from the Macalester Public Knowledge Base

originaly drafted in the Fall of 2003 by Erik Morales '04

--reproduced for documentation purposes. Yonghokim 23:32, 13 Feb 2005 (CST)

[edit] The Mantra of Multiculturalism

(This plan is in no way contrary to the college’s initiatives to support international, disabled, and queer students, and it can also all be done in ways that lead the college in a responsible direction like environmentalism. There is no shortage of ideas as to how to work towards these matters simultaneously, nor does any of this boil down to an unfeasible number of new hires or non-sustainable resource allocations. Coalition- building among students, faculty, and staff in the process of establishing these various initiatives proves that when people are empowered to do so, they can accomplish changes in more than one area at a time.)

As Macalester College continued to promote Multiculturalism in a manner superficial and deceptive to all who attend, a small voice was heard. Due to the years of luring domestic students of color to a false Utopia, the voice has grown louder. At the point when Multiculturalism is separated between international and domestic cultures, when cultural organizations are dwindling in the number of members, and when present domestic students of color are deterring prospective first-years from attending Macalester, the voice can no longer be silenced.

Changes to foster Multiculturalism are gradually underway, but they lack in various areas that may or may not be acknowledged. Therefore, this declaration is written from anxiety, frustration, and in memory of those who have left Macalester with strong feelings of resentment. Now, the voice is finally heard.

1. It is not the sole responsibility of current domestic students of color to recruit prospective students of color. Resources (time and money) of the admissions staff should be allocated to specifically target domestic students of color with equal fervor to that of current staff (admissions, coaches and otherwise) recruiting athletes and international students. This may require hiring new admission’s staff members to specifically target local ethnic enclaves (and other areas of high minority percentage).

2. Macalester College should obtain more full-time assistant professors that specialize and will teach in the subjects of: African-American Studies, Asian-Pacific American Studies, Latino Studies, and Native American Studies through current academic departments. Examples of some of the current programs are: Comparative North American Studies, Asian Studies, Latin American Studies, etc. These programs are a core component of Multiculturalism and are currently underrepresented.

3. New programs similar to the Mellon Minority Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) should be obtained to ensure more opportunities for domestic students of color to attend graduate school. Even though the MMUF program is an excellent program, it does not include students of Asian descent and begins at the start of the participant’s junior year. There must be at least one similar program instituted for each type of minority that can be promoted to attract more domestic students of color.

4. The Student Allies for Academic Success mentor program (SAAS) should be expanded so that there are two peer counselors for each first-year domestic student of color. Being a mentor is challenging and difficult above and beyond normal student employment due to the constant hours and attention needed. This act will match and be similar to the international student mentor program that already has two mentors per first- year student.

5. The cultural organization’s relationship (and others that are non-recreational such as religious, political and philosophical) to Macalester College Student Government (MCSG) and Macalester College should be completely overhauled. They have been instituted with the responsibilities of a support group and/or to foster their respective perspectives through events. They should not have to be concerned with justifying their existence every semester since greater concerns are at hand (i.e. cultural organizations are worried about the retention rates of their members). It is counter-productive to the meaning and spirit of the organization’s existence to have any fears of monetary discipline. Therefore, probationary status for non-recreational organizations should be a budget of $50 with the ability to ask for additional allocations instead of being denied existence for the semester.

6. The budgets of any cultural organization should, at least, guarantee: one speaker, one dinner, and one event of their choice. This will circumvent the timely process of additional allocations and change the organizations from reactive bodies to proactive ones.

7. During orientation, there should be a time set aside for a gathering of first-year domestic students of color to meet one another and also their upper classmen peers. Such a meeting will create a community that will increase retention rates and recruitment.

8. Macalester had, in its student accommodations, an African-American House, Native American House, etc. These should reinstate these to provide: a shared learning experience, a sense of community and space for domestic minorities similar to the current Hebrew House.

9. Macalester is situated in a culturally diverse setting. Failure to integrate community organizations and neighboring colleges, by way of events and co-sponsorships is to short change the college community and should not be left solely to the student body. More relationships should be pursued through community service, on and off-campus events, etc.

10. The roles of each Multicultural staff members must be clearly defined and notified to the campus. Responsibility and accountability can then be established so that students/student organizations need not search the responsible party in order to attain guidance.

11. By locating the Multicultural library not in the DeWitt Wallace library, Macalester College devalues the academic study of Multiculturalism. Its current location in the basement of the cultural house should be moved to a subdivision similar to the current children’s section with the intention of fostering an educational environment and to prevent any future theft of literature.

12. The campus categories of race/ethnicity on all available applications should be changed to accommodate political correctness by replacing “Hispanic American” with the term “Latino/a American", “Asian American” with “Asian-Pacific American” and creating a new category of “Multiracial.” Macalester has already replaced the term ‘American Indian’ with the preferred label ‘Native American’ and it can do the same with Hispanic and Asian. It can also extend its recognition of the multiracial student populace, represented by a student organization (Bridges), to include a distinct racial category.

13. The Dismantling Racism workshop should be offered more often than once a year with the focus of creating student study groups to foster future discussion on campus. Moreover, Macalester should make an effort to send student representatives to any anti- racism national conference that should occur to bring the national perspectives to campus.

During the early drafts of the mantra, many students assisted in its creation yet several requested to not be included in the distribution owing mostly to fear of reprisals from Macalester. This is due to the racially hostile social environment Macalester has created through the omission of Multiculturalism and the subjugation of minority student groups. If there is ever going to be a method to correct the hypocrisy and inequity on this campus, it will be first to listen.