THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES is an institution that is firmly rooted in its land-grant mission of teaching, research, and public service. The campus community is committed to

discovery and innovation, creative and collaborative achievements, debate and critical inquiry, in an open and inclusive environment that nurtures the growth and development of all faculty, students, administration and staff. These Principles of Community are vital for ensuring a welcoming and inclusive environment for all members of the campus community and for serving as a guide for our personal

and collective behavior.

n We believe that diversity is critical to maintaining excellence in all of our endeavors.

n We seek to foster open-mindedness, understanding, compassion and inclusiveness among individuals and groups.

n We are committed to ensuring freedom of expression and dialogue, in a respectful and civil manner, on the spectrum of views held by our varied and diverse campus communities.

n We value differences as well as commonalities and promote respect in personal interactions.

n We affirm our responsibility for creating and fostering a respectful, cooperative, equitable and civil campus environment for our diverse campus communities.

n We strive to build a community of learning and fairness marked by mutual respect.

n We do not tolerate acts of discrimination, harassment, profiling or other conduct causing harm to individuals on the basis of expression of race, color, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, religious beliefs, political preference, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship, or national origin among other personal characteristics. Such conduct violates UCLA’s Principles of Community and may result in imposition of sanctions according to campus policies governing the conduct of students, staff and faculty.

n We acknowledge that modern societies carry historical and divisive biases based on race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, and religion, and we seek to promote awareness and understanding through education and research and to mediate and resolve conflicts that arise from these biases in our communities.

The “Principles of Community” statement was developed by the Chancellor’s Advisory Group on Diversity, since renamed the UCLA Council on Diversity & Inclusion, which is comprised of representatives from administration, faculty, staff, students, and alumni. For more information or to download copies of the statement, please see www.diversity.ucla.edu

PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNITY

3

CONTENTS

4 Understanding the Educational Benefits

of Diversity

8 Addressing Diversity Challenges

in the Classroom

14 Engaging in Issues Related to

Diversity in the Classroom

20 References

22 Resources: Teaching for Diversity

UCLA’S PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNITY lay out the importance of teaching, diversity, and ensuring a welcoming and inclusive environment for all members of the campus community. As student bodies become increasingly diverse, it is important for faculty members to understand the dynamics associated with diverse campuses and how diversity can provide a rich social environment that can promote students’ learning and development. How faculty members engage with diversity in the classroom can play a critical role in student experiences, satisfaction, and learning outcomes. This booklet summarizes empirical studies on the educational benefits of diversity, examines some of the challenges associated with diversity in the classroom, and presents research on microaggressions in order to help faculty members meet the needs of diverse students responsibly and create a classroom environment where all students feel safe, valued, and respected. Additionally, the booklet provides a discussion on how to engage in issues related to diversity and diverse perspectives in the classroom and offers additional resources for faculty seeking to bring forth the value of diversity in their teaching and curricular development.

BY JUAN C. GARIBAY

Please contact UCLA’s office of Diversity & Faculty Development for permission to reproduce this booklet for educational purposes. Email [email protected] or call (310) 206-7411.

PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNITY

4

Understanding the Educational

Benefits of Diversity

MEANINGFUL ENGAGEMENT

PREPARES STUDENTS FOR

LIFE IN AN INCREASINGLY

COMPLEX AND DIVERSE

SOCIETY

Diversity in the Classroom, 2014 5

AN INCREASINGLY DIVERSE cam-

pus increases the likelihood that

students will engage with oth-

ers who are from different backgrounds

(Chang, 1999). As individuals are exposed

to diverse groups or attend a highly di-

verse institution they are often exposed to

experiences, perspectives, and opinions

different from their own. This intergroup

contact and exposure to diverse perspec-

tives provides important opportunities for

learning to occur. Psychological theories

of minority influence indicate that hav-

ing minority opinions present in groups

stimulates cognitive complexity among

majority opinion members (Gruenfeld et

al., 1998). Scholars contend that this “dis-

continuity” from students’ home environ-

ments provides students with a social and

intellectual environment that challenges

them in ways that enhances their cogni-

tive and identity development (Milem et

al., 2005). On the contrary, homogenous

environments restrict learning opportuni-

ties across social and cultural lines (Hur-

tado et al., 1994). While the educational

benefits of diversity are extensive, educa-

tors need to understand what the benefits

associated with diversity are and how to

realize the conditions required in order to

achieve these benefits.

Psychological theories of minority influence indicate that having minority opinions present in groups stimulates cognitive complexity among majority opinion members.

