Taking the Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs course is the major source of my growth in the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion competency area. I learned a lot about myself through the class discussions and activities, and have since reflected on the ways in which to apply this knowledge to my work with students. As my first artifact for this competency area, I have included my final personal reflection for the course. Throughout this reflection, I discussed certain articles and activities that assisted in my multicultural development.
One reading and activity that really struck me was “Difficult Dialogues, Privilege and Social Justice: Uses of the Privileged Identity Exploration (PIE) Model in Student Affairs Practice” by Sherry K. Watt. I learned to recognize some of my own privileged identities, and the ways in which I unintentionally exhibit biased attitudes toward people with marginalized identities. Completing this reflection helped me “recognize the intersectionality of diverse identities” I possess and provided “opportunities for self-reflection and self-evaluation on issues of EDI” (ACPA & NASPA, 2010, p. 10-11). In addition to learning about my own identities and biases, I also learned about others’ marginalized identities and how society systemically oppresses certain identities. The class periods we spent talking about class was particularly eye opening for me. We watched the video “Tammy’s Story” that centered on a woman with very low socioeconomic status trying to raise her family and gain access to things like a car. Listening to her talk about what it is like living off of a minimum wage job because she did not want the stigma of being on welfare anymore like the rest of her family was heartbreaking. Her story, and the class discussion that followed about the lack of access for many people of low-socioeconomic status, helped me “recognize social systems and their influence on people of diverse background” (ACPA & NASPA, 2010, p. 10). |
"Tammy's Story illustrates how people of low-socioeconomic backgrounds are systemically oppressed
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As the final Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs course project, I worked with two of my classmates to develop and implement a workshop “to help fraternity men become aware of their own privileged and marginalized social identities and get them to reflect on the systems and structures within their organizations that perpetuate oppressive behaviors and attitudes” (LeDonne, Orman, & Palmer, 2014, p. 2). Our goal in creating this workshop was to “design culturally relevant and inclusive programs, services, policies, and practices” and “facilitate others’ learning and practice of social justice concepts” (ACPA & NASPA, 2010, p. 10-11). In March 2014, we facilitated a three-hour workshop, discussion, and assessment for approximately 30 fraternity men.
The final step for our project was to create a facilitation guide pass on to BGSU’s Fraternity and Sorority Life to ensure their department continued to provide students the opportunity to learn about and discuss multiculturalism in a supportive environment. I included the facilitation guide as an artifact because it not only summarizes the educational components and activities we facilitated with the fraternity men, but it also shows my ability to By creating this facilitation guide with my group, I gained experience providing “consultation to other units to increase support and opportunities for underrepresented groups” (ACPA & NASPA, 2010, p. 11). |
edi-facilitator_guide.docx | |
File Size: | 39 kb |
File Type: | docx |
After completing the Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs course, I realized I really enjoyed working with students and helping them learn more about multiculturalism. During my NODA internship in summer of 2014, I had the opportunity to plan the Morgan Valley retreat for the Orientation Leaders (Links). This daylong retreat focuses on educating the students about issues of identity, power and privilege, microaggressions, and many other topics pertaining to diversity at Penn College. I planned the retreat and included activities such as the privilege walk, a presentation on identity (adapted from the presentation my group put together for the CSP 6035 final project), and an end of retreat reflection. I intentionally chose activities I knew would make the students slightly uncomfortable because I wanted to “develop effective multicultural training that expands the cultural knowledge” of my staff (ACPA & NASPA, 2010, p. 10-11). I have included the retreat outline as an artifact to provide an overview of the topics I covered with the students.
We also used part of the retreat to introduce the diversity program that the Links would co-facilitate with me and the Associate Director of Diversity and Cultural Life during each orientation session. Overall, the goal was to help students understand the relevance diversity issues to their position as Links, and allow them to process through some of their own biases and experiences surrounding multiculturalism in order to engage in conversations with new students about those topics. Prior to this retreat, I had experience with exploring my own awareness of EDI and educating students about EDI, but I had not been charged with preparing students to educate others on pertinent issues on their campus. By preparing them with the tools to facilitate the diversity program during orientation and engage in conversations with their group members outside of the formal diversity program, I ensured “elements of EDI are demonstrated throughout institutional mission, goals, and programs” (ACPA & NASPA, 2010, p. 10-11). |
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