Clarion 1990-11-30 Vol. 66 No. 07

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Marriott Donates
Food to Needy
See Pg. 2
Point-
Counterpoint
See Pgs. 6 & 7
Robert Frost
Remembered
See Pg. 10
Faculty Luncheons Aim at Cultural Diversity
by John Clark
Growing concern about cultural
diversity at Bethel College has led the Faculty
Development Center to program several
"Cultural Diversity Luncheons" during this
semesterto bring about an awareness among
the faculty about this issue, according to
Faculty Development Coordinator Leta
Frazier.
Frazier says that the idea for mak-
BETHEL COLLEGE
ST. PAUL, MN
VOL. 66, NO. 7
NOV. 30,1990
ing a change in cultural diversity at Bethel
began at a faculty retreat this past fall. At the
retreat Bethel Provost David Brandt expressed concern that Bethel "be a safe and
challenging place for all populations."
According to Frazier, who originated the idea for these luncheons, the luncheons are held in the Faculty Lounge in the
AC building and are designed to "provide an
informal setting in which the faculty can
learn, talk, and ask questions about cultural
diversity here at Bethel."
At the first luncheon, held on October 30th, Peggy Jones, who is a training
consultant of her own multi-cultural diversity training firm in St. Paul, came in and
spoke on "Learning to Value Racial and
Cultural Diversity in the Academic Setting."
The second luncheon, held on
November 15th, featured a debate between
Frazier and Assistant Professor of Speech
Communications Todd Rasmuson.
'The purpose of the debate," according to Frazier, "was to present both
sides of the issue of whether or not Bethel
College should be a culturally diverse institution."
The third luncheon, to be held on
December 5th, will be a discussion on "Cultural Diversity in the Classroom at Bethel"
led by a panel of faculty, students, and
administration.
"There' s a lackof awareness among
faculty and students" says Frazier, "as to
what it means to have an inclusive population at our college; people are wary of diversity because of lack of experience and
exposure to the problem."
In organizing these luncheons,
Frazier hopes that they will help raise
awareness about the issue in the faculty's
collective mind, not as to "should we do
something?", but instead as to "how are we
going to do it?" Frazier believes that the
Luncheon, Con't. on P. 2
Assistant Professor of Speech-
Communications Todd Rasmuson, one of the
participants in the recent faculty debate.
Photo by Robin Hansen.
Carousel Adds To Changes In St. Paul
by Nowell Bjerkaas
Downtown St. Paul can now list an
historic carousel as among its attractions, a
bright spot amid recent setbacks for the city.
The carousel, which was moved from
its site at the state fairgrounds to Town
Square Park, an indoor park and shopping
complex, opened to the public last Friday.
According to Park Manager Curt
Burroughs, thecarousel was instantly a "hot
item," as the park was "overwhelmed" with
people travelling downtown just to ride and
see it. The 68-horse carousel spent 76 years
at the fairgrounds, according to a recent
Minneapolis StarTribunearticle(l 1-17-90,
IE), and was in danger of being sold piece
by piece.
However, as the article explains,
various private parties contributed 1.5 million dollars to the Our Fair Carousel organization that undertook to preserve and restore the carousel. Ironically, the largest
contribution came from West Publishing
Co. executive Gerard L. Cafesjian, whose
firm recently announced it will close its
downtown St. Paul site.
The surge of park visitors follows
the loss of hotel traffic the park suffered
when the adjacent Holiday Inn closed its
doors earlier this year. The closing of the
notel was only the first in a series of losses
to the city of St. Paul in 1990.
Since then, the Jacob Schmidt
Brewing Co. has closed, and West Publishing
has announced its departure. West, which
employs approximately 2100 people in St.
Paul, is scheduled to leave the city and
consolidate its operations at the company's
Eagan site in April 1992, according to
Manager of Media Relations Dorothy
Molstad.
Molstad says West's decision to
leave St. Paul was essentially a business
decision meant to increase efficiency by
joining the operations of two campuses at
one site.
Since, according to Molstad, the
downtown site is too small to accomodate
the additional 1400 employees who now
work in Eagan, the decision was made to
move downtown operations to the Eagan
campus.
Since the closing of the Schmidt
Brewery, joint efforts by thecity of St. Paul,
the St. Paul Port Authority, and private
investors to preserve and uti I i ze the brewery
have continued to run into snags.
Nonetheless, the city will likely
benefit from developments currently in
progress. The St. Paul Companies is currently finishing a large addition on the edge
of the downtown district.
The Minnesota Historical Society
will take occupancy of its new building on
the north edge of the business district in
1992, according to a society spokesperson.
Additionally, the recent completion of the stretch of freeway connecting the
northern and southern sections of interstate
35E, which runs through downtown St.
Paul,will likely result in greater traffic
through the city.
Analysis
Discussions Provoke Thought Among Faculty
By Mark Bruce
Catching on to a nationwide issue
on college campuses, faculty members and
administrators at Bethel have begun an
ongoing discussion on multicultural diversity in the core curriculum.
The main questions under discussion are whether or not the general curriculum adequately addresses all minority
groups and ideas, and whether or not faculty members themselves are adequately
aware of multicultural issues in the classroom.
Although not a new issue to Bethel faculty, the current wave of discussion
was generated at the fall faculty retreat by
Provost David Brandt. Brandt says that he
was alerted to the issue after attending a
number of conferences on the subject.
At the retreat, Brandt says he rec-
ommended that the faculty mandate a study
of Bethel's core curriculum: "I want us to
look at the Bethel curriculum to see whether
it is complete in the sense of addressing
various minority groups, and whether it is
honest—is it analyzing situations and events
sometimes from a minority perspective,
rather than regularly from our white anglo
perspective."
"My goal," says Brandt, "is to have
Bethel become a safe place for everyone,
that people of color can come here and
belong and feel that this is an OK place to
venture opinions and ideas and have them
discussed on their merit."
Professor of Speech Communications and Faculty Development Coordinator
Leta Frazier recently began a series of faculty luncheons dealing with the problem
(See story, page 1) in order to "...generate
discussion and conversation about
multicultural diversity—what it means,
where it fits, how do we as a faculty perceive it. and what changes do we need to
make in our classroom to make all people
feel at home."
Frazier says she doesn't see
"sweeping changes" in the curriculum at
this point—only discussion. "What I have
heard is the challenge to become sensitive
to the changing needs of our world, and to,
in an impacting way, reach out to students
regardless of what their backgrounds are."
Both Brandt and Frazier seem to
agree that Bethel is currently somewhat
aware of muliticultural issues, but needs
more discussion and evaluation—as well
as change somewhere down the line if
Analysis, Cont. on P. 14