Our Vision of Change

The Student Commission for Unity believes in a threefold approach to promoting multiculturalism and diversity at an undergraduate institution. Admissions, Student Life, and Academics.

ADMISSIONS

WHO are the students that compose our undergraduate community? Do we have a critical mass of students from various minority groups, or do conversations about diversity suffer from insufficient representation throughout the university? Therefore, we promote policies and initiatives that recruit and yield a diverse student body with respect to race/ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, education background, family income, geography and ideology, among others. 

STUDENT LIFE

HOW do we have conversations on campus? How are they structured in the dormitories, hallways, cafeterias and study groups? What does the university do to promote honest and meaningful dialogue, conflict resolution, solidarity and pluralism? Therefore, we advocate policies and initiatives that are supportive and instructive when it comes to challenging conversations in our community.

ACADEMICS

WHAT do students know about each other's history and culture? Does the core curriculum promote a homogenous local, national and global perspective? Or do students engage in materials that challenge prejudice with reasoned and validated sources? Coursework at the university level always informs dialogue among students, either reinforcing or challenging preconceptions. The university has a responsibility to represent broad and conflicting sources in order to provide an intellectual environment for dialogue. Therefore, we promote multiculturalism in pedagogy, canonizing diversity in the core curriculum, diversifying the faculty, and strenghening ethnic studies offerings.