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ERIC Number: EJ784797
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008-Jan-24
Pages: 3
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1557-5411
EISSN: N/A
When Diversity Training Goes Awry
Watson, Jamal
Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, v24 n25 p11-13 Jan 2008
Initially, Courtney Halligan, a first-year student at the University of Delaware (UD), was not opposed to attending a diversity training session that was required of all incoming freshmen. In fact, the 18-year-old New Jersey native assumed that the experience would be an opportunity for her to learn more about students from different backgrounds. In one-on-one and group sessions conducted in the dormitories by resident assistants, Halligan and dozens of other White students complained that they were made to feel like racists. She adds that they were blamed for the legacy of racism that Blacks and other minority groups have endured through the years. In response to complaints by students like Halligan, and pressure from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a Philadelphia-based civil liberties advocacy group that monitors freedom of speech issues on campuses across the country, the university decided last semester to suspend the controversial program. The debacle at UD is the latest embarrassing incident in which diversity training has backfired, possibly causing more harm than good and alienating students in the process. Diversity experts point to these examples as cause for college officials across the nation to re-examine and reform their own campus diversity training programs.
Cox, Matthews and Associates. 10520 Warwick Avenue Suite B-8, Fairfax, VA 20170. Tel: 800-783-3199; Tel: 703-385-2981; Fax: 703-385-1839; e-mail: subscriptions@cmapublishing.com; Web site: http://www.diverseeducation.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A