1. There aren't enough seats in present courses that meet the multicultural requirement. Logic would dictate that we need approximately 400 seats/year for all students to be able to fulfill the requirement. Approximately 110 seats/year are supplied by study tours that meet the requirement which leaves 290 seats to be supplied by existing courses, which presently supply an insufficient number of seats. While there are many m-courses in the catalogue, too many of them are upper-division and are offered too infrequently. In addition, there are only seven departments that are offering m-courses. Clearly we need to be more cross-curricular with this particular requirement.
2. While offering a new multicultural CORE course could provide the other needed seats, I do not believe that this is the best use of faculty resources, and I do not think that the broad strokes provided by a large lecture course can do justice to the students' m-experience and m-materials.
3. There are not enough professors with extensive multicultural (either international or domestic) experiences to teach the required number of courses.
4. The present IMEC guidelines for multicultural courses severely limit the course offerings as well as the number of professors who can teach the m-courses.

1. To eliminate the m-requirement entirely.
2. To make multicultural life/teaching experience a desired attribute of new faculty who are hired.
3. To alter the existing IMEC guidelines so that many more faculty can teach m-courses and so that new courses can be developed or existing courses can be revised to meet the new m-requirements (See handout.). Here are some suggestions:
   1. Alter I.A.1. to read: "Courses which do include study of several international or domestic cultures may be acceptable if at least 40% of the required work for the course is an in-depth study of one culture or studies the cultural dynamics (in an American urban setting, for example) of the interplay between other cultures (comprising 51% of the material) and a mainstream American culture (predominantly white, European American)." (Emphasis in bold are my additions.)
   2. Alter I.D. to read: "The instructor offering a course for this requirement must be a serious student of or participant in that culture."
   3. Alter II.A. to read: " Off-campus courses which seek to fulfill the multicultural course requirement must be located outside the USA [with the exception of those focusing on] or in the setting of a recognized American ethnic subculture."
   4. Revise IV. so that there is real and appropriate review by the proper committee.

    

4. To equip and to train professors who are interested in teaching m-courses through a variety of incentives.
   1. To offer professors the chance to team-teach with those who currently teach m-courses.
   2. To offer professors money for materials, A-V supplies, travel to conferences.
   3. To offer professors the chance to revise existing upper-division courses as lower-division or cross-listed (ud/ld) courses.
   4. To offer professors the chance to revise existing courses to include more m-material/perspectives so that the courses could meet the m-requirement.
   5. To offer professors the chance to create new m-courses.

Gary Whisenand and I have talked, and we believe that in a two-year trial period the faculty could possibly create 10-12 new m-courses. Through an application process, professors could apply for 2 types of m-grants: 1) to develop a new course, and 2) to revise an existing course.

1. For new courses, profs could apply for any of the following:
   1. materials for preparation--up to $200
   2. conferences--up to $500
   3. library/AV materials--up to $500
   4. team-teaching grant--up to $1700 for adjunct coverage of other course
   5. honoraria for consultants/guest speakers--up to $250
      
      for a maximum grant of $3150.

    

2. For revising existing courses (i.e. to cross-list ld/ud, to convert an ud course to a ld course, to revise an existing course for m-perspectives) , profs could apply for any of the following:
   1. materials for preparation--up to $200
   2. library/AV materials--up to $300
   3. conferences--up to $500
   4. honoraria for consultants/guest speakers--up to $250
      
      for a maximum grant of $1250.

Over a two-year trial period, the grants for 12 new courses would cost a minimum of $15,000 (if every prof asked for the whole package and simply revised a course) up to a maximum of $37,800 (if every prof asked for the whole grant package and created a new course). These estimates are a small price to pay for an investment that could lead to a lasting solution.

Respectfully submitted,

Doug Sugano

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