EDITORIAL: On the right track with multiculturalism
When the college formed the Diversity Task Force in 1997, it was on the right track. When the student group People of the World End Racism, or POWER, started speaking to college, high school, and elementary classes about prejudice and stereotypes, it was on the right track.
With less than a 10-percent minority student population, it would be easy for the college to overlook the need to reach out to non-whites and show that there are other cultures with many differences and similarities, right here in the Illinois Valley. Jerry Corcoran, director of human resources and chair of the Diversity Committee said he believes in the value of diversity within the college.
“By doing nothing about multicultural education, we’re actually doing a disservice to our community,” said Corcoran. “We owe it to everybody to keep the awareness of diversity here.”
Dr. Carl Grant, an expert on the subject from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, showed some of what the task force is about: commitment. Grant spoke in the Cultural Centre on March 28.
Even the college mission statement includes a multicultural goal: “We promote knowledge of human diversity as a source of growth and development.”
The college has successfully appealed to minorities. Though just one percent of the district’s population is black, over 2.4 percent of the students at IVCC are black, according to September 2000 statistics.
While these are steps in the right direction for IVCC, we haven’t crossed the finish line yet.
Grant said while multiculturalism is en vogue, it more than just a fad in education: “I’m here to report multiculturalism is alive and well,” said Grant, “and if we don’t deal with it, it will deal with us.”