DIVERSITY, INTERNATIONALIZATION, AND USER-FRIENDLINESS

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Human Relations

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Major Findings

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As a result of its geographic location, SFSU student population is enriched by one of the most ethnically diverse regions in the United States. In recognition of this diversity, SFSU has had a long and strong commitment to directly confronting issues that arise from the characteristics of their student population. Even prior to the current strategic planning exercise, the university organized the Office of Human Relations and, more recently in 1998, reorganized that office under a "university dean." This office has a comprehensive portfolio and presidential mandate including issues of affirmative action, organizing university human relations policies, and initiatives related to gender, sexuality and persons with disabilities. It is too early to evaluate the effectiveness of the Office of Human Relation but clearly the university is investing significant resources and significant reliance on this organizational structure to improve human relations across all segments of the community. Thorough formative assessment of its effectiveness should be carefully planned and implemented soon.

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Challenges and Opportunities

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A member of the Team met with staff and faculty related to diversity and human relations. Those in attendance were primarily staff now reporting to the Office of Human Relations and faculty on advisory committees connected to this office. Senior administrative officers were asked by the Team not to attend this session. It was striking to the Team member, that few if any of the staff understood why the reorganization had occurred and why they were now placed under the Office of Human Relations. Although they are all quite willing to give the new structure and new Dean their full cooperation, they expressed serious concerns about communications between "higher ups" and the staff required to implement decisions. They believe that their constituencies do not understand or "trust" the new reporting lines as well and urge the Office of Human Relations and Dean to communicate the goals and the objectives of the office more clearly. The Team surmises that some of this anxiety is a product of the recent transfer of several operating units into the Office of Human Relations and that some of this anxiety may dissipate as comfort with their new organizational structures and new administrator increases. However, the Team observed that this may be additional evidence of some fundamental communications problems that may be experienced throughout the campus.

Creating and nurturing a supportive campus climate is another major goal in the human relations area at SFSU particularly related to issues of diversity. The self-study provides evidence from several student surveys that would suggest that students are quite satisfied with the social climate on campus. For instance, in the spring 2000 student survey, 80% of the respondents rated the campus environment excellent or good in openness and tolerance. 82.8% report never or rarely experiencing or observing mistreatment based on any discriminatory factor.

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These generally positive perceptions from surveys, however, were at odds with the Team’s interviews with students. Team members met with over 100 students in an open student forum and with student leaders from the Associated Students Governing Board and the Student Center Governing Board. Although it is difficult to gage how representative the opinions expressed in these open forums are of student attitudes in general, the opinions expressed were certainly articulated clearly and with deep conviction. As one student stated, many students feel that there is an "illusion of diversity" on campus. Although, students recognized the rich multiethnic environment, they believe that the campus is quite socially segregated. In particular, African American students are concerned about their dwindling numbers and the perceived racist experiences they have encountered in classrooms and in non-academic settings from faculty, staff, and peers. Many mentioned a lack of communications and support from the administration and faculty in dealing with issues of diversity and human relations. Many students did not feel that there is training to help them with these issues nor mechanisms to support them when trouble arises. Interviews with students provided further concern about the level of communications on the campus. The Team wonders if the University planning and developments in this area have effectively reached students.

The disconnection between the survey data presented and comments at the open forum was significant and worrisome. The Team suggests that the University employ multiple methodologies to assess this area and not rely solely on survey research techniques. Simply talking to students in small focus groups and listening to the articulate student government leaders would provide a rich source of data that would appear to differ significantly from the survey data and may in fact yield different questions for future surveys. The Team suggests that rather than argue about the validity or reliability of one form of assessment over another, the open student meetings revealed potential areas of concern that deserve attention. The Team recognizes the multilayers of efforts the university has initiated in this area and recognizes that in many ways SFSU leads the nation in developing new "campus cultures" to deal with a diverse campus, nevertheless, we are confident that even the campus would agree that the work in this area is far from over.

