Diversity and Inclusion

Fall 2009 Intergroup Dialogue

Fall 2009 Intergroup Dialogue

The UNLV Department of Special Education in the College of Education
& the Office of the Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion
Proudly Announce the Fall 2009
UNLV Intergroup Dialogue Program Pilot
5 Topic Sections
Two Hours a Week for Eight Weeks, 1 Credit
Beginning the Week of September 14th and Concluding the Week of November 2nd

See below for more information about intergroup dialogue.
We need your help to advertise this Program with your students and/or your student peers!!!
Please share this information!!!

If you would like a Diversity and Inclusion staff member to come to your class or student organization meeting to talk briefly about the Program, please contact Ms. Anna Smedley at anna.smedley@unlv.edu to schedule your request.

Fall Schedule of UNLV Intergroup Dialogues

PEOPLE OF COLOR/WHITE PEOPLE (RACE)
Explore, question, and confront existing tensions and divisions between and among people on the basis of racial and ethnic identity in the United States and, to a lesser extent, abroad. Discuss black/white issues and the impact of the black/white dichotomy of race in the United States on other people of color. Discuss black/Latina/o issues. Discuss Latina/o/white issues. Discuss black/Asian issues. Discuss the invisibility of American Indians. Discuss genocide and debunk theories of racial and ethnic superiority and inferiority. Discuss the concept of “the racial ‘other.’” Discuss intraracial and intraethnic issues. Examine racial and ethnic dynamics within and across racial and ethnic communities. Learn to build bridges and create kinship, while developing increased conflict negotiation skills between and among members of all racial and ethnic groups. Co-Facilitators Marian Moore & Anna Smedley, MONDAYS 1:30-3:30 p.m., beginning September 14th and ending November 2nd, Multicultural Center-Centro Multicultural (Houssels House)

MEN/WOMEN (SEX/GENDER)
Explore, question, and confront existing tensions and divisions between and among people on the basis sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, as women, as men, etc. Explore so-called biological imperatives relating to sex; examine social constructions of gender and related gender roles across race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, and socioeconomic class; question conceptualizations of femininity and masculinity; discuss relationships between women and men, among women, and among men; interrogate the notion of a “nuclear family” and examine different family configuration models; confront sexism. Learn to build bridges and create kinship, while developing increased conflict negotiation skills between and among women and men. Co-Facilitators Christina Hernandez & José Melendrez, THURSDAYS 2:30-4:30 p.m., beginning September 17th and ending November 5th, Multicultural Center-Centro Multicultural (Houssels House)

PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES/PEOPLE WITHOUT DISABILITIES (DISABILITY/ABILITY)
Explore, question, and confront existing tensions and divisions between and among people who live with and without physical, developmental, and psychological disabilities. Explore definitions of disability/ability; examine the roles that disabilities/abilities play in individual and group identity development; discuss differences in cultural understandings and experiences of disabilities/abilities across race/ethnicity, nationality, and religion, etc; uncover "hidden" disabilities and compare and contrast the "closeting" nature of these with other "invisible identities" related to religion and sexual orientation, among others. Learn to build bridges and create kinship, while developing increased conflict negotiation skills between and among members of all disability/ability groups. Co-Facilitators Clark Hochstetler & Shalleja "Shelly" D'Souza, WEDNESDAYS, 4:30-6:30 p.m., beginning September 16th and ending November 4th, Multicultural Center-Centro Multicultural (Houssels House)

LGBT/HETEROSEXUAL (SEXUAL ORIENTATION)
Explore, question, and confront existing tensions and divisions between and among lesbian, gay, bisexual and heterosexual people. Discuss issues of sexuality, heterosexism, and homophobia between and among lesbian, gay, bisexual and heterosexual people. Examine the impact of heterosexual privilege in the United States and, to a lesser extent, abroad. Discuss the concept of “two-spirited” people and the emergence of heterosexism and homophobia in especially Western (and Westernized) religious frameworks. Examine dynamics of sexual orientation within and across racial and ethnic communities in the United States and abroad. Learn to build bridges and create kinship, while developing increased conflict negotiation skills between and among members of all sexual orientations. Co-Facilitators Daniel Gutiérrez & Ivet Santiago, THURSDAYS 2:30-4:30 p.m., beginning September 17th and ending November 5th, Multicultural Center-Centro Multicultural (Houssels House)

INTERFAITH/SECULAR
Explore, question, and confront existing tensions and divisions between and among people of all religions, spiritual orientations, faith traditions, and secular affiliations. Examine the impact of Christian privilege in the United States and, to a lesser extent, abroad. Examine dynamics of religion and secularity within and across racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic communities. Examine the impact of the Christianization of people of color, as well as from other social identity groups. Develop increased conflict negotiation skills while learning to create community between and among people across belief systems. Co-Facilitators Chris Clark & Algerian Hart, WEDNESDAYS 3-5 p.m., beginning September 16th and ending November 4th, Multicultural Center-Centro Multicultural (Houssels House)

PLEASE NOTE: The Multicultural Center-Centro Multicultural is currently located in a building that is not fully accessible. For individuals with mobility challenges, physical accessibility is limited to the first floor of the building. If you have mobility concerns, please contact the Multicultural Center-Centro Multicultural at 702.895.5580 at any time to discuss your concerns. If you require any accommodation to participate in our activities, please contact the Multicultural Center-Centro Multicultural at 702.895.5580 five working days prior to an activity or as soon as possible so we may provide the best possible accommodations.

