Despite the lack of many seminars that introduce students to the realities of campus culture, a complete reconstruction of each seminar\u2019s curriculum is not necessary. Rather, the addition of a component that focuses strictly on each topic\u2019s connection to Trinity and relevant campus issues such as race and social class should be considered. For example, seminars like \u201cGlobal Challenges of the 21st<\/sup> Century\u201d or \u201cT-Lab: Technology for International Development\u201d that focus on global issues could also consider studying how certain international issues compare to the issues that members of different cultures in the United States face. Students can also draw parallels or make distinctions between the areas they studied and those that exist in the city of Hartford or in their own hometowns. Students could even survey students around campus and ask them to do the same. In this way, students in these seminars would be actively engaging with campus, as well as enhancing their study of their topics by using students as first-hand resources. Similarly, role-playing seminars like \u201cAthens and Rome\u201d and \u201cReligion, Politics, and Power\u201d could enrich their knowledge by exploring what vestiges of the historical eras they study still exist today. Between the amount of United States citizens and international students who attend Trinity, a rich discussion of how political, social, intellectual, cultural, and economic components of those areas might have influenced other cultures to which Trinity students might belong could result.<\/p>\n In addition to promoting more peer-to-peer interaction, seminar advisors could also promote an intrapersonal approach to bettering the Trinity community. President Jones follows his wish to nurture an attitude of acceptance amongst students with an expressed desire for each student to fulfill his or her duty as \u201can integral, contributing member of a small, tightly-knit college community founded upon shared meritocratic values\u201d.[1. Jones Jr., 8.] This desire necessitates the addition of a component that teaches students what it means to be an active member of the campus community. Such a program proves to be successful at the University of Washington, where every first-year student is required to take \u201cGeneral Studies 199: The Campus Community.\u201d Much like Trinity\u2019s first-year seminars, first-year students participate in discussions, on-campus and off-campus projects and activities that assist them in their transition to college. However, this course exceeds our program in that it leads students in \u201cbeginning to understand their role as learners within the larger university, and how that role compares with their previous educational experiences, and understanding the value of being an active participant in the campus community and beyond\u201d[1. University of Washington First Year Programs, \u201cGeneral Studies 199: The University Community Course Materials\u201d (University of Washington, Autumn 2010), http:\/\/fyp.washington.edu\/figs\/downloads\/coursepack.pdf.]Activities include reflecting upon one\u2019s personal goals for academic and social success and completing a project that involves exploring a Seattle neighborhood and comparing it to one\u2019s own racial and socioeconomic experience. Briefly stepping away from the seminar topic to engage students in curricular activities that mirror that of the University of Washington\u2019s course could effectively introduce students to the idea of being more than just another face on Trinity\u2019s campus.<\/p>\n The responsibility of introducing students to the idea of social accountability on campus rests primarily on each seminar\u2019s faculty advisor. However, the fact that each faculty member is at liberty to decide upon his or her own seminar topic could mean that sensitive topics like race and social class might be easily avoided if it is not regarded as a priority by the majority of faculty members. As it stands, though the majority of faculty members desire a cohesive campus, the amount of passion they have towards the subject differs. Thus, their resulting approaches differ, as well. While some side with students in favor of an active response, others have a fear of overreacting. For instance, in the wake of an incident that occurred in Spring 2011, where a White student allegedly threw a beer can and shouted racial slurs at a minority student, Professor Samuel Kassow highlights a tendency for faculty to label students as unruly and close-minded and voiced his preference for a more careful, reflective approach. \u201cCareful policy, based on facts, will achieve much more than jeremiads about racism or frog-marches into courses about \u201cdiversity,\u201d Kassow wrote. \u201cWe need to look at our peer colleges and carefully assemble data\u201d.[1. Kassow, Samuel. \u201cHalt! Let\u2019s Understand This FIRST! by Professor Kassow.\u201d 4legs. 29 Apr 2011.http:\/\/www.4legs.org\/2011\/04\/halt-lets-understand-this-first-by-professor-kassow\/] In contrast, Professor David Cruz-Uribe suggested action as an alternative to Trinity\u2019s usual research-driven response strategy. Cruz-Uribe wrote, \u201cI believe that Professor Kassow\u2019s assertion that we need further studies to determine what \u201cfactors contribute to tension and alienation\u201d only contributes to the problem\u2026I believe that the college needs to confront it head on\u201d[1. Cruz-Uribe, David, SFO. \u201cBASTA! Enough!