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Recommendation

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Despite the progress made since 1992 in building a stronger sense of community on campus, and beyond the coherence, strength and promise of administrative planning undertaken to date, the team observed an apparent and potentially damaging sense that all levels of leadership are not sufficiently engaged in addressing the need for open and candid dialogue on issues of concern to all members of the university community.

Recommendation 8. The Team recommends concerted efforts to increase formal and informal communications between campus leaders and all parts of the University, with particular emphasis on relations with students and staff.

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Multiculturalism

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Major Findings

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Great effort and significant resources are being devoted to the development of a multicultural curriculum. The Team observes that even though the College of Ethnic Studies has been in existence for decades, the University recognizes the difference between the mission of the College of Ethnic Studies and the need to infuse multicultural perspectives into the university curriculum. The College of Ethnic Studies is not and is not intended to be solely responsible for multicultural curriculum. In fact, solely relying on Ethnic Studies likely inhibits the transformation of curriculum outside of this College.

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Challenges, Opportunities and Suggestions

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The new Dean of the College of Ethnic Studies articulated his vision for the College which is somewhat at odds with its past. Rather than encouraging the impression that the college is the holder of all activities related to "ethnic" curriculum, the College seeks to enhance their own internal programs and provide support and encouragement for other academic areas to transform their curriculum. With a strong commitment from the new Dean to building cooperation and collegial relationships with other academic units and individual scholars on campus, the university is hopeful that other colleges, departments, and individual faculty will seek positive and supportive relationships with this important college in the university’s efforts to transform their curriculum. The Team shares this hope and suggests continued administrative and fiscal support for the mission of the College of Ethnic Studies and its leadership role in this area. The Team noted however, that this new vision for the college is not universally shared and may require collaboration with other viewpoints.

The Team also noted the relative success of the faculty development grants offered to faculty to develop multicultural content in courses. This project appears to generate creative proposals from across the campus.

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International Education

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Major Findings

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Another strategic initiative outlined by SFSU embraces the concept of an "internationalized university." The goal is to prepare "…its students to live and work responsibly in an interdependent, technologically complex, and ever-changing world." In order to accomplish this goal, the university has outlined three areas of concern: (1) infrastructure for international education, (2) services and programs for international and domestic students, and (3) internationalizing the curriculum.

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Strengths, challenges and Opportunites

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A number of infrastructure issues are attended to in this strategic process. New office space and enhanced budgets have helped to stabilize the Office of International Programs (OIP). Although, the International Living Community had to be closed because of building safety issues, the University continues to be committed to an international residence hall experience. Services and programs for international students and domestic students wishing to study abroad appear well organized and adequate for the moment. However, these services and programs are likely to out grow their physical location and staffing level as the number of full-time international students, limited time exchange students, and domestic students studying abroad grows. The Team suggests that the university set their plans in this area carefully. The Team further suggests that a determination be made of the number of students that can be adequately served given the level of services and programs they can afford to provide and try not to expand beyond its capability to provide a high quality program. This is an example of where university priority setting is essential to ensure a high quality program within the fiscal means of the university.

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Internationalizing the curriculum is another strategic goal in this area. SFSU offers a variety of courses and programs that are defined as "international." The issue of a "foreign language" requirement continues to be the subject of much debate. The Team observes that it appears that the concept of "internationalizing the curriculum" is still rather vague and appears to be operationally defined as developing courses and programs on non-U.S. affairs. Unlike efforts to infuse "mulitculturalizing the curriculum," which is aimed at infusing multicultural ideas across the curriculum, the idea of internationalizing the curriculum appears devoted to the development of a distinct and identifiable curriculum. The Team suggests that the university continue to discuss this important initiative and set clear goals and learning objectives as targets for future assessment. Further, the Team suggests that the university capitalize on the large numbers of students with home languages other than English as they contemplate a university-wide or targeted "foreign" language requirement. Here again, priority planning is essential to ensure success of this initiative.