6 faculty.diversity.ucla.edu

EDUCATIONAL BENEFITS OF DIVERSITY

MEANINGFUL ENGAGEMENT with diverse peers and exposure to diversity issues in

the curriculum prepares students for life in an increasingly complex and diverse society.

n Brainstorming sessions among diverse groups have been shown to generate ideas that are of higher quality in feasibility and effectiveness (McLeod et al., 1996).

n Group discussions that include viewpoints from diverse students have been shown to stimulate discussion of multiple perspectives and previously unconsidered alternatives showing a higher level of critical analysis of decisions and alternatives (Antonio et al., 2004; Nemeth, 1995, 1985; Schulz-Hardt et al., 2006; Sommers, 2006).

n Students who interacted with diverse peers both informally and within the classroom showed the greatest engagement in active thinking, growth in intellectual engagement and motivation, and growth in intellectual and academic skills (Gurin, 1999; Gurin et al., 2002). Meaningful engagement rather than casual and superficial interactions led to greater benefit from interaction with racially diverse peers (Espenshade and Radford, 2009).

n Engagements with diversity fosters students’ cognitive and personal growth including their cultural knowledge and understanding, leadership abilities, and commitment to promoting understanding. Students develop more accurate knowledge, students learn to think more deeply, actively, and critically when they confront their biases and change erroneous information (Antonio, 2001a, 2001b; Antonio et al., 2004).

n Completion of a diversity course requirement reduces students’ level of racial prejudice (Chang, 2002), and is associated with students’ cognitive development (Bowman, 2010) and

civic behaviors and dispositions (Bowman, 2011).

n Individuals who are educated in diverse settings are far more likely to work and live in diverse environments after they graduate (Hurtado et al., 2003).

DIVERSITY within the academy enriches scholarship and teaching.

n Scholars from minority groups have expanded and enriched scholarship and teaching in many academic disciplines by offering new perspectives and by raising new questions, challenges, and concerns (Antonio, 2002; Nelson and Pellet, 1997; Turner, 2000)

n Women and faculty of color are more frequently employing active learning techniques (for example, class discussion, student-selected topics, among others) or student-centered pedagogy in the classroom, encouraging student input, including perspectives of women and minorities in their coursework, and attending workshops designed to help them incorporate the perspectives of women and racial/ethnic minorities into their courses (Hurtado et al., 2012; Milem, 2003). Student-centered pedagogy has been shown to increase student engagement, particularly in STEM introductory courses (Gasiewski et al., 2012), while extensive lecturing has been found to negatively affect student engagement and achievement (Astin, 1993)

IN ORDER FOR underrepresented populations to thrive, a sufficient number of diverse students must

be present.

n A lack of diversity can lead to tokenism of underrepresented students and being a part of an underrepresented group on a campus can produce negative social stigma (e.g., Fries-Britt, 1998; Fries-Britt and Turner, 2001, 2002; Steele, 1992, 1997, 1998; Steele and Aronson, 1995) and

Diversity in the Classroom, 2014 7

Brainstorming sessions among diverse groups has been shown to generate ideas that are of higher quality in feasibility and effectiveness.

other “minority status” stressors (Prillerman et al., 1989; Smedley et al., 1993) that adversely affect student achievement.

n Underrepresented and marginalized groups benefit educationally from intragroup contact. For example, students of color benefit from same-race interaction in ways that white students do not, as students of color create social and academic counterspaces to support their achievement against an often hostile campus climate (Solórzano et al., 2000).

n It is especially important that no single group of students—especially students of color and other marginalized populations—be unintentionally burdened as “the diversity” with whom all others should interact. Increasing the representation of these groups may provide a context that helps prevent this from occurring (Milem et al., 2005).

n Increasing the representation of historically marginalized groups in organizations that are largely dominated by a single social group is critical for others to overcome status leveling and stereotyped role induction. Status leveling occurs as individuals make adjustments in

their perception of the token’s (an individual from an underrepresented group) situational or professional status to be in line with the expected position of the token’s social category (Kanter, 1977). For example, individuals tend to make their perception of the token woman in male-dominated organizations or fields fit their preexisting generalizations about women as numerical rarity provides too few examples to contradict the generalization. In addition, students of color on a predominantly white campus may often be followed by campus police and questioned on whether they are legitimate members of the campus community (Smith et al., 2007). Being mistaken in their professional or student roles forces tokens to spend much energy correcting others and has a detrimental impact on aspirations and achievement. ✦

8 faculty.diversity.ucla.edu

FACILITATING DISCUSSIONS about diversity in the classroom can present a range of challenges for faculty members. The particular challenges will likely vary de- pending on whether one is a faculty member of a marginalized group in a class-

room that is largely composed of students from a dominant group or one is a faculty member of a dominant group in a compositionally diverse classroom. For example, be- ing a female professor in a classroom of nearly all male students may present particular challenges. Male students may, for example, attempt to undermine the professor’s exper- tise and authority. This challenge can be further exacerbated when the faculty member is a woman of color (see Gutierrez y Muhs et al., 2012). Additionally, a faculty member from a dominant group may unintentionally undermine students from historically mar- ginalized groups. This section will examine diversity challenges in the classroom with a particular focus on meeting the needs of diverse students.

