First-Year Students Get Crash Course in Diversity Issues at Tri-Co Summer Institute

It was a first-year orientation like any other. Over an impromptu breakfast of donuts, muffins and orange juice, the new ‘Fords were given a list of tasks from Dean of First-Year Students Raisa Williams that included registering to use the athletic facilities, getting to know the library and the academic centers, and discovering cultural and volunteer opportunities in Ardmore and Philadelphia. Common questions arose: How far is Ardmore, exactly? Which bus takes us to Bed Bath & Beyond? When do the vans to Swarthmore start running?

At the end, Williams had an important message for the group:“Haverford is a great place, but not always different from the world outside.” As a person of color, she said, she sometimes finds others naïve about issues that matter to her.“Sometimes I take the time to instruct them; sometimes not.

“If you're not sure how to handle something, tons of us have gone through this experience,” she informed the group.“All of us are here to help you thrive.”

The first-year students Williams was addressing had just completed the Tri-Co Summer Institute. This week of workshops, seminars and activities, sponsored by the Multicultural Center and led by administrators and Student Resource Persons (SRPs) from Haverford, Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore, encourages in-depth discussions of race, gender, class, sexual orientation, and all forms of diversity among incoming freshmen from the three schools.

Bertram Lee signed up for the Institute to expand upon the experience he'd had as a leader in examining diversity issues in his Washington, D.C. high school.“It also explored different areas of diversity that I hadn't paid attention to before,” he says.

“It touched on issues we're worried about,” agrees Howard Brown of New York City.“It made me more comfortable in my environment, knowing more minority students in the three schools.”

Christina Bradley of Denver, Colo. was one of only a few African Americans in her predominantly white high school, and wanted to broaden her circle of friends and acquaintances.“I wanted to make friends with people of different races and learn more about class and gender equality issues.”

And Christina Sampson, also of New York City, joined the Institute to savor a final bonding experience with her twin sister Brittney, now a student at Bryn Mawr.“This was a goodbye kind of thing, one last transition together before breaking off on our own.”

The Tri-Co Summer Institute began about 25 years ago as a six-week academic remediation program and grew into its current form as an exploration of“isms” students might confront on campus.“The students come away with self-affirmation, leadership training, clarity about the language of diversity, a network of peers, and exposure to role models and possible mentors,” says Raisa Williams.

“It's rare to feel so connected to people in one week,” says Christina Bradley.“We got so close. [The program] fosters an open, trusting environment.”

Participants spend much of the week in small breakout groups, a format that made Bradley feel more comfortable:“The discussions were fuller and more productive.” Sampson was intrigued by a session that had students breaking into groups based on how they defined themselves in terms of nationality or race.“It was interesting to see the typical norm broken down—we discussed every aspect of the word ‘diversity,'” she says, remembering African American girls who revealed that they'd often been derogatorily called“white girl” because of their education or manner of speech. Meanwhile, Caucasian students struggled with the notion of white privilege.

Joe Anderson '09, a Student Resource Person whose responsibilities include co-facilitating the Institute's workshops and breakout groups, says that participating in the program altered his outlook on his own life.“You take your assumptions about life and put them under a microscope,” he says.“Your place in society, how that influences your place in the world—it's a happenstance of birth.”

Anderson appreciates how the Institute allows students to express their feelings—many for the first time—about their positions in life.“You learn in a larger context what it's like to grow up a certain way.”

Among the week's activities, Bradley was particularly affected by the“privilege walk,” in which students lined up shoulder to shoulder while statements were read aloud, e.g.“If you have more than 50 books, step forward.”“If you've had to skip a meal because you couldn't afford it, step back.”

“You start out together,” says Anderson,“and when you finish, you're all in different places. You understand how different your experiences and backgrounds are.”

The Institute caused Bradley to think about assumptions she'd made and attitudes she'd held throughout her life. An emotionally charged discussion on sexual orientation was the first time she'd heard the word“heterosexism”:“It's true that you tend to assume everyone around you is heterosexual.” During the end-of-day journal writing workshops—integral components of the program, designed to help students debrief from the day's activities—Bradley realized that homophobic terms are just as painful and offensive as racial epithets.

“The majority of us,” she says,“will carry what we learned here with us when we find ourselves in tough spots.”

-Brenna McBride