'U' hosts intergroup dialogue conference

When Ximena Zuniga began the Intergroup Relations, Conflict and Community (ICRCC) program in 1988, she gathered students in the Blue Carpet Lounge of Alice Lloyd Residence Hall and held discussions on differences in race, gender and culture.

Now an intergroup dialogue facilitator at the University of Massachusetts, Zuniga returned to the University this weekend with 80 educators nationwide to attend a conference highlighting the program she founded. The conference was held in the LSA building, close to the program's offices in the Michigan Union.

"This was a very small, marginal program," Zuniga said. "It's very exciting to see how far the program has come. There has been an incredible change."

Representatives of the federal government, colleges and universities across the country and higher education associations attended the conference to observe and participate in the University's renowned intergroup dialogues.

Hundreds of University students participate in IGRCC programs each semester through first-year seminars, upper-level classes and workshops.

"The U of M has shown great leadership," said Sonya Jarvus, a consultant to President Clinton's Initiative on Race office, which named the program to a list of 14 "Promising Practices" in race relations. "It is well-developed and provides some useful ideas that I will make sure the staff has a chance to review."

Intergroup dialogue has always been an important part of Clinton's Initiative, Jarvus said.

"The President has strongly indicated he wants to focus on dialogue," he said.

Teresa Brett, co-director of IGRCC, said the conference gave educators from across the nation an opportunity to showcase their programs. "People are talking broadly about different aspects of their programs," she said.

The conference "is the result of a number of years of planning," Brett said.

Zuniga said the conference was an effective way of getting out the message of the usefulness of intergroup dialogues.

"People really see the need to engage people in cross-race dialogue," she said.

Debra Humphreys, assistant director of programs for the 675-member Association of American Colleges and Universities, said the IGRCC are necessary if colleges plan to achieve true diversity.

"People are finally realizing that you can't just throw groups together and expect them to get along," she said.

Representatives of five universities that have established programs similar to IGRCC - University of California at Los Angeles, University of Washington, University of Massachusetts, Arizona State University and University of Illinois - were present at the conference, as well as people from other colleges who are considering starting similar programs.

"Everyone has biases to bring to the table," said Beverly Tatum, a psychology professor at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts and author of a book on racial segregation. "There is a lot to be learned from the University of Michigan's program."

The conference is important, Tatum said, because it will allow the six colleges to discuss which aspects of intergroup discussions are effective and will allow all of the programs to learn from one another.

Mount Holyoke is a college of 2,000 women, but Tatum said a program similar to IGRCC could be even more effective at her institution.

Rosemary Fennell, a management program analyst at the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights' program legal group, said the IGRCC model helps the educational experience for both students and faculty.

"It places an affirmative duty on public schools to maintain an environment conducive to learning," she said.

Colleges and universities are not the only venues for intergroup dialogue. Jonathan Hutson of the Center for Living Democracy will release a study he conducted on community dialogue programs later this month.

Hutson said it is important to have interaction between both community and campus dialogue groups.

"We need to have networks," Hutson said. "It's always a learning process for everyone. Community activists request help in critiquing their own successes and failures, while the activists could help the campus groups."

For effective intergroup discussion, Hutson said there needs to be experienced facilitators who lead meaningful discussions.

"Dialogue is about more than just talk," Hutson said. "It's serious talk. It must be learned. It must be taught. It must be practiced."

Emily Decker, a representative of the Washington Center for Improving Undergraduate Education, which created similar dialogue groups for faculty at Washington's colleges and universities, also presented.

"You can't with integrity ask students to do something you cannot do," Decker said.

LSA Assistant Dean and IGRCC Prof. David Schoem said that while other schools learned from the University's program, officials in Ann Arbor also gained knowledge from this weekend's event.

"The idea was to bring together the leading theorists and practitioners in the area," he said.

Hector Garza, vice president for division of access and equity programs of the American Council on Education, said programs such as the IGRCC are needed to decrease the amount of racial tension in society.

"It's not only going to help students and faculty," Garza said. " It's going to help soceity as a whole. If we fail to do this, our country will be in a racial crisis."

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