LE_SU07_Perspective - LiberalEducation VOL 93 NO 3 A S S O...

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S S O C I A T I O N O F
A
M E R I C A N
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O L L E G E S A N D
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N I V E R S I T I E S
LiberalEducation
VOL. 93, NO. 3 SUMMER 2007
From Recovery to Renewal at Tulane University
page 6
Saving Higher Education in the Age of Money
page 14
Democracy, Diversity, and Presidential Leadership
page 22
ALSO INSIDE:
On the Practicality of a Liberal Education
page 28
Faculty Accountability and Cultural Inclusiveness
page 32
A Campus, Not a Sanctuary
page 46
2007
ANNUAL
MEETING

32 L
IBERAL
E
DUCATION
S
UMMER
2007
J
ULIAN IS AN
A
FRICAN
A
MERICAN
college stu-
dent. All of his professors, and the over-
whelming majority of his classmates, are
white. In fact, as he approaches the end of his
senior year, Julian has not had a single in-
structor who was not white. He and his same-
race peers often meet at the black culture
center on campus to
decompress and re-
flect on instances of marginality that repeat-
edly arise in their predominantly white
classroom environments. Their frustration at
the cultural negligence with which their pro-
fessors approach teaching and learning is
among the usual topics of conversation. Hav-
ing somehow survived almost four years at a
university that remained unresponsive to his
cultural needs and interests, Julian has
emerged as a mentor and self-appointed peer
adviser for younger African American stu-
dents who gather at the black culture center
for support.
Julian actively encourages the other
African American students to assume in-
creased levels of cultural ownership of their
educational journeys. Specifically, when they
complain about the absence of Africentric
perspectives in the curriculum, their profes-
sors’ blatant disregard for multiculturalism in
class discussions, and their disappointment
with the limited opportunities to learn about
their cultural selves and diverse others in the
classroom, Julian discusses his approach to
“filling in the gaps” in his own educational
experience. He supplements assigned course
readings with culturally relevant books and
essays written by black authors and other
scholars of color. Despite having asked several
of his white professors for help, Julian has had
to search for this body of knowledge on his
own. Also, he spent the spring semester of his
junior year studying in West Africa. Julian
pursued this opportunity not because a profes-
sor encouraged him to do so, but because he
realized on his own that this would likely be
his only formal opportunity in college to learn
about the history and origins of his people. He
often shares photos and details from the trip
and encourages other African American stu-
dents to seek out similar educational and cul-
tural ventures.
Aside from advice on making curricula
more culturally relevant for themselves, Julian
also teaches his younger peers how to speak up
for themselves and demand that their voices
be represented in classroom dialogues. His ap-
proach entails the voluntary provision of a
black perspective on course topics, the unso-
licited sharing of his own life story as it relates