Administrators hope to expand multicultural advocacy beginning this fall by training students before granting them the multicultural advocate title, said Associate Vice President of Student Affairs Mary Desler, who oversees the Multicultural Center.
“It will create a much broader base of support for multicultural issues,” Desler said. “Instead of 20 (multicultural advocates), there will be 100.”
Now all students will have the chance to become multicultural advocates, said Dimple Patel, coordinator of Asian/Asian American Student Services.
In the past, students applied and interviewed for multicultural advocate positions during Spring Quarter. After they were chosen, students received credit for two of three quarters of diversity-oriented classes, which they took two hours per week on a pass/no credit basis. The students also were guaranteed housing.
The new training process will be similar to that for Safe Space, a program that equips students to listen to members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community about their concerns.
Before they become advocates, students must attend classes more rigorous than those taken by multicultural advocates in the past, perform community service and interview someone of a different race, gender or socioeconomic background. Multicultural advocates still will receive credit for the classes but will not be guaranteed housing.
“They will be more motivated to do this program seeing that they put so much effort into getting this title,” Patel said.
In exchange for guaranteed housing, past years’ multicultural advocates had to promote diversity by creating bulletin boards, bringing speakers to their residence halls and being available to talk to students. Desler said advocates often did not fulfill their duties.
With the changes, advocates still will be available to talk to peers about cultural issues. Patel said she hopes advocates also will be motivated to take other measures to promote diversity, but it will not be required.
Some student leaders of cultural groups view the change as a positive step.
“You know you’re definitely weeding out the people who really care (from) the people who just want housing,” said Weinberg sophomore Rosa Nguyen, vice president of Asian American Students United.
Weinberg sophomore Ketica Guter, incoming coordinator of For Members Only, agreed with Nguyen.
“It will encourage people who have a passion for multicultural advocacy to participate in the program because it’s so intense and it requires more than maintaining a bulletin board,” Guter said.
Guter added that she is concerned about the lack of multicultural advocates during the transition phase in Fall Quarter.
Desler said the student affairs office was in serious talks to eliminate multicultural advocates, but cultural leaders appealed to keep them.
Patel stressed the program’s importance beyond the dorm walls.
“I don’t think this is necessarily that you’re a multicultural advocate in the hall and then once you step outside of it you’re not a multicultural advocate,” she said.
