COMMITTEE ON MULTICULTURAL CURRICULUM TRANSOFMRATION
Notes from Meeting of
17 March 2015
The third meeting of the Committee on Multicultural Curriculum Transformation
was held on Tuesday, March 17, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. in Altgeld 203.
Attendance
Kristen Myers (CMCT Chair, Director, Women, Gender &Sexuality Studies), Carolinda
Douglass (Vice Provost of Academic Planning and Development), Kristin Huffine
(Director, Center for Latino and Latin American Studies), Gary Chen (Engineering &
Engineering Technology), Anita Maddali (Law), Robin Moremen (Liberal Arts and
Sciences), Debra Miller (SPS Council lesion, Student Success Specialist), and Katie
Janssen (CMCT Graduate Assistant).
Introductions
We introduced members who were present.
Minutes
The minutes from the meeting of November 18, 2014 were approved without any
changes.
Announcements
Dr. Fred Hord at NIU
Myers announced, Dr. Fred Hord will be arriving at NIU on July 1, 2015. He will be
bringing his organization with him. Myers thinks he will be very involved in
diversity planning throughout the University.
CDO search
Myers announced that the search for a Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) has started and
airport interviews are being held on April 23-24. She reported the job ad changed
from the one designed in the summer. The job title is a cabinet position, but is now
not necessarily academic with tenure. The purpose of the job ad change was to
expand the population of candidates. Internal candidates will be accepted. The goal
is to have an offer made by May and the candidate to start July 1, 2015. Myers
suggested members of the CMCT attend the interview forums and ask questions,
when they occur at the end of April.
Update on emerging issues
Myers stated there will be many changes coming up with the role of this committee
and campus wide due to a meeting with the Board of Trustees.
CMCT/MCTI may be involved in PLUS in the future
Myers talked about Board of Trustees member, Trustee Marshall, who raised
questions about a 1991 Illinois state law stating all general education courses and
higher education organizations, including community colleges, must have diversity
(power, inequality, and access to opportunity) as part of its curriculum. Trustee
Marshall asked if we were compliant with the law, and NIU is apparently not
currently complying as the law is written. Currently general education classes do
not require a diversity component. However, gen-ed does require disciplinary
courses. These courses may or may not have diversity courses within them. The
PLUS system does not require a diversity credit. The PLUS Task Force was asked to
make diversity credit for three hours, but the offer was declined. Myers was asked
to attended a Board meeting to explain how MCTI addresses diversity in the
curriculum and she was asked how it could work with PLUS. The MCTI should plan
to work with PLUS to create an effective model for infusing diversity into the
general education curriculum. For example, the CMCT is qualified to go through the
general education courses, and star the ones that could fulfill a diversity
requirements (after obtaining/analyzing the syllabi).
Huffine, questioned if this would still be a problem with IAI. Moremen agreed
because the syllabi from other collages would not match our requirements. Majority
of the committee is in favor of advocating for a baccalaureate requirement.
Moremen came up with an either/or proposition. The transfer students might not
take a starred course and meet the diversity requirements through baccalaureate.
The native students would meet the requirements through PLUS or the
baccalaureate.
Moremen reminded committee, it is all contingent on CDO.
Plans for MCTI strategic planning with Hord and CDO in September
Douglass wondered if we should start working towards planning an event in
September or to have the committee to start working on the proposal for
baccalaureate. Myers agreed and said she could go back to Birberick, let her know
this group supports her argument and will help her make the argument that this
baccalaureate requirement is essential.
Miller said, “this could be a chance to share there has been an opportunity lost”. To
find statistics on the number of undergraduates who have and have not been able to
have an opportunity, such as this one. Moremen added it could be a way to show
how reducing retention rates.
There was much discussion on finding courses that could be considered
requirements. Douglass suggested the committee be responsible for doing the prep
work in finding the possible course that would work. Huffine suggested getting
support from the curriculum committee and PLUS committee would be extremely
helpful and beneficial.
Other Business
There was discussion on who the next chair, of CMCT, will be. LaVerne Grant is
thought to be next in line.
There will be more of a discussion of the fall semester at the next meeting. The bilaws need to be looked at and see who can run the strategic planning event.
Reminder of the strategic planning event:
September 10-12, 2015
Day 1 September 10:
CMCT committee will meet with Fred Hord to discuss changes and questions
(Altgeld 203/225). Followed by a reception talk given by Fred Hord in the
evening (Altgeld 200).
Day 2 September 11:
Strategic planning – Meet with all diversity groups on campus (student
affairs, academic affairs, resource centers, academic centers, ADPAC, Presidential
office, and Janice (Heritage Room, HSC).
Day 3 September 12:
Strategic planning – Just CMCT members meet to discuss what to keep in
place and what to change (Heritage Room, HSC).
Huffine said she will pull together a list of all the classes to start the search for
already accredited courses. Douglass suggested getting an undergraduate student
involved when pulling those classes together, for their opinion.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:10 a.m. The next meeting is scheduled for
Tuesday, April 21, 2015 from 10:00-11:30 a.m. in Altgeld 203.