MEETING THE NEEDS OF DIVERSE STUDENTS

THE CLASSROOM CLIMATE for diversity plays an important role in students’ experiences and engagement in the classroom and course. Appearing reluctant or

ambivalent to facilitate discussions about diversity or avoiding or halting discussions on diversity when they arise in the classroom can negatively impact the classroom climate, particularly for students from historically marginalized groups. For a faculty member, meeting the needs of diverse students and creating a classroom environment where all students feel safe, valued, and respected may require:

n Promoting an ethic of respect n Engaging issues of diversity in the course. n Validating the experiences of students from historically marginalized populations. n Changing curriculum within one’s discipline. n Avoiding tokenization (for example, calling upon one student to speak for/represent

a whole group) when limited numbers of students from particular groups are represented in one’s classroom.

Additionally, meeting the needs of diverse students requires an understand- ing of marginality and oppression, and how manifestations of marginality, bias, prejudice, and discrimination have become much more covert in nature. While this may seem like a daunting task, the next sections provide important information and aim to help educators reach these goals.

9

Addressing Diversity Challenges in the Classroom FACILITATING DISCUSSIONS ABOUT DIVERSITY IN THE CLASSROOM MAY PRESENT A RANGE OF CHALLENGES FOR FACULTY MEMBERS

10 faculty.diversity.ucla.edu

Microaggressions are the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership.

PREVENTING MICROAGGRESSIONS

THE TERM “microaggression” was originally coined by psychologist Chester Pierce in

the 1970s to describe “subtle, stunning, often automatic, and nonverbal…‘put-downs’ of blacks by offenders” (Pierce et al., 1978, p. 66). Research on microaggressions has been examined from the perspective of race and racism to explore the campus climate for African American (Solórzano et al., 2000) and Latina/o students (Yosso et al., 2009) and Chicana/o scholars (Solórzano, 1998), with increased scholarly attention on how microaggressions may target any marginalized group (that is, people of color; women; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people; people with disabilities; and religious minorities) in our society (Sue, 2010a, 2010b). Sue et al. (2007) define microaggressions as the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership. Thus, microaggresssions manifest in various ways (i.e., they are not just verbal) and in spite of intentionality (i.e., the offense occurs no matter the enactor’s intentions). Microaggressions are sometimes treated as trivial, but they are not trivial in their effects. The powerful, negative effects of frequent—or even chronic—microaggressions have been well documented for various target groups (see Sue, 2010b, for a review). The cumulative impact and stress from the chronic nature of microaggressions can trigger painful psychological stress responses and reduce students’ sense of belonging on campus (Smith et al., 2007). Furthermore, microaggressions have been shown to assail the mental health of recipients (Sue et al., 2008),

11

Examples adapted from Sue (2010a).

RACE

A white student clutches her or his

backpack tightly as a Black or Latino

student passes her or him.

Hidden message: You and your group are

criminals or dangerous.

An Indian American student born and

raised in the U.S. is complimented by an

instructor for speaking “good English.”

Hidden message: You are not a true

American. You are a perpetual foreigner in

your own country.

DISABILITY

An instructor speaks with a student who

uses a wheelchair as if the student were a

young child. Hidden message: People with disabilities are

not adults.

An instructor raises her or his voice

or speaks slowly when addressing a blind

student.

Hidden message: A person with a disability is

defined as lesser in all aspects of physical and

mental functioning.

MICROAGGRESSIONS IN EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS

GENDER

In class, an instructor tends to call on

male students more frequently than

female ones.

Hidden message: The contributions of

female students are less worthy than the

opinion of male students. Female students

are less capable than male students.

Labeling an assertive female committee

chair or dean as a “bitch,” while

describing a male counterpart as a

“forceful leader.”

Hidden message: Women should be passive

and allow men to be decision-makers.

SEXUAL ORIENTATION

A student uses the term “gay” to

describe someone who is socially

ostracized.

