Rethinking Cultural Competence in Higher Education

Executive Summary 7 Foreword 12 Acknowledgments 14 The Politics of Cultural Competence in Higher Education 16 A Demographic Call to Action 21 The Veil of Color-Blindness 25 Inclusive Excellence and the Pathway to Cultural Competence 27 Purpose and Organization of the Monograph 29 Deconstructing Cultural Competence 32 Intercultural Competence 34 Multicultural Competence 37 Rethinking Culture 40 Unbundling Competence 43 An Alternative Term: Diversity Competence 44 Mission-Driven Statements of Diversity/Cultural Competence 46 Concluding Observations 48 An Ecological Framework for Developing Diversity Competence 50 Attributes of Campus Diversity Experiences 53 Application of the Ecological Model to Campus Environments 55 The Clash Between the Macro and Micro/Meso Levels 56 Holistic Environmental Models for Diversity Learning Outcomes 59 Campus Culture and Climate 62 The Campus Physical Environment 65 Diversity Leadership 66 Organizational Learning as a Catalyst for Change 69 Concluding Observations 71 The Educational Benefits of Diversity and the Link to Democracy Outcomes 73 The Relation of Liberal Education to Diversity Competence 78 Common Ground: Democracy Learning Outcomes and Diversity Competence 80 Cross-Cutting Educational Approaches to Democracy Outcomes 83 Concluding Observations 87 Mapping the Educational Terrain for Diversity Competence 89 A Visual Methodology 90 Campus Curricular Inventory for Diversity 91 Features of Curricular Best Practices 96 Service Learning as a Bridge to Diversity Competence 99 Campus Cocurricular Inventory for Diversity 102 Linking Diversity Competence to Accreditation Criteria 104 Concluding Observations 107 The Role of Identity Development and Intergroup Contact in Diversity Competence 110 The Formative College Years and the Social Construction of Identity 112 Racial and Ethnic Identity Formation 114 Sexual and Gender Identity Formation 119 Holistic Perspectives on Identity Development 121 Structured Intergroup Contact 122 Concluding Observations 126 Strategies and Recommendations for Practice 128 Note 140 References 141 Appendix A: Data Sample 160 Name Index 163 Subject Index 169 About the Authors 173