Proposal for Revised University Global Perspectives/Multiculltural Requirement

Kenneth Koford

Chairperson, Undergraduate Studies Committee of the Faculty Senate

**REVISED DRAFT** April 16, 2003

This proposal was approved by a majority of the Undergraduate Studies Committee at their meeting on the morning of April 14. Corrections have been received through noon on the 16^th. A minority did not approve of specific parts of the proposal, and a minority report should follow. The specific elements of the minority view will be noted below.

RATIONALE FOR REVISION OF UNIVERSITY REQUIREMENT:

An important goal of higher education is to foster students’ cultural literacy, expanding their intellectual horizons by exposing them to cultural beliefs and practices markedly different from their own. Since the cultural background of most students at the University of Delaware is white, western, and androcentric, the University requires all students to take two courses whose primary purpose is to examine alternative cultural perspectives, both in order to foster a greater appreciation for alternative cultural perspectives and to encourage students to consider their own practices more deeply in a broader context.

PROPOSED REQUIREMENT:

All students in the university are required to take 6 credits (two 3 credit courses) from two lists:

1) Global Perspectives

2) Multicultural Perspectives

[A minority voted in favor of a 3-credit requirement covering both areas. It isn’t clear if they favor a single list, although that would be the natural conclusion.]

Students must take one course from list 1, Global Perspectives. They have the choice of taking the second course from either list.

Requirement for a course to be on either list:

All global perspectives/alternative cultures courses MUST

1) Show awareness and understanding of a non-dominant and widely known culture, or

2) Show how learning about that culture increases the students’ awareness of how other cultures see us, and vice versa, or

3) Show how it is important to understand the values of non-dominant cultures, and show students that it is important to take into account the view and value of non-dominant and and not-well-known cultures.

Note: The following will be advice to the applying faculty member, not part of the Faculty Senate Resolution.

A mere bare majority of material satisfying the requirement will not be sufficient. The primary focus of the course, must be strongly on global perspectives/ multicultural perspectives. The course must introduce students to the perspective or experience of non-dominant cultures or peoples (so, including non-western, non-white, and/or gender-sensitive content).

Definition of appropriate courses:

Global Perspective:

All courses approved for the first list will have as their primary goal the critical analysis of some aspect of a culture outside the sphere of developed countries in North America and Europe (the cultures of Africa, Asia, non-Anglophone Oceania, the Caribbean, or Latin America).

Because the goal of these courses is greater familiarity with and sensitivity to non-western cultures, language courses whose primary goal is greater language fluency, even in non-western languages, do not fulfill this requirement; nor do courses in non-western art, literature, or music, unless their primary emphasis is on understanding cultural values and practices.

Note: The next paragraph is clarifying information for applying faculty, not part of a Faculty Senate resolution.

Programs abroad may be valuable, but these must have a really strong global and multicultural focus. A class visiting Australia, or London, might not satisfy the overall goal as well as courses in Ghana or South Africa where students see and understand a truly different environment.

Multicultural:

All courses approved for the second list will have as their primary goal the critical analysis of some historically marginalized, lesser-known, or non-dominant culture [or subculture] inside or outside the United States (e.g., Native American culture, African American culture, Caribbean culture, Irish, Basque or aboriginal culture, the culture of women’s work in America or abroad, the immigrant culture of specific ethnic groups.

In order to qualify for this group, it is not sufficient for a course to include examples of, or works by, historically marginalized groups; the primary purpose of the course must be the critical analysis of the cultures or subculture at hand, so that students can increase their awareness and understanding of this culture.

The 1987 Faculty Senate resolution states that “The University Faculty Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies shall approve courses which fulfill this requirement.” This charged the Committee with establishing more specific rules and written forms for faculty to use in gaining approval for these courses.

We propose the following wording:

“The University Faculty Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies shall establish rules to approve courses which fulfill this requirement. The Committee shall establish procedures to assure that courses that are approved actually do fulfill the requirement.

The Undergraduate Studies Committee has also passed the following resolution, under the 1987 rules, which it brings to the attention of the Faculty Senate:

DECISION OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES COMMITTEE IN IMPLEMENTING THE CURRENT REQUIREMENT:

Many courses have been on the Multicultural Course list for up to 16 years, and have never been reviewed after being placed on that list. In addition, the language originally adopted by the Undergraduate Studies Committee to implement the multicultural requirement is, in the Committee’s view, not fully adequate to assure that students gain the eqperiesnce required. Therefore, the Committee has voted to

1) Nullify all currently listed courses, and begin in the fall with a new listing for courses that wish to be certified as “multicultural” (or what the Faculty Senate decides).

2) Require that faculty proposing courses show the following:

All multicultural [global perspectives/multicultural] courses MUST

1) Show awareness and understanding of a non-dominant and widely known culture, or

2) Show how learning about that culture increases the students’ awareness of how other cultures see contemporary American culture, or

3) Show how it is important to understand values outside of the dominant one, and show students that it is important to take into account the view and value of non-dominant and well-known cultures.

3) Provide students with an evaluation form, including [approximately] the following questions. [Actual questions will be considered by the Center for Teaching Effectiveness before being used].

(This approach is identical with that followed by the new General Education principles for LIFE and Pathways courses: each course has specific stated objectives, and there is an evaluation of the success in meeting the objectives by students and the teacher each time the course is offered).

Global Perspectives/Multicultural Cultures Course Outcomes:

1. This course has been effective in generating awareness and understanding of a non-dominant culture.

2. As a result of completing this course, I have gained awareness of how another culture sees us and how their perspective differs from the mainstream view in the United States.

3. I have learned to appreciate the importance of being aware of the values of other cultures as a result of taking this course.

4. As a result of completing this course, I understand the importance of taking into account the differences in values and points of view in making decisions that affect others.

Additional Global Perspectives Outcomes:

1. As a result of completing this course, I better recognize the interconnectedness of social, political and economic concerns of different nations in our globalized world.

2. In this course, I have learned to appreciate the importance of recognizing and taking into account the experiences and values of the peoples in nations outside of the United States and the “western world”.