CSB/SJU sending four to institute dealing with diversity and civility

Representatives from the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University will take part in a new institute developed by the Council of Independent Colleges for faculty and administrators focusing on the issues of inequality, conflict, activism and civil engagement on America’s college campuses.

Twenty-five campus teams have been selected for the institute, with each team consisting of two administrators and two faculty members from the humanities or social science fields. CSB and SJU are the only Minnesota colleges participating in the institute.

Directed by Beverly Daniel Tatum, president emerita of Spelman College and a prominent scholar of race and higher education, the Institute on Diversity, Civility and the Liberal Arts is from June 3-6 in Atlanta.

The CSB/SJU team consists Terry Check, dean of faculty; Brandyn Woodard, director of Intercultural and International Student Services, student human rights officer and coordinator of Intercultural LEAD; Jonathan Nash, assistant professor of history; and Bruce Campbell, professor of Hispanic studies.

The institute takes a somewhat different approach in that it draws on the most precious resource that smaller private colleges and universities have to understand human behavior: teaching and learning in the liberal arts.

Each institution will be expected to develop a specific plan to apply the content of the institute to the curriculum, advising and other student services and co-curricular activities on campus. A preliminary version of this plan was required as part of the application process.

The institute is made possible by the generous support of the Andrew J. Mellon Foundation.