On Mar. 27, Main Campus Executive Faculty will vote on a proposal that would require all undergraduate students to take two classes that relate to multiple diversity-related issues as part of their academic course requirements. In a joint effort, the Last Campaign for Academic Reform and the Provost’s Committee for Diversity put forth the proposed diversity requirement.
According to LCAR’s facebook page, the proposed reform, called “Engaging Difference,” would require students to choose from a list of 80 pre-existing courses that that “engage with issues such as race, class, sexual identity, immigration, status, ethnicity, gender and gender identity, and disability/ability.”
The requirement would go into effect for the incoming class of 2019. Although the proposal would create two new requirements for students across all schools, it would not add to the total number of classes a student must take, according to LCAR’s press representative, Dan Zager (COL ‘18).
“These classes already exist on the course catalog and can double-count towards any requirement, whether it be in the shared core (philosophy, theology, or writing) or within a student’s major or minor,” Zager wrote in an email to the Voice.
Students will be able to choose from pre-existing courses that have already been identified as fulfilling the cross-listed proposed requirement. According to Zager, these courses include “Ethics and Morality,” “Intro to African-American Studies,” and “Struggle and Transcendence.”
Part of the reason why LCAR has urged for the adoption of the requirement is because courses included in the diversity cross-list would “provide a formal academic setting where students can study, analyze, and question the concepts of identity and diversity and the ways in which they contribute to advantages and disadvantages,” Zager wrote.
Zager discussed why students need to be aware of diversity issues. He said, “It’s important to study the ways in which certain demographics are systemically disadvantaged and excluded in our society.”
Although many resources such as the Center for Multicultural Equity & Access and the LGBTQ resource center are already available to students, according to Zager, these centers don’t necessarily reach everyone. “The purpose of the new requirement is to reach all students with these necessary dialogues,” he wrote.
Other student groups have engaged the topic of diversity through events such as a town hall hosted by Georgetown Leaders in Education About Diversity and the Philodemic Society on Tuesday. Students discussed why they believed the requirement was important for the wider Georgetown community.
According to LCAR member Cassidy Jensen (COL ‘18), some students’ recent treatment of their fellow Hoyas illustrates the need for a university-wide diversity requirement. “There are a lot of wonderful conversations on campus about diversity already—but the people who participate in these conversations tend to be already aware of issues surrounding different identities and their experiences, and we need to reach everyone, especially students who wouldn’t enter these conversations by themselves,” she wrote in an email to the Voice.
The LCAR and the Multicultural Council will host a larger town hall on Thursday, Mar. 5 to promote additional discussion and dialogue.
The call for a diversity core requirement began in 1991. According to LCAR’s Facebook page, a renewed effort picked up in February of last year when students and administrators began working together to draft the current proposal. In early December the group met with the MCEF to present the proposal, which will be further discussed by the steering committe on Mar. 20, according to MCEF chair Ian Gale. This spring, the LCAR put out a petition calling for the MCEF to vote yes on the proposal. The petition has acquired approximately 1,000 signatures so far.
The “Engaging Difference” proposal is only a stepping stone to a more concrete diversity requirement. According to Zager, ultimately, students pushing for reform want to see a change in Georgetown’s culture.
Jensen echoes this the sentiment. “All of us can be more empathetic,” she said. “And I think this requirement has the capacity to create a more conscious and compassionate Georgetown culture, and prepare Georgetown students to make the world better.”
