CHICAGO (February 12, 2016) 鈥� When 萝莉社 was founded by Swedish immigrants , its student body was entirely Swedish, with all curriculum taught in Swedish. Today, as the University achieves significant diversity milestones and is recognized nationally for doing so, its institutional makeup is considerably different.
This school year, for the first time in North Park鈥檚 history, there is in its undergraduate population. No group of students, including Caucasians, reaches above fifty percent, highlighting the University鈥檚 commitment to creating a diverse campus community. Last week, the Chronicle of Higher Education to the fact that North Park is 鈥渙ne of the few evangelical colleges where the number of minority students now equals white students.鈥�
鈥淒avid L. Parkyn, the college鈥檚 president,鈥� said the Chronicle, 鈥渁ttributes that success to several things, including a historic commitment to diversity, which he talks about frequently, and being located in a diverse city like Chicago.鈥�
Indeed, as Parkyn told a group of students, faculty, and staff in a campus conversation event earlier this week, 鈥淭oday, we鈥檙e trying to make a shift from an objective of becoming multicultural鈥攂eing comprised of people who come from diverse backgrounds, which is about composition as an institution鈥攖o being intercultural. How does the crossing of cultures get ingrained into the DNA of an institution?鈥�
The conversation focused on diversity, inclusion, and the role that individual members of the North Park community play in continuing to shape the campus community. 鈥淲e are a multicultural campus in terms of composition,鈥� said聽Dr. Terry Lindsay, North Park鈥檚 dean of and associate professor of cultural studies, at the event. 鈥淏ut how do we move to being intercultural? How do we prepare our students for the world that we鈥檙e graduating them into?鈥�
鈥楳oving Beyond Individualism Towards Community鈥�
Parkyn and Lindsay opened the conversation by explaining that it would be the first in a series of campus-wide discussions in which issues surrounding diversity could be raised and engaged. As they opened the floor to questions, several members of the faculty and staff, as well as some students, asked about particular areas of cross-cultural initiatives on North Park鈥檚 campus, including the need to focus on 鈥渋ntracultural鈥� work.
鈥淔or me, if intracultural isn鈥檛 happening while we鈥檙e doing intercultural work, we鈥檙e missing the boat,鈥� said Lindsay. 鈥淚 hope as we鈥檙e doing intercultural competency and development, we鈥檙e also helping students to think about who they are, their own identity. How those identities were formed. Who influenced the way they view the world, and the way they interact with cultures. And that鈥檚 the goal of this new project. We want to have some of those conversations.鈥�
Throughout the semester, Lindsay and will hold a series of conversations, 鈥淭essera to Ubuntu: Moving Beyond Individualism Towards Community,鈥� featuring faculty and staff. 鈥淣orth Park grows increasingly diverse, which offers our community many advantages,鈥� said Emerson. 鈥淏ut diversity in and of itself is not the goal.聽We seek to be a community within our diversity, to model how people from many different backgrounds can work together to encourage our faith, our studies, and our impact on the larger world.聽Our Tessera to Ubuntu Series is about how we can do exactly this, together.鈥�
The first conversation, 鈥淩eclaiming Your Cultural History,鈥� will focus on the metaphor of the tessera, an individual tile used to form a mosaic; the second, 鈥淯nderstanding Self,鈥� will explore how cultures form; and the third, 鈥淟iving in Community,鈥� will highlight cultural immersion.
鈥淲e want North Park to be a diverse and inclusive environment, one which leads to deep learning and equity of experience for all students,鈥� said Parkyn. 鈥淚f we achieve this, our graduates will be positioned to cross cultures in the workplace and engage their communities in a socially responsible and transformational manner.鈥�
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