Dartmouth has struggled to diversify its campus for as long as all of its current students have been here, and for years before any of them arrived. This campus struggles with realities such as the "ghetto" party and the scrawling of anti-Semitic statements on a Jewish student's door -- as well as a conservative national image that is deemed by many members of the community as mythical and blown out of proportion by the media.
The World Cultures Initiative is part of an ongoing effort by the Board of Trustees and the administration to foster a campus environment that is comfortable for minorities and that makes them and all other students aware of the learning opportunities surrounding them.
But what is the World Cultures Initiative, and what does it hope to accomplish? Right now, the College is still in the planning stages, preparing to appoint a committee that will focus on this question and try to formulate an answer. This college has being trying to "diversify" for a long time, and certain students have questioned whether the Trustees will take a big enough step in the right direction through this measure.
This special section of The Dartmouth addresses some of the complicated issues that surround the World Cultures Initiative, and diversity on college campuses in general. Its graphics and quotes ask us who this initiative applies to: will gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students, as well as women and religious groups be affected? Since Mike A. Hamilton reports that the College is just planning a committee at this point, that is a hard question to answer.
Carl Burnett reports on certain minority group leaders' views on diversity at Dartmouth, and Rebecca Holub reports on other campuses' efforts to diversify. Russell Kahikinaokala Kallstrom writes an op-ed piece about Hawaiian history, culture and the need to educate others.
Certain approaches by American colleges toward diversity are being challenged nationally, and this section addresses some of those issues as well. Amit Anand reports about legal challenges to affirmative action, and Alfred Valrie defends the policy in an op-ed piece. Neil Hamilton, a law professor at William Mitchell College of Law and the author of "Academic Zealotry and Freedom" addresses another divisive issue related to diversity -- speech codes on college campuses -- questioning whether this entire effort toward political correctness can go too far.
The diversity drive is not easy, is not without controversy and is not stopping anytime soon. These are just some of the issues needed to be addressed by any World Cultures Initiative.
