the campus climate

In light of the recently released results of the UGA campus climate survey, the new curriculum incorporating diversity at Hamilton College struck a chord:

Unlike many such campuses, Hamilton adopted a new curriculum requirement that all concentrations, or majors, feature relevant, mandatory course work on diversity.

"This is an innovative approach to engaging with contemporary issues of inclusion and diversity in the curriculum," said Patrick Reynolds, immediate past dean of the faculty, "one that has the potential not only to resonate with the academic interests of each of our students, but to prepare them better to apply the expertise of their major in their post-Hamilton careers and lives." 

Of course, requiring majors to incorporate diversity and inclusion sparks questions and debate about what these concepts represent and why they might be necessary. Such conversations on this or any campus benefit the campus community in many ways. They are opportunities to assess who we are, where we come from, what that means and how it affects what we want to become. As such, debates about diversity become self-fulfilling prophecies for society. Let us continue to reckon with all we know about ourselves and our goals for the commonwealth through the richness of scholarship and the many disciplines that create the liberal arts learning environment. And as these aspirations define us, the tools to achieve them help us build a more just and equitable society.

Image: Statue of Abraham Baldwin, Old College, University of Georgia.