Students and faculty will have the opportunity to attend an open forum to discuss the cultural diversity requirements being raised from three to six credit hours.

Today the Counsel on Academic Affairs Ad Hoc Committee on Cultural Diversity will sponsor the meeting at 3:30 p.m. in the Charleston/Mattoon Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union.

Last semester, a proposal was made at Student Government to increase the cultural diversity requirement by three credit hours.

Mikki Meadows, the chair of CAA, said this forum is not a presentation.

The CAA will explore if adding extra credit hours to a cultural diversity requirement is necessary.

“We are going to be gathering information on the campus’ thoughts of increasing diversity,” Meadows said.

Meadows said everyone is welcome to the forum, especially students.

“It was the students that identified the issue,” she said. “We need to hear from them.”

Dawn VanGunten, professor of secondary education, said there are two things to be looked at during the forum.

“We want to ask if the requirement is needed, and if it’s needed, are there courses that already exist in the books,” she said.

During the forum students will be put into small groups to discuss some of the various questions given to them about the requirements and evaluate if the need for the increase is necessary.

The meeting will also review the current definitions of cultural diversity and see if it meets the needs of the university.

VanGunten believes most students are exposed to a wide variety of diversity.

“I don’t think students are making a connection between these courses they are taking,” she said.

VanGunten said there are diversity classes, but some are not highlighted as a general education course for students.

“There are courses across the curriculum, but students don’t see the connection for these courses,” she said.

VanGunten does not believe adding another course will make the connection clear among students.

“There is an assumption that it will exhibit change in attitude and that’s not the case,” she said. “There needs to be cross-cultural experiences.”

Meadows said the reason she thinks students came with the idea to increase the requirement is because of diversity issues on campus.

Understanding of different races were not the only problems students were having,” she said. “There is a broad definition of diversity.”

Diversity issues besides race also include sexual orientation, social economic status, gender, religion and disabilities.

Meadows said some issues to look at are to see if programs at the university are stressing cultural diversity.

“We want to know what programs are doing for cultural diversity outside of the three hours,” she said.

Meadows said the committee also wants to know if students are utilizing these programs.

“Like, if there is a speaker outside of class, are students attending it,” she said.

Meadows also said faculty should be aware of the cultural issues on campus.

“This is a predominantly white area,” she said. “It is easy to ignore the issue of minorities.”

Meadows wants to encourage faculty to come out to some of the faculty development sessions.

“They are not well attended,” she said. “This is something everybody could benefit from,” she said.

Meadows said faculty could help diffuse some of the diversity issues in the classroom.

“They can diffuse situations in class and talk about diversity more,” she said.

Meadows is not sure if an upgrade in cultural diversity will be effective on student’s attitudes and behaviors.

“I know there are problems, but I’m not sure if adding a class will help,” she said. “That is why we are exploring other options also.”

Jessica Leggin can be reached at 581-7942 or at jmleggin@eiu.edu.