Residence Halls to offer diversity education
By: Clayton Norlen
Issue date: 4/23/08 Section: News
Beginning this fall, the U's Residence Hall Association is hoping to introduce diversity education to students living in student housing.
Administrators at the Residence Halls began incorporating social justice education into the leadership training program for residential advisers in the fall of 2007. They hope new training will help advisers better address situations involving diversity, such as racial or cultural differences, that might be at the root of contention among house mates, but some staff members said they feel that a more systemic approach to education isn't possible yet.
The time to talk about diversity in the Residence Halls is at the beginning of the academic year when students are looking for friends and still adjusting to a new environment away from home, said Eduardo Reyes, a freshman in political science who lives in Gateway Heights.
"I don't think we really talk about diversity much as a floor," Reyes said. "My roommate practices a different religion than me, and we talk about that in our room, but not on the floor."
Beginning in the fall, this year Housing and Residential Education is planning to introduce diversity dialogues throughout the halls during the first six weeks of a semester,so conversations about diversity between residents can begin, said Barbara Remsburg, associate director of Housing and Residential and Education. The dialogues currently run monthly and have included topics such as sexual orientation, religion and disability. These topics are introduced to participants through film or personal narrative followed by a moderated discussion on the subject that encourages participants to personalize the content.
"The mission of the halls is to create a socially and physically safe environment for students where their experiences can be validated by one another," Remsburg said. "The goal behind the training and diversity dialogues is to help students better understand their own identities and experiences and how they relate to others," she added.
Administrators at the Residence Halls began incorporating social justice education into the leadership training program for residential advisers in the fall of 2007. They hope new training will help advisers better address situations involving diversity, such as racial or cultural differences, that might be at the root of contention among house mates, but some staff members said they feel that a more systemic approach to education isn't possible yet.
The time to talk about diversity in the Residence Halls is at the beginning of the academic year when students are looking for friends and still adjusting to a new environment away from home, said Eduardo Reyes, a freshman in political science who lives in Gateway Heights.
"I don't think we really talk about diversity much as a floor," Reyes said. "My roommate practices a different religion than me, and we talk about that in our room, but not on the floor."
Beginning in the fall, this year Housing and Residential Education is planning to introduce diversity dialogues throughout the halls during the first six weeks of a semester,so conversations about diversity between residents can begin, said Barbara Remsburg, associate director of Housing and Residential and Education. The dialogues currently run monthly and have included topics such as sexual orientation, religion and disability. These topics are introduced to participants through film or personal narrative followed by a moderated discussion on the subject that encourages participants to personalize the content.
"The mission of the halls is to create a socially and physically safe environment for students where their experiences can be validated by one another," Remsburg said. "The goal behind the training and diversity dialogues is to help students better understand their own identities and experiences and how they relate to others," she added.
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basil jefferson
posted 4/24/08 @ 1:03 AM MST
Interesting topic, would like to here more about this and other topics of substance. Basil J.
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