Though the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs should be commended for its programs that promote embracing differences, it is necessary for students to take the next step and engage with the University’s diverse population outside of scheduled programs.
While the office is making efforts to expose students on campus to mind sets and backgrounds different from their own, students cannot be passive learners. It takes more than merely attending the office’s programs to learn how to be culturally competent.
Instead, students should consistently engage with diversity issues in all aspects of their life with an open mind. Cultural competency does not mean just acquiring factual knowledge, but knowing how to use it.
U.S. Census data predict that by the year 2050, there will be no racial or ethnic majority in the United States, and from 2000 to 2050 immigrants and their children will make up 83 percent of the growth in the working age population.
According to the Center for American Progress, a diverse and inclusive environment results in a better workforce, and 85 percent of large global enterprises in a Forbes survey agreed that “diversity is crucial to fostering innovation in the workplace.”
Students now have to be culturally competent in the global market. This means integrating this way of thinking into the classroom, in extra-curricular activities and embedding it in everyday life.
Students must apply what they learn from diversity programming outside of seminars — and be aware that they’re probably not as culturally competent as they think.
If this starts to happen, then students will better be able to adapt to this increasingly diverse society.
