tells us what we need to know about a person and their background-while yet acknowledging the general truth that to be white, a person of color, indigenous, or an immigrant continues to have meaning in the United

The chapter we read from Jim Crow to Affirmative Action and Back Again: A Critical Race Discussion of Racialized Rationales and Access to Higher Education, introduced me to the concept of Critical Race Theory (CRT). Essentially the concept hints at the idea that studying different topics through the context of race can radically change education. I believe this could be extremely important for students of color. Non--STEM classes are taught through a filtered white perspective. Eurocentric world history classes, for example, have a tendency to be extremely Eurocentric talk about ethnic people in regards to their interaction with whites. English and literature classes tend to be filled with “classics” mostly written by white men and, occasionally, white women. These classes usually make up the core curriculum both K-12 schools and universities.

The United States of America is known for being a country filled with people of many different ethnic backgrounds. Likewise, the student population in schools is just as diverse as it continues to grow. Lynch (2015) notes that schools are expected to teach their students “how to synthesize cultural differences into their knowledge base” as this will help “facilitate students’ personal and professional success in a diverse world” (para. 8). Educators must be able to provide for the diverse needs of students and are expected to equip students with skills that can lead to healthy development as it can affect higher levels of student achievement and students have more opportunities of success in their future. Providing students with tools and skills requires an awareness and acceptance of their ethnic identity. Once students have developed self-acceptance about their ethnic identity, they can begin to feel empowered and motivated to do well. Through cultural empowerment, students of color can develop intrinsic motivation and achieve academic success.

I thought that the caucus groups and the privilege walk had a pretty direct connection with each other because just by looking at where everyone stood at the end of the privilege walk, you could have a pretty good estimate of who would end up in each caucus group. I found this interesting because this means that the people in the caucus groups had many similar experiences or privileges, and a lot of these privileges where things that we took for granted, which is a good example of the unpacking the backpack reading from a few sessions back. One thing that I found interesting was that when the two groups came back together, it almost felt like that there was a little bit of awkwardness at the beginning. It could just be me, but I think that

March 6th, 1961 Affirmative Action policies in higher education were implemented (Infoplease). Affirmative Action was designed to provide equal access to universities for historically underrepresented minorities. The argument of whether Affirmative Action should be decimated is a simple one. Students who have the academic credentials and earn their way into college deserve to be accepted. For no reason should previously excluded minorities gain unfair leverage in an attempt to “right past wrongs”. But with Affirmative Action banned in only eight states, we are left with two questions; how exactly Affirmative Action affects the culture within universities to have it seen as an unjust policy, and can diversity continue to survive without this program.

Affirmative Action in the college setting needs to continue, and more factors should be taken into consideration in order to admit a wider range of students who truly require assistance. Having students with different ethnicity, backgrounds, regions, experiences, and social classes in the classroom leads to a richer learning environment. “If we believe we learn from our students, and that our students learn from each other, then the importance of minority students in the class is obvious. A diversity of views leads to a better discussion and greater understanding among the students. My best classes often involve students debating each other on issues of race, tolerance, fairness, etc” (Finkelman). These issues need to be more than read about--it

A caucus is a meeting of members of a legislative body who are members of a specific political party to choose candidates or decide the policy. A caucus is a system of local gatherings where voters decide which candidate to support and select delegates for nominating conventions. Caucuses are special in that they allow participants to openly show support for candidates. Only registered voters can participate in a caucus and they are limited to the caucus of the party with which they are a part of.

In order to study the need of a racially and culturally diverse college campus, the journey and battles fought must be dicussed. While there is a lack of diversity on college campuses today, they are not completely devoid of people of color. However, there was a time when college campuses were one hundred percent Caucasian. Jonathan R. Alger, Jorge Chapa and a team of researchers conducted studies on various college classrooms. They then went on to publish their findings in a book titled Does Diversity make a Difference? The purpose of their paper was to discuss the importance of diversity and reveal the effects of non-diverse campus. They begin their book by taking a look into the history of diversity in America. The start of the Civil Rights movement along with President Lyndon B. Johnson’s war on poverty took place in the mid 1960s. These events forced the country to face the reality of the people of color in America. These Americans of color did not have equal access to education, jobs, housing, or other valued resources (Alger et al. 2000). College administrators and faculty were starting to understand the necessity of a diverse campus. The realized that people of color had just as much to offer to the United States as the Caucasian majority. During that time, “many higher education faculty members and administrators were deeply concerned that abandonment of race sensitive admissions and hiring, at a time when most minority groups continue to be unrepresented in higher education, will severely limit campus diversity and would undermine the learning environment for all students.” (Alger et al. 2000). Additionally, a lot of the traditionally white colleges and universities were provoked and questioned by the concerns of their students. The universities and colleges began to notice their inability to extend the same educational

Unfortunately, many of the college student development theories were made reflecting the experiences of privileged majorities. Student who are a different race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion will most likely have extremely different experiences. As a privileged white male, it is difficult for me to relate to students with these experiences, but because I recognize my privileged I feel I am more equipped to assist these students. People who see people as the same don’t recognize the systematic oppression depriving these students of their success. An example involving race could be someone crossing the street when they see a black man because they are