\u201d 4legs. 2 May 2011. http:\/\/www.4legs.org\/2011\/05\/basta-enough\/] In order to effectively address issues of race and social class on campus, there needs to be shared sentiment in regards to the urgency of these issues, as well as a consensus about the measures that should be taken to address them. At Amherst College, for instance, the student body consisted of 40% students of color and 10% international students in 2010\u2014the same year the institution was ranked third for \u201cEconomic Diversity Among Top-Ranked Schools: Liberal Arts Colleges\u201d in 2010 by U.S. News and World Report<\/em>. In addition to re-vamping recruitment methods, instituting a need-blind\/ no-loan admissions policy, and broadening their standards for merit aid, researchers contribute Amherst\u2019s success in this regard to establishing institutional support.[1. Rubin, R. B. \u201cRecruiting, Redefining, and Recommitting: The Quest to Increase Socioeconomic Diversity at Amherst College.\u201d Equity & Excellence in Education v. 44 no. 4 (October 2011) p. 512-31] Similarly, in order to enhance First-Year seminars in a way that promotes diversity and community effectively, all faculty members should speak often and openly about various approaches until there is a unified stance. This will only strengthen the initiative and increase its likelihood of resonating with both incoming and returning students alike.<\/p>\n Such a unified perspective among the faculty can be exemplified for first-year students by way of colloquial activities between seminars. According to a 2008 student survey study conducted at the University of California, students\u2019 academic disciplines can shape their perceptions of race and social class even moreso than ethnicity, socio-economic standing, or political affiliation.[1. 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\/.] Therefore, it would be beneficial for about three or four seminars from multiple disciplines to form \u201cclusters\u201d on a bi-monthly basis, wherein they would share what they have learned about their topic through the lens of the Trinity-specific component. Students would also share what they have learned in regards to the component that would focus on the self and the campus community. It is here, in these \u201cclusters,\u201d that dialogue centering around race, class, gender roles, and other sensitive topics that require genuine, constructive discourse would be discussed. In his \u201cwhite paper,\u201d President Jones proposes the creation of a reading list of fifteen or so works, including classics like Candide<\/em>, To Kill a Mockingbird<\/em>, <\/em>and \u201cThe Book of Exodus.\u201d Seminars, which would be newly regarded as Understandings in Common<\/em>, would read one book per week in preparation for faculty-facilitated discussions as a way of \u201cdealing with ethical dilemmas concomitant with our students\u2019 experiences at Trinity\u201d and to explore \u201cthe theoretical and the actual, as ethics and postmodern events in real time coincide and collide\u201d[2. Jones Jr., 19-20.] Such a suggestion aligns with the idea that students at Trinity are already adequately stimulated to debate current events using theory as a framework for the stances they choose. However, relating these events with students\u2019 experiences at Trinity using literature as a springboard could add dimension to the kind of critical thinking that is already taking place in first-year seminars. The concept of Understandings in Common<\/em> would undoubtedly work just as in \u00a0\u201cclusters\u201d just as effectively as it would in individual seminars, since a variety of different perspectives often provides access to more modes of thinking than expected.<\/p>\n Exposure to a multitude of varying views and opinions is one of the most effective ways to resolve the ignorance that motivates issues related to race and social class. As a program that is known to orient incoming first-year students to college, first-year seminar advisors should not be reluctant to introduce students to the specific issues that are relevant to Trinity and the appropriate resources to combat them. Such resources exceed physical locations, such as the Counselor\u2019s office or the Office of Multicultural Affairs. Rather, they extend to the tools of communication and active listening, as well as the potentially groundbreaking concept of \u201cself\u201d as it relates to campus community and culture. By instituting campus-wide support in the initiative to teach students how to access these tools as early as the First-Year seminar, Trinity could be well on its own way to meeting its goal of becoming an actively inclusive campus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Each consisting of a small group of incoming first-year students, a faculty advisor, and an upperclass mentor, First-Year seminars acquaint students with one another through the exploration of an academic topic. Seminars are meant to be \u201cacademically rigorous, limited in size, and designed to enhance the new student\u2019s abilities in critical analysis, writing, discussion and … Continue reading Community 101: Promoting Cross-Cultural Dialogue in the First-Year Seminar<\/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":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/colorandmoney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/colorandmoney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/colorandmoney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/colorandmoney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/colorandmoney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1046"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/colorandmoney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1117,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/colorandmoney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046\/revisions\/1117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/colorandmoney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/colorandmoney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/colorandmoney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/colorandmoney\/files\/2011\/12\/general199-300x161.png\")
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