Coming to Terms With the “R” Word
Colleges may boast diversity, but what does that really mean for campus climate?
By Natalie Y. Moore
When classes resume in August, first-year students at the University of Missouri-Kansas City will read a book intended to open their minds on social justice. They can expect many campuswide conversations about the complications of immigration as related in Enrique’s Journey, by journalist Sonia Nazario.
“We hope [students] come away with critical-thinking skills … that this is one of the first things that starts them on that journey,” says Dr. Karen Dace, UMKC’s deputy chancellor for diversity, access and equity.
Broadening perceptions among the student body through required reading dovetails with a broader diversity mission that UMKC officials are putting in place.
UMKC has drawn internal and external ire for the campus’s historically chilly environment for Black students. The NAACP Kansas City chapter and the university signed a memorandum of understanding, mediated by the U.S. Department of Justice, last month that pledges to beef up the underfunded and understaffed Black studies program. The university also promised to recruit and retain Black faculty and students and to provide diversity training that extends beyond the Black population.
