Midway through its second year, the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE) continues to tackle issues of diversity in the Middlebury academic setting.
The CCSRE formally launched in the fall of 2009, but the idea had been developing for years.
“The idea of creating a center emerged as one of the top recommendations of the Human Relations Committee report in 2006,” said Shirley Collado, dean of the College and chief diversity officer.
“This was a committee appointed by President of the College Liebowitz in an effort to explore and better address needs and challenges related to diversity .… In line with the College's overall diversity goals … [the CCSRE] brings to life what it means to place diversity as a core piece of both the academic and social cultural experiences of our students,” said Collado.
“It is my hope that the center will create more opportunities for supporting our students, enhancing our curriculum, supporting faculty, advancing inclusive pedagogy in the classroom and providing a central space for hard and interesting questions to be explored,” Collado added.
Susan Burch, professor of American Studies and director of the CCSRE, said “There were aspirations for this center for a long time before I arrived [in 2009] and a great committee that helped bring it into existence.”
“One thing that was particularly important to me was that the space be filled with energy and people,” said Burch. “Bringing in colleagues from other departments has opened up new relationships.”
According to Burch, the center is somewhat unique among other similar ones in that it is strongly global.
“When we talk about race and ethnicity it is not from a United States centered understanding.”
The CCRSE is meant to be equally broad in its interactions with the College community.
“We aspire to foster critical engagement with issues of race and ethnicity across all disciplines … to enhance a liberal arts education,” said Burch.
Differing from the Office for Institutional Planning and Diversity, the CCSRE focuses only on the role of diversity in the classroom rather than other “social and political aspects,” said Becky Harper ’11, a member of the CCSRE Student Advisory Board (SAB).
The center runs a variety of programs to raise awareness among students, faculty and staff including workshops, lectures, discussions, film screenings, etc., and it is currently working to combine efforts on environmental and diversity initiatives.
Last year, the center held an event in cooperation with the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Research (CTLR).
“It was all about teaching race and ethnicity in the classroom and they had panels, discussions, and lectures,” said Harper. “A student panel talked about their experiences when it came to race and ethnicity in the classroom.”
The CCSRE also runs PALANA, an academic interest house for students interested in issues of cultural identity and diversity.
“Students voluntarily seek out the opportunity to have a life experiment, if you will, the chance to be with others who are really interested in these issues and cultivate their own programs and opportunities to engage with people from all over the world and have intentional conversations about culture and identity,” said Burch.
According to Harper, who was a member of PALANA last year, the students do individual projects related to diversity initiatives and raising awareness.
The CCSRE has two advisory boards: a steering committee of faculty members and a student advisory board (SAB).
“We wanted to have a governing body that acknowledged that there are different ways that this center serves the whole College,” said Burch. “It helps me get a better sense of what issues are happening on the ground for students.”
The SAB gives feedback to professors about the students’ perspectives. In addition to sharing the “word on the street,” said Harper, “we help out in the mission of the center” by leading and facilitating events.
“It’s really slow going and with a topic like diversity, you hit resistance more than anything else,” said Harper. “We tend to preach to the choir because at the end of the day if students aren’t interested, they’re just not interested … if you talk to a few students you’ll realize soon that it’s not as welcoming as you think it is here.”
Despite what Harper believes to be slow progress, Burch said that it “has been remarkably successful so far and we are looking forward to the future chapters in our story. No one will leave here without having the opportunity for some serious engagement on race and ethnicity.”
Burch encourages students to get involved.
“We do have funds that are intended for programming and for scholarship,” said Burch. “So if there are projects that students are interested in pursuing that significantly engage in race ad ethnicity, we would love to know about it, showcase it, and put it on our website.”
CCSRE works to promote diversity awareness on campus
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