(NAME-MCE) Mount Holyoke College - Orientation for Whites

[Anselmo Villanueva]

Orientation for Whites

April 13, 2009

Mount Holyoke tries possibly unique approach to the controversy over
programs for incoming minority students by adding section for those
who are in the majority.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/13/holyoke

Orientation for Whites

April 13, 2009

Many colleges have special orientation programs, prior to those
offered for all entering students, for those who are from minority
groups. The idea is that minority students entering a predominantly
white college benefit from talking about the issues they may face, and
connecting with fellow minority students and with groups on campus
that help them. The programs have also been criticized over the years
-- and sometimes abandoned as a result -- for segregating students at
the start of college.

Mount Holyoke College, which has for many years had a voluntary
program for minority students in advance of the general orientation,
plans this year to start a special section at the same time, also
voluntary, for white students from the United States. (There is also a
mandatory pre-orientation for international students.) Over three and
a half days, the white and minority students will spend time
separately and together, talking about race, before they join the
four-day program for all new students.

Joyce Holl, executive director of the National Association of
Orientation Directors, said that she had never before heard of a
college creating a program at orientation for white students. She said
she believed a minority of orientation programs have special options
for minority students, and that the majority of orientations are -- in
their entirety -- for all students.

As Mount Holyoke's plans have been discussed on some Web sites for
college students, reaction has been mixed, but some of those reacting
appear to think that the idea is to keep minority and white students
completely apart. Elizabeth Braun, dean of students at the college,
said that the reality is that that two groups will probably spend more
than half of the program time together, but will also have time to
meet separately as white and minority students.

"This comes from our larger institutional commitment to diversity, and
really figuring out students' opportunities to engage with that
diversity." (About one third of students at the college are either
from outside the United States or are members of minority groups.)

Braun said that the idea of creating the section of orientation for
white students came from a series of programs at the college that
involve encouraging students to talk about tough issues across racial
and ethnic lines. The new pre-orientation program -- with its tracks
for minority and white students -- will have the name: "Promoting
Intercultural Dialogue and Creating Inclusion." Braun said that led to
the decision to add the white section. "In order to have the
pre-orientation inclusive, we needed to invite U.S. white students to
participate," she said.

While Braun said specific plans are still being developed, she
envisions that the first day of the program would have the groups in
separate sessions, "exploring their own racial identity and thinking
about power and privilege." Then the groups will have joint and
separate programs. "We're trying to balance opportunities for
self-reflection with creating your connections."

Braun said that the college will particularly seek to recruit to the
special orientation white students "with an interest in anti-racism."
In the regular orientation and throughout college, Braun said, others
forms of difference will also be explored, including gender, class,
religion and sexuality. "Different students have different unique
perspectives," she said.

The new program, which Braun stressed was voluntary and a pilot, could
be changed in the future. But she said she viewed this as a valuable
alternative to eliminating special orientations for minority students.
"It's really important to us to continue to value what is absolutely
necessary" for minority students, she said.
— Scott Jaschik