After three years of debate and discussion with students and faculty, the Dynamics of Difference and Power Committee hopes to submit a proposal to the Curriculum Committee next fall to create a new cultural diversity requirement.

The committee held an open forum last Thursday with students and faculty to address concerns surrounding the proposal. At the meeting, students and faculty agreed that the new requirement should focus on present-day issues surrounding race, gender, class, sexual orientation and religion in the United States.

The goal of the requirement, the committee stated, will be to have students engage in open discussions of diversity issues in the classroom, rather than simply having facts and figures dictated to them. According to Instructor of English and Black Studies Valorie Thomas, University of California Berkeley already has a similar American Cultures breadth requirement in its curriculum.

"As much as we like to think that we are open-minded and progressive here at Pomona, we’ve been dealing with some serious problems, both in terms of tension in daily interactions and alarming hate crimes," said committee member Regan Douglass ‘02. "We need to equip ourselves with the knowledge, facts, vocabulary, discursive skills, and a comfort level that allows us to risk discomfort."

The committee emphasized that the new requirement will be not be an eleventh PAC. Instead, it will either revise an existing PAC or be added as an overlay, similar to the speaking and writing intensive requirements. Students will be able to take classes that simultaneously fulfill the overlay and an existing PAC. The proposal must be approved by both the Curriculum Committee and by the faculty before it can be implemented.

"I’m sure [the process] won’t be easy," Douglass said. "There are many professors who think that the requirement will be a pointless symbol of PC-ness or another ‘unnecessary and unwanted’ requirement for an already-overburdened faculty."

"The meeting was a very good first step," said Academic Affairs Commissioner Elect Richard Sun ’01. "The students were really motivated and involved in the process, and the faculty members were supportive."

According to Douglass, the Committee has attempted to work with the faculty on this proposal for the past two years. Although six faculty members attended Thursday’s meeting, Douglass says that the overall lack of faculty involvement has been "incredibly frustrating."

"We’ve been meeting one-on-one with professors, sending letters to all faculty, and going to their meetings," she said. "For two weeks before the meeting, I sent letters to all faculty members, practically begging them to come and give us their input. Six out of about 200 showed up."

"Still, from the glass-is-half-full viewpoint, that’s six more than we have ever had intimately involved in the process," said David Brown ’02, another committee member.

"The low turnout of faculty was in some ways expected, especially with the end of the semester rush," said Associate Professor of History and Chicano Studies Miguel Tinker Salas, who did attend the meeting. "But as long as there’s student interest, the faculty will have to respond and engage in discussion with the students next semester."

The major concern expressed at the meeting, however, was the feasibility of having another requirement in the cirriculum, both in terms of the resources needed to fund additional courses, hire new faculty, and provide faculty-training workshops, as well as student academic constraints.

"Issues of power and ideology are at the heart of my work in media studies," said Assistant Professor of English Kathleen Fitzpatrick. "My primary reservation has to do with a perception among the faculty, and an accurate perception, mind you, that you [students] are already stretched to your limits, requirement-wise, and that this would be just one more burden on your limited time, not to mention our limited resources."

"We want to ensure that we have enough resources available at the college to make the requirement workable," Brown said. "We need to investigate some intermediate steps, such as securing grant money for faculty training and quantifying the impact that the requirement will have on faculty and students."

The committee first started meeting in 1996, after a group of Pomona students sent a report entitled "A Call to Action" to administrators. The report documented recent hate incidents at the Claremont Colleges, as well as first-hand testimonies from students of color who had felt "threatened, oppressed and silenced" in classes. It challenged the administration to hire more faculty of color, offer more courses in ethnic studies, and provide more funding for resources like the Office of Black Student Affairs.

In response, Multicultural Hall was formed for Pomona students who wish to live in a theme hall that addresses diversity issues. In 1998 the five colleges approved the Asian American Studies major.

In 1999, the DDP Committee surveyed 262 Pomona students. Students were asked, "Are there currently difference and power problems in our college community?" to which 62% answered yes, 17% no and 21% were undecided. In addition, to the question, "Should difference and power be part of a liberal arts curriculum?" 68% responded yes, 14% no and 18% were undecided.

According to Brown, those opposed to the DDP requirement worry that students who are either openly or subconsciously intolerant might create more tension and even "wreck" the classroom environment. But Brown believes that "it’s possible to raise these issues in a healthy and open academic discussion, even if the entire class will never agree on all the issues."

Tinker Salas says that college administrators across the U.S. are beginning to realize that education should be more than just an academic or intellectual experience. "In ‘service learning,’ students apply what they learn to the community in which they live," he explained.

"The requirement, obviously, will not ‘teach tolerance’ to everyone," Brown said. "But it will give students and faculty some tools to foster discussion of their own experiences."

Michelle Pendoley ’02, who attended the meeting, hopes that the DDP requirement will be realized during her time at Pomona. "The committee can’t develop its ideas much further without the help of the faculty, who ultimately have to vote on the proposal," she said. "I just don’t think that some of the professors are listening to their students."