The racial and social disconnect that exists between minority students and non-minority students on Trinity\u2019s campus is due to an ineffective First-Year Program. Though the First-Year Seminar was designed to acquaint a small group of students with one another while exploring an academic topic with a faculty advisor, the development of academic skills often takes precedent over the development of camaraderie. Many of Trinity\u2019s seminar topics are fun, but do not push students to get to know one another\u2019s stance on sensitive topics like race and class, nor do they engage students with the campus community. With the current condition of the First-Year Program, students are not taking advantage of the opportunity to learn how to discuss the kinds of topics that affect us more than we know in a small group environment, nor are they learning what it takes to become a true, active member of the campus community. Additionally, the activities at First-Year Orientation lack transparency and fail to encourage dialogue that makes students think about the campus community in a broader sense.<\/p>\n
As a solution, Trinity should implement more learning communities into its First-Year Program. Students would be placed into small groups and taking the same \u201ccluster\u201d of classes based on a shared academic interest. Research shows that other factors like a student\u2019s area of study can shape students\u2019 perceptions of campus climate just as much as a student\u2019s race and social class. For students who are relatively decided about which area of study they\u2019d like to pursue, this is an opportunity for professors to engage students in a way that accommodates the perceptions that are unique to students in that field and build upon them positively. Additionally, all students should be required to take a course\u2014much like the \u201cGeneral Studies: The Campus Community\u201d course at University of Washington\u2014that has students study prevalent issues on campus and in the surrounding community and think about what role they must play in creating change. Additionally, as the component of the First-Year Program that has the most impact, Orientation should include more activities that address the current state of interactions between race and social class on campus, as well as encourage students to start thinking of ways to improve those relations and contribute to the development of their new community. In this way, this topic will no longer be one that is overlooked or deemed inappropriate to discuss.<\/p>\n
Bibliography:<\/p>\n
Timothy W. Gordon, Jamie C. Young, and Carlye J. Kalianov, \u201cConnecting the Freshman Year Experience through Learning Communities: Practical Implications for Academic and Student Affairs Units,\u201d College Student Affairs Journal<\/em> 20, no. 2 (2001), http:\/\/vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com\/hww\/jumpstart.jhtml?recid=0bc05f7a67b1790ef8fc999322d46b<\/a><\/p>\n This journal article presents results from a study conducted at a university in the Midwest that suggest that students who participate in learning communities are more apt to become involved in rich ways around campus, and to excel academically.<\/p>\n Peter Schmidt, \u201cMuch Research on Campus Diversity Suffers From Being Only Skin Deep, New Studies Suggest,\u201d The Chronicle of Higher Education<\/em>, April 13, 2010, sec. Students, http:\/\/chronicle.com\/article\/Much-Research-on-Campus\/65051\/.<\/p>\n The research conducted in this article suggests that perceptions of campus climate are influenced by more than a students\u2019 race and social class. After distributing a survey to upperclassmen, the author discovered that each area of study had similar perceptions. Thus, adding to my ideas of how race and class can be addressed most effectively in the learning communities I propose.<\/p>\n Christopher Shea, \u201cOrientation at Penn,\u201d The Chronicle of Higher Education<\/em>, September 15, 1993, sec. Archives, http:\/\/chronicle.com\/article\/Orientation-at-Penn\/92558\/.<\/p>\n This article talks about how students and staff at the University of Pennsylvania presented prevalent campus issues related to race, social class, and dating violence to the incoming first-year class as an Orientation activity. Though its effectiveness was debated, this article inspired my idea for Trinity to incorporate more activities at Orientation that exposed students to campus culture in a more transparent way.<\/p>\n University of Washington, \u201cUW Freshman Interest Groups – GEN ST 199: The University Community.\u201d First Year Programs, 2009. http:\/\/fyp.washington.edu\/figs\/genst199.php<\/a>.<\/p>\n This source provides information about \u201cFreshman Interest Groups\u201d at University of Washington, which are much like the learning communities I propose. This source also contains a link to the syllabus for their required \u201cGeneral Studies: The University Community\u201d course, which encourages students to examine issues on campus and the surrounding community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The racial and social disconnect that exists between minority students and non-minority students on Trinity\u2019s campus is due to an ineffective First-Year Program. Though the First-Year Seminar was designed to acquaint a small group of students with one another while exploring an academic topic with a faculty advisor, the development of academic skills often takes … Continue reading Nykia\u2019s Revised Proposal<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/colorandmoney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/colorandmoney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/colorandmoney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/colorandmoney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/colorandmoney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/colorandmoney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":809,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/colorandmoney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804\/revisions\/809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/colorandmoney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/colorandmoney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/colorandmoney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}