Projects / Bunker Hill Community College,
Beyond Symptoms to Institutional Dialogue
PIs: Pelonomi Khumoetsile-Taylor, Director, Diversity and Inclusion, Office of Diversity and Inclusion; Vilma M. Tafawa, Executive Director, International Center.
Bunker Hill Community College, in Boston Massachusetts, serves a highly diverse and rapidly changing urban area. Our student body ranges from a mix of mid-to predominantly lower-income students, students of color, non-native-English speakers, first generation college students, and vastly growing numbers of immigrant and international students with many different religious affiliations. This dynamic and changing population of learners presents the College with both opportunities and challenges. In order to effectively address the emerging challenges, the College seeks to understand, acknowledge, and internalize that differences in religious or political viewpoints, race, and/or social class status, contribute to a stronger institution that effectively serves all members of its highly diverse college community. The Ford Foundation's Difficult Dialogues Initiative presents us with an invaluable opportunity to impact institutional growth and change in the critical areas of diversity, pluralism and intellectual freedom. This initiative is at the heart of our institutional mission and core values, and is essential at this stage of the College's development.
The project will design and implement a range of interventions aimed at addressing complex and unmentionable topics as well as those subjects too uncomfortable to discuss openly. Activities will focus on both curriculum and campus life. Curricular activities will include: development of two new courses entitled “Civic Leadership in the Context of Religious and Cultural Pluralism” and “What Hurricane Katrina Teaches Us about Race, Class and Power; ” faculty workshops that will address religious, cultural and class diversity in course design, and methods that promote respect and openness in the classroom; curricular development to incorporate diverse perspectives; and development of a corps of student “cultural ambassadors” to serve as ombudspersons and encourage open and constructive discussion of difficult issues in the classroom. Campus Life activities will include campus dialogues on controversial issues led by renowned and hard-hitting guest speakers; and a series of interactive exercises involving faculty, staff and student leaders that raise awareness of racial, cultural, social class and religious differences.
At least 60 faculty will participate in professional development activities to expand their understanding of religious, cultural and class issues in the United States. At least 40 courses will be revised to more effectively integrate diverse cultural, racial, class, and religious perspectives. The College will hold three Compelling Conversations events on religious, cultural, class and political issues. These large-scale events are held in our 400-seat auditorium, and will engage, in the aggregate, at least 1,000 participants. Also, BHCC will expand our Compelling Conversations effort through a series of small group discussions involving the College community at large. These discussions will involve at least 500 participants. BHCC will conduct interactive exercises with targeted groups of faculty, staff and student leaders, to raise awareness of religious, cultural and class and other diversity issues on our campus. These exercises will involve at least 150 members of the College’s staff and faculty leaders, and at least 50 leaders of student government and student clubs. At least 30 Cultural Ambassadors, in concert with faculty, will provide assistance in the classroom to other students encouraging open and constructive discussion of difficult issues. They will also facilitate small group dialogues as part of our Compelling Conversations component.
Working alongside the Ford Foundation and other selected institutions, we stand ready to carry out an effective and successful Difficult Dialogues Initiative to generate the meaningful and necessary changes so vital to our student’s and country’s progress and survival.