Hidden message: People who are weird,

strange, deviant, or different are “gay.”

A lesbian couple walk into class

holding hands and several students look

disgusted.

Hidden message: Same-sex attraction is

abnormal and repulsive.

12

Because we live in a society where there

are individual, institutional, and societal

biases associated with race, gender, and

sexual orientation, no one is immune

from inheriting biases of our ancestors,

institutions, and society (Sue, 2010b).

Several approaches to overcoming one’s

own unconscious bias include:

n Be alert to your biases and fears.

n In your everyday experiences, look for

evidence that contradicts biases.

n Take personal action.

n Seek a more balanced perspective of

historically marginalized groups.

n Learn from healthy and strong people in

an unfamiliar group.

OVERCOMING MICROAGGRESSIONS

Diversity in the Classroom, 2014 13

OVERCOMING MICROAGGRESSIONS create a hostile and invalidating campus climate (Solórzano et al., 2000), perpetuate stereotype threat (Steele et al., 2002), create physical health problems (Clark et al., 1999), and lower work productivity and problem solving abilities (Dovidio, 2001; Salvatore and Shelton, 2007). Understanding microaggressions and their adverse effects may be difficult for some individuals given that many types of microaggressions can be mistakenly perceived as compliments. For example, a professor who calls on an Asian American student to solve a math problem while saying, “you people are really good at math,” may perceive his or her own comment as a flattering remark towards Asian students. The ascription of intelligence that is associated with the model minority stereotype of Asian Americans, however, is problematic as Asian American students may feel extra pressure from being expected to know all the answers, may receive less attention and resources from the faculty member while also being held to a higher standard, and may be the targets of bullying or violence because of this stereotype. Also, Asian American students with learning disabilities may not be given the appropriate assistance to have success in the classroom. Sue (2003) describes microaggressions as active manifestations of marginality and/or a reflection of a worldview of inclusion/exclusion, superiority/inferiority, normality/abnormality, and desirability/undesirability. Given that most people view themselves as good, moral, and decent human beings, unveiling their hidden biases, prejudices, and discriminatory behaviors may threaten their self-image. Threats to an individual’s self-image may cause individuals to engage in defensive maneuvers to deny her or his biases, to personally avoid talking about racism or other forms of discrimination, and to discourage others from bringing up such topics. These maneuvers

are problematic in that they serve to preserve the self-image of oppressors, while silencing the voices of the oppressed (Sue, 2010b). In addition, the dynamics associated with denying or refusing to acknowledge a perceived microaggression have adverse consequences for the perpetrator also, including lowering empathic ability, dimming perceptual awareness, maintaining a false illusion, and lessening compassion for others (Bell, 2002; Spanierman et al., 2006; Sue, 2010b, 2005). Because we live in a society where there are individual, institutional, and societal biases associated with race, gender, and sexual orientation, no one is immune from inheriting biases of our ancestors, institutions, and society (Sue, 2010b). Several approaches to overcoming one’s own unconscious bias include:

n Be alert to your biases and fears. n In your everyday experiences, look for evidence

that contradicts biases. n Take personal action. n Seek a more balanced perspective of historically

marginalized groups. n Learn from healthy and strong people in an

unfamiliar group. ✦

14

Engaging in Issues Related

to Diversity in the Classroom

group identities may easily replicate the normative power relations in society, which privilege certain groups over others (e.g., Adams et al., 2000; Johnson, 2005; Tatum, 2000). A hostile learning environment within the classroom for students from historically marginalized groups is created by not taking notice of and opposing such interactions. Thus, as instructors, it is essential to know more about students and understand the nature of student interactions in the classroom in order to create inclusive educational environments.

Diversity in the Classroom, 2014 15

AS CLASSROOMS become increasingly diverse, it is critical for educators to create inclusive learning environments that promote learning outcomes for all students. But how can instructors create a learning environment

that is inclusive of and engages with diversity? In their extensive review of diversity and education scholarship, Hurtado, Alvarez, Guillermo-Wann, Cuellar, and Arellano (2012) provide a comprehensive framework for understanding the various dimensions of diverse learning environments within institutions of higher education. Within the curricular sphere, Hurtado et al.’s (2012) model emphasizes four key areas that shape the diversity environment in classrooms: students’ social identities, faculty identity, cur- ricular content, and pedagogy/teaching methods. In other words, who we teach, who teaches, what is taught, and how it is taught (see Jackson, 1988; Marchesani and Adams, 1992) all play a critical role in the teaching-learning process of promoting diversity in college classrooms. The following subsections present the key areas within the classroom dimension of diverse learning environm

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