The Diversity Horizon

As they prepare for graduation, college students often make numerous plans for the future. They consider the job market and prospects for marriage, family, and other relationships. Pursuing a diversity-rich future is also important, and in this chapter, the five interviewees discuss the potential role of culture in their post-college lives. Additional considerations include looking at the world through a global lens, approaching diversity as a value, and engaging the outrage of those who have suffered at the hands of injustice. Though even the best crystal ball cannot predict what will happen tomorrow, today's careful planning with sensitivity towards culture may be sufficient for ensuring a brighter road ahead.

Looking Inside

Running a college is no easy task. Amid complex diversity issues, political turmoil, and ever-changing student narratives, the campus environment represents a sea of countless challenges. To ensure success in the long run, administration officials must construct well-designed plans that review past events while carefully assessing future possibilities. Such plans should include a sustained and comprehensive focus on diversity awareness, implementation of multicultural education frameworks, and additional initiatives such as mentoring and community outreach programs. Above all, administrations must work closely with all members of the university including staff, faculty, alumni, and students to promote positive outcomes despite the inherent uncertainties that lay ahead.

Diversity in Social and Academic Relationships

College buffers the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Students are thrust into a world of academic and social demands that can seem far removed from their earlier lives. First impressions are important as they set the tone for the next two or four years on campus. In this chapter, the university experiences of the interviewees are chronicled with a focus on diversity narratives and how they formed and changed over time. Research is introduced that emphasizes areas such as ethnic stereotypes and marginalization, the model minority myth, gender awareness, and personal sense of belonging. As such, the opinions, struggles, and hopes of these five students may be indicative of greater norms within broader college settings.

Dialogic Encounters

Many narratives are built around communication patterns established early in life. Upon reaching college age, most students are well-versed in the intricate dynamics of relational interaction. Yet depending on upbringing, racial viewpoints, politics, etc., cultural diversity may add a complex and challenging layer to academic discourse. Martin Buber proposed that human beings use a unique form of dialogue, the “I Thou” encounter, to communicate and fully engage with others. The current chapter utilizes this dialogic exchange to enhance meaningful interactions about diversity in university settings. Initial encounters, classroom engagement, and community building are offered as venues for development in this area.

All About the Classroom!

Within the university setting, the classroom is the point of origin for many diversity narratives. Lessons may focus on topics such as cultural history, but students also learn from communication patterns that occur during the time of instruction, which may include subtle or overt acts of racial bias. It is therefore important to incorporate cultural competency in the classroom to model healthy interactive learning practices. This involves setting ground rules for diversity discussions and utilizing icebreakers, self-awareness exercises, and activities such as role plays to promote collaborative learning and change through social justice initiatives. This chapter explores practices and activities that enhance diversity understanding.

Cultural Barometer

Every campus has its own rhythm that underscores the mood of the overall college experience. Cultural interactions can heighten the cadence and may result in racial tension and unrest. Whether local (e.g., racially charged incidents in classrooms) or global, such as the 2016 presidential election, these events can shift the pulse and alter narratives within the university setting. The term “cultural barometer” is often used to describe the mood, and in this chapter, the five interviewees plus additional voices provide personal perspectives on campus temperature in terms of race, sexual identity, disability, student involvement, international students' experiences, and positive steps taken to address these phenomena during their time at the university.

The Power of Narratives

Narratives are foundational to the lives of every human being. Each one contains countless stories, along with four key elements: beliefs, values, emotions, and schemas. Narratives can sometimes collide, creating both tension and opportunities for new learning, and because of their complex nature, diversity stories are especially ripe for conflict. Empathy for the stories of others can help us maneuver through these difficulties and result in the construction of newer narratives that may deepen our perspectives. In this chapter, examples from one author's early childhood illustrate the power of narratives and their ability to promote change over time. Additional stories provide a gateway to better understanding and appreciation of cultural diversity.

What's Faith Got to Do With It?

Faith plays a key role in the lives of many college students. Religious experiences are often heightened at a time when learners seek to navigate academic and social demands. This chapter highlights a single narrative involving an act of forgiveness that changed a young man's life. The narrative also provides a backdrop for experiences of the five interviewees at the faith-based institution they attended. The stories they brought with them to college developed into radical shifts of faith and ultimately altered narratives that strengthened their spiritual journeys.

Let's Talk About Cultural Identity

It is not easy to accurately describe one's cultural identity. There are many factors to consider – from diversity narratives constructed over a single lifetime to those that have been accrued by greater populations. One way to engage this discussion is to provide an overview of diversity key terms that are most closely associated with culture. Important historical events should also be emphasized, as they provide context to many of the challenges faced in modern times. Such topics often cause friction among European Americans – many of whom are loath to judge the actions of those who share their skin color. To start this conversation, the chapter introduces the author, Kimberly, and the five interviewees, Lina, Darnell, Alice, Sheila, and Talia, who discuss their understanding of cultural identity as it applies to their lives.

Background Experiences, Developmental Perspectives

Over the course of our lifetimes, narratives build on one another and gain depth. Erik Erikson's Eight Stages of Psychosocial Development provide a blueprint for helping us understand the world and stories we tell to describe it. A typical college student's life encompasses the first five stages from infancy (basic trust vs. mistrust) to late adolescence (identity vs. confusion). The lives of the interviewees are examined through this psychosocial lens with a focus on the development of their diversity stories, and early interactions and milestones set the stage for their four-year college experience.