What Is Intergroup Dialogue?
Intergroup dialogue brings together diverse groups of participants from across various stakeholder communities—typically where there has been a history of tension or conflict between groups—to engage them in discussion of issues related to their diversity, broadly conceptualized (i.e., across race; color; ethnicity; Deaf, deaf, Hard-of-Hearing, or hearing status; geographic origin; immigration status; first language; socioeconomic class; employment status; environmental concern (sustainability); sex; gender; gender identity and expression; family configuration; sexual orientation; physical, developmental, psychological ability; Veteran’s status; age and generation; religious, spiritual, faith-based or secular belief/affiliation; physical appearance; political affiliation; the exercise of rights secured by the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, etc.). More specifically, intergroup dialogue engages participants from one, two, or more “social identity groups” in a collaborative learning experience. Examples of intergroup dialogue configurations could include Black/White; African American/Afro-Caribbean/African; Men/Women; Hawaiian Men/Hawaiian Women; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual/Heterosexual; Latina Lesbian/Latina Heterosexual; Interfaith/Secular; Jewish/Muslim, among many others.
The purpose of intergroup dialogue is to enable its participants to develop comfort with, and skill for, discourse on difficult topics toward the end of fostering positive, meaningful, and sustained cross-group relationships. Further, intergroup dialogue is a collaboratively structured form of group conversation characterized by participants’ willingness to “listen for understanding.” It is different from discussion, where participants generally engage in serial monologuing—each offering their perspective on a given topic, as well as from debate, where participants typically learn to “listen to gain advantage”—each seeking to trump the perspectives offered by others on a given topic.
The goal of intergroup dialogue is for participants in it to build increased intra- and cross-group awareness, knowledge, and understanding leading to collective engagement in action for social justice, especially organized to interrupt and/or eradicate the history of tension or conflict between the groups brought together in the dialogue.

Why Intergroup Dialogue?
Focus-group interviews with undergraduate students at highly diverse public research universities regarding their experiences of diversity and, more specifically, diversity programming on campus illustrated significant differences in the perspectives of Students of Color (Black, Latina/o, Native American, and Asian) and White students.
            Students of color generally indicated feeling that their university was not doing enough to promote the comprehensive integration of diversity in all aspects of campus life—focusing primarily on “one-shot, all glitz and no substance” events, posters, and slogans, instead of more substantive initiatives like recruitment and retention of faculty of color, curricula diversification, and long-range multicultural programming. Students of color also expressed feeling particularly unsafe on their campus because of their sense that the administration had been largely unresponsive to their race-specific, security-related concerns and needs. Most expressed feeling the need to frequently “bite their tongues,” or refrain from speaking freely and openly about controversial aspects of diversity from their perspectives and experiences. Moreover, when they did speak out, most perceived being either penalized, largely ignored, or dismissed by white peers, faculty, staff, or administrators. Despite these feelings, most students of color wanted to develop relationships with students from other racial groups—including white students—but expressed not knowing how to go about doing this.
            On the other hand, white students interviewed saw increases in the enrollment of students of color as evidence that “things are equal now.” Resultantly, many perceived scholarship opportunities based on race as disadvantaging white students. Most also perceived students of color to “stick to themselves,” but failed to recognize this same behavior among white students. Few had any understanding of their privilege based on race, nor how such privilege translated into the social construction of institutional norms regarding behavior. For example, campus spaces not expressly identified as the purview of students of color were not understood to be white student spaces even though they functioned in exactly, and often exclusively, that way.* Most white students expressed valuing diversity, but felt that the university was doing too much to promote its comprehensive integration into all aspects of campus life—for example, by over-promoting diversity through events, posters, and brochures. Despite these feelings, like their student of color counterparts, most wanted to develop relationships with students from other racial groups, but expressed not knowing how to go about doing this.
            So while students of color and white students had different experiences of diversity efforts on campus, neither students of color nor white students were satisfied with these efforts. Further, both students of color and white students expressed the need for diversity efforts to facilitate meaningful and sustained cross-group interaction, dialogue, and relationship building, rather than to simply present an academic perspective on diversity via a didactic lecture, or a social context for the expression of diversity through food or entertainment.
*For example, a black cultural center on a campus is often perceived by white students as space for black students, but they do not perceive the block of fraternity houses on a campus, home to only historically white fraternities, as space for white students.

April 14, 2009

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