Learning from Final Grant Reports:
Community Seminars on Diversity and Democracy

June 24, 1997

The National Panel guiding AAC&U's American Commitments initiative on United States pluralism recommended that colleges and universities create new spaces for public learning and dialogue about recognition, inequality, and connections in a diverse democracy. With support from the Ford Foundation, 20 colleges and universities across the U.S. have held Community Seminars on diversity and democracy in contemporary society. In the culminating grant reports, it became clearer that these Seminars have led to significant change on many campuses:

• Community members found themselves in open dialogue as the result of the Seminars. For some, these discussions were the first open invitations offered asking community members to actively participate in the campus community.
• In a time of tight resources, campuses holding Seminars began to invest in -- and to facilitate -- these types of campus-community dialogues.
• Presidential support and the efforts of leaders to promote the Seminars have resulted in the creation of sustainable relationships between community partners and the campuses.

Evidence of Sustainable change

Marymount Manhattan College's Seminar was the catalyst for a $5, 000 teaching award to implement a curriculum development project. The resulting two semester course (which includes faculty training in oral history techniques) is drawing from their Community Seminar content -- the oral histories of immigrant refugee women.

Community Seminar leaders at St. Lawrence Technological University, Marymount Manhattan College, and the University of Hawaii, Manoa received and are continuing to receive support from their presidents.

The University of Wisconsin Sheboygan/ Centers campus concluded their Seminar with an agenda for internal change [final grant report, page 2]. Richard Flannery added "I believe we can learn a lot on campus from the view of community participants that we are approaching many of these topics in ways that are needlessly divisive and confrontational. I am not so sure that we at the university can be quite so localistic in designing and executing curriculum" [final grant report, page 3]. Flannery was more specific about the internal changes his office will be seeking: "There were no personnel, pre-existing structures, or organizational routines -- it was an extra project for office staff. An institution such as our should be a bit more ready for this kind of project" [final grant report, page 2]. He later noted they are: "hoping to institutionalize some administrative support for grants like this on a permanent basis" [final grant report, page 2].

Lock Haven University's community Seminar was a crucial first step in their effort to develop an Northern Appalachian studies program [final grant report, page 4] They explained that the Seminar also helped, "to develop a model of shaping the educational mission of our branch campus in Clearfield, PA, 80 miles away" [final grant report, page 6].

New York University's Seminar leader wrote: "We did not foresee that such a program would provide an opportunity for a professor in the higher education department to help graduate students better understand, evaluate, and assess programs as diversity initiatives" [final grant report, page 3]. Because their Seminars focused on local concerns like issues related to HIV, their Seminar ".. create[ed] opportunities for those in the NYU community to critically think about issues as they relate to education, culture & diversity" [final grant report, 4].

Lawrence Technological University recently received grant from the Michigan Humanities Council to keep the diversity focus of their Seminar as an on-going campus concern. The grant, which includes a substantial commitment from their university totals over $30,000. John Recchiuti noted: "community support was overwhelming. When word of the series became public, I found myself in the embarrassing position of actually having to turn some who tendered their services away" [final grant report, page 4].

Community Seminars in Evergreen are presently filming a video chronicling their Seminar. They are also designing a project web page displaying the photos (and the accompanying essays) showing how students for whom English is a second language and their families learn together. Readings, the student essays and the photographic exhibit were used as beginning points for their Community Seminar discussions.

At the University of Hawaii, Manoa their next efforts will focus on access and achievement for Filipino Americans in higher education. This new focus will build upon their previous seminar experiences framed around issues such as "Occupational Status and Mobility of Filipino Americans" and "Filipino Americans and Participation in the Political Process."

Words of caution from the field:

Lock Haven University's Seminar raised the campus' awareness to the fact that in their area "much less attention has been paid to the difficulties of communicating across class lines [final grant report, page 5].

At The Evergreen State College school districts are unprepared for the changing demographics. Districts are finding that their ESL services are inadequate and their staff lack training necessary to deliver quality programming [final grant report, page 4].

Duke University Community Seminar leaders noted: "More often than not the activities and projects promoting diversity involve nonroutine tasks that cut across departmental and disciplinary boundaries, have difficult learning curves, and present no clear reward system. It will remain so until the university administration takes decisive measures to encourage and reward faculty, staff, and students for taking risks with and ownership of campus diversity efforts" [final grant report, page 4]

If they could have done it differently...

Lock Haven University noted: "although 500 Community Seminar brochures were distributed during the summer of 1996 we recruited only two members of the Seminar this way" [final grant report, page 5].

By way of contrast the University of Hawaii explained: "our best communications strategy was the use of Filipino American community newspapers that regularly included announcements of upcoming Seminars, summaries of recent Seminars, and personal profiles of resource speakers."

Thinking of doing things differently Evergreen Seminars leaders explained: "[We] would start with a planning meeting for ESL teachers in the district to garner their support and interest ...while most special services directors were enthusiastic...the enthusiasm didn't always trickle down...our method of intervention into school districts necessitated that parents, students, and teachers were recipients of the project rather than proactive designers" [final grant report, page 5, 6].

At the University of Hawaii, Manoa, they cite that students were not involved in planning, and that generating interest was difficult. They conclude by noting there needs to be more active commitment of students, faculty and staff in order to create sustainable change.

Additional points on the Community Seminars' learning curve towards success....

• Seminars budgeting for mailing and travel.

• Seminars creating support structures within their institution to facilitate the Seminars.

• Seminars making links to community with the intent of creating lasting relationships

• Seminars finding that question and answer formats -- not lectures -- spoke more easily to community members' concerns

• Seminars becoming aware of perceptions of the university as "elitist" or other stereotypes before designing their programs.