ABSTRACT

Few institutions have reached the stage of institutionalizing diversity learning programs across the varied contours of the campus ecosystem. Since institutions of higher education reflect and replicate the dominant culture in society, cultural change is a gradual process influenced by shifting demographic tides and the addition of new cultural elements. Student demonstrations have been a major force in the process of diversity transformation and especially in efforts to enhance diversity education. At the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UTK) and the University of Missouri at Columbia ("Mizzou"), tenured faculty leaders and academic senates have joined student voices to represent a significant countervailing force. A number of significant obstacles can short circuit the progress of diversity learning. Colleges and universities are essentially conservative institutions and late adapters to changing social conditions. One of the most salient strategies for diversity learning is the development of collaborative efforts among institutional offices such as Student Life, Human Resources, and Faculty Affairs.