Clarion 1992-04-25 Vol. 67 No. 12

              Vol. 67, No. 12; April 25 , 1992
Leadership Conference Explores Diversity
by Julianne Jackson
Editor
United Cultures of Bethel (UCB)
chose seven students to attend the 5th
Annual National Christian
Multicultural Leadership Conference
at Biola University on April 2-5. The
purpose of the conference was to discuss the challenges of bringing different
ethnic groups and cultures to colleges.
It also provided an opportunity to network with students from othercolleges
on addressing issues.
Director of Multicultural Development Terry Coffee, who is a UCB
advisor and a co-administrator for the
McKnight Achieving Cultural Diversity program, coordinated the Bethel
delegates as well as the funds for the
trip. "I was delighted that students
wanted to attend, for the second time,
a conference at which they could gather
ideas, raise concerns, and be exposed
to programs which might be applicable
here at Bethel," says Coffee.
Admissions Counselor Robbie Ford
and Multicultural Student Advisor
Carol Chang served as the advisors for
the group while they were in California. According to Ford, her main role
was to help coordinate the students so
that they could put together what they
learned at the conference.
"There were a lot of benefits for
Bethel students attending this conference," says Ford. "We had African-
American students, Asian people, one
international student, one Hispanic
student, and one Euro-American.   It
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was good having a variety of students
there so that they were able to see what
other campuses are doing to date with
multicultural diversity...It was especially helpful from a Christian perspective so we could see how we have
aresponsibility to each other as brothers
and sisters in Christ."
The guest speaker forthe conference
was Reverend Elward Ellis. Ellis is
president of Destiny Movement, Inc.,
which is dedicated to promoting authentic reconciliation across ethnic,
cultural, economic, and racial lines.
His theme was Romans 12:5, "So in
Christ we who are many form one
body, and each member belongs to all
the others."
Other general session included
hearing testimonies from people around
the world - - including Iran, Haiti and
Hong Kong - - who have come to
school in the United States. Ford says
that the speakers' unique testimonies
were a challenge to the students.
The students attending the conference were able to go to a variety of
sessions to help them work toward
their goals of multicultural campuses.
Some ofthe sessions included a look at
Photo/Courtesy ol Public Relations
Conference delegates dressed in traditional clothing for a
performance at the Multicultural Leadership Conference.
cross-cultural sensitivity, a discussion
of leadership styles, and a forum on
ethnicity interaction.
According to Ford, one ofthe most
beneficial portions of the conference
was when the students broke up into
ethnic groups. In these groups they
talked about ways people could help
with multicultural issues now and how
they can help with the upcoming generations. "We want to help pave the
way so the younger generations will
not have as hard a struggle," says Ford.
Each ofthe attendinggroups had the
chance to express various aspects of
multiculturalism. Sophomore Mark
Taylor presented a portion of Martin
Luther King, Jr's "I Have a Dream"
speech, and the UCB group sang "We
Shall Overcome" in different languages.
While at the La Mirada campus, the
students also had the opportunity to go
to Disneyland and to see a concert by
the group Commission.
Coffee feels that the conference gave
the students the chance to explore options in reacting to issues of diversity.
He says the students were exposed to
other cultures and other situations.
"Such a situation allows them to examine and analyze circumstances, and
to see if there are any solutions or
methods with which to foster unity on
college campuses - - particularly
Christian campuses."
At a retreat on May 1-2, the participating students will share their experi-
Conference, continued on page 2
Sexual Harassment Confronted
by Josh Freed
Assistant Editor
Since 1988, 14 cases of sexual
harasment have been reported at Bethel
College and Seminary, according to
Director of Human Resources Shari
Anderson. These incidents include
harassment of students by faculty
members and students, and harassment
of staff members by other staff members.
One woman who reported her case
agreed to comment anonymously.
"[The incident] was very painful. I
have no regrets that I went forward. I
am so glad that I did. If it weren't for
[going forward], I'd still be hurting. I
know I made some sort of difference."
She also said that even though she
considered the resolution worked out
by the administration to be acceptable,
she wouldn't want to be placed in a
situation with the harasser again.
Anderson said that the unwanted
sharingof dreams is a common formof
harassment. She outlined a typical
case, in which the harasser has dreams
or fantasies, and then they share these
dreams with the victim. "That can be
extremely disconcerting for a
woman...a woman's tendency is to
think 'does he really mean what I think
he means...?'" Anderson said that the
victim often tries to rationalize the
behavior or look for a more innocent
meaning in what was said, and many
times this sets up the opportunity for
the harasser to come back and do it
again.
"The victim isn't always confortable
calling [the abuse] what it feels like at
the time," Anderson said. "She gives
[the harasser] the benefit ofthe doubt,
it happens again, and before long we've
got a cycle set up."
Anderson said that the idea of filing
a complaint "can sound very threatening to a victim." Once the complaint
process has been started, however, great
"Does he
really mean
what I think
he means?"
care is taken to protect the identies of
all those involved.
The next step in the complaint process occurs when a grievance officer
conducts an interview with the victim
to get as much detail as possible about
the incident. "Sometimes it's painful,
because we have to have very specific
kinds of information," Anderson said.
The alleged harasser is then allowed
to respond to the complaint. Anderson
said that about half of those confronted
with complaints of sexual harassment
deny that any harassment took place.
She described the other half as "truly
repentant, wanting to change things,
and willing to offer some form of apology-
Anderson said that one of the most
important things in dealing with sexual
harassment is confidentiality. "It's
extremely important that [the process]
is confidential," she said. It is also
important that an effective resolution is
acheived.
The resolution to most situations is
determined by the victim. "More and
more I've seen victims who want to
talk [to the harasser]," Anderson said.
'They felt it would be a good experience to work through it with the harasser." Whenever this is done, the
victim is accompanied by an advocate
from Student Developement or a
grievance officer.
Almost always, an apology of some
sort is made to the victim. "It might be
a written apology, it might be a face-to-
face apology," Anderson said. She
added that the victim chooses the nature
of the apology.
Anderson said that in almost all cases,
the victims have said "I just want to
make sure that no other woman has to
go through what I went through."
1/April 25,1992