Diversity isn't necessarily race, culture or religion, said a national lecturer on the topic of campus multiculturalism.
"Everything I've said about racism can be extended to sexism, elitism and ageism," said James Boyer, a professor of curriculum and American ethnic studies at Kansas State University.
Boyer addressed the subject of changing views of racial and cultural differences on campus in his lecture yesterday to the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs.
"It was an interesting speech," said Jackie McClain, executive director of human resources and affirmative action for the University. "It was an arms'-length view of the issues (and) a really good perspective of the bigger picture."
Boyer opened his speech with statistics on the different racial divisions in the country, pertaining to poverty, education and population rate.
"I've been a higher education person for the last 25-plus years, and I've watched the evolvement of our lives, our country, the issues associated with race and language and ethnicity and gender and economics, and I'd like to offer some ideas about that," Boyer said.
Boyer spoke for a little more than an hour to the crowd of faculty members and some graduate students.
"I was overpowered and stimulated," said Philip Meyers, professor of geological sciences. "He covered a lot of territory."
Boyer discussed the changing face of students on campus with regard to age.
"More than 30 percent of all university students are not in the category of ages 19 to 25. We are having an increasing number of students introduced to the university or come back to the university who are in their 30s or beyond," Boyer said.
"So that now we are in the midst of a transition in terms of student population, a lot of things, of policies, will have to be looked at again," Boyer said. He said this includes the idea of faculty who must learn how to work with students who are possibly older than the instructor.
Boyer spoke about how university polices have changed over time by using the example of student housing and married couples in residence halls.
"We have to now look back at policies we made in good faith but primarily with the basic assumption of what the institution was about and how the institution set up to serve its population," Boyer said.
Boyer then shifted to the topic of multicultural relations in universities.
"It is one of the saddest commentaries on American life that affirmative action has been redefined as racial preference," he said.
Boyer then introduced the ideas of requiring multicultural classes at Kansas State for all degrees, along with how many large businesses put employees through diversity courses.
"What I discovered is that for some corporate entities, this diversity business was a serious matter," Boyer said, talking about his experiences in speaking at several of those courses.
"Why do we need these ideas (in the universities)?" Boyer asked. "Because a university is a center of ideas. I just don't think we've gotten far enough."
Boyer's solution for the diversity problem was not specific.
"We will have diversity when we no longer have in place the systems we have today."