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User-Friendliness: Orientation and Advising

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Major Findings

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SFSU is making is making significant progress in the design and implementation of comprehensively developed and structurally integrated programs for orientation, advising, counseling and support of new, transfer and continuing students. Coupled with its new and improved offices and administrative facilities, SFSU is making noteworthy progress in bringing on line one of the nation’s state-of-the-art models for the admission, retention and matriculation of a diverse urban student body. Their model is built around the central tenet that quality advising; support and services for urban students should revolve around, "five pivotal points:" (1) when students enter the university; (2) when students declare their major; (3) when students experience academic challenges; (4) when students make the transition to upper division status; and (5) when students prepare to graduate.

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Strengths

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Data provided to the Team show that Student Support Services staff are engaged in ongoing studies, systematic program evaluations and periodic reviews designed to assess and evaluate student progress and programmatic effectiveness along the five pivotal points. Moreover, information gleaned from these evaluative instruments has been used to inform practice, develop professional development strategies and to guide overall continuous improvement in the delivery of services. In its review of the organizational delivery system designed to address the orientation and advising needs of students, the Team was impressed with the sophistication of the intervention strategies and with the growing appreciation and use of data as a powerful tool for identifying problem areas, for guiding service efforts, and for use in prioritizing where resources and support are most needed by students.

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User-Friendliness: Student Support Services

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Major Findings

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To insure that students are aware of the programs and opportunities available for them to enter, progress through and to graduate from SFSU, a complex set of student support services have been put in place.

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Strengths and Commendation

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The Team was impressed to see that student support services at SFSU are broad, deep and intense. Given the diverse population of students served, coupled with the broad range of academic and personal needs such students require, the team was impressed with campus-wide, increasingly cooperative set of programs and services available to students at all stages of campus engagement. SFSU’s mission dictates that it provide educational access and opportunity to a diverse population of students. To do this well, the team recognizes that resources, services and program efforts must be thoughtfully directed to those areas of most need to students. In this regard, SFSU is commended for its sophisticated efforts to meet the special needs of low-income, minority, ESL, physically challenged and international students.

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Challenge

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Despite the efforts discussed above, SFSU must intensify its efforts in drawing broader attention and response to the unique financial, housing and transportation needs of its students.

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User-Friendliness: General

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Major Findings

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The strategic planning efforts focused on user-friendliness at SFSU are noteworthy. It is clear that the campus leadership recognizes that all segments of the campus must be engaged in continuously improving the climate and environment for learning. As noted in the Self-Study, research focused on student preceptions on the degree of user-friendliness services on campus indicate that attention to continuous improvement in this area is essential.

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Challenges and Opportunities

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A Student Pulse study, undertaken in 1998 found that fewer than 50% of students reported that they felt welcome on campus. A follow-up study in 2000, however, revealed that 85% of students reported feeling welcome on campus. Campus driven research, followed by responsive intervention strategies geared to address specific problem areas has shown that improvements in creating a more user-friendly campus can be managed. The Team believes the steps outlined in the FUTURE DIRECTIONS segment of Chapter 12 of the Self-Study lay out an appropriate course of action to address recognized concerns in the area of user-friendliness.

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User Friendliness: University Facilities

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Major Findings

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As an institution that is becoming more student centered, greater institutional attention is being focused on University facilities, infrastructure, and support services. The campus is engaged in enhanced efforts aimed at making its facilities more appealing, accessible and secure. Classroom renovations, increased space for technological access, and bringing new and renovated buildings on line are moving ahead in an organized and timely manner.

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Challenge and Opportunity

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Given the age of much of its physical plant, unanticipated housing problems, constraints prompted by limited parking, poor public transportation networks, and traffic congestion in the campus area, SFSU is faced with formidable challenges ahead, particularly so if projected increases in enrollment come to pass. Despite these drawbacks, SFSU is engaged in a thoughtful process of maximizing the utility, quality and user-friendly utilization of its aging plant, infrastructure and general facilities.

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Co-curricular Learning Experiences

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Major Finding

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The campus has made important strides in embedding the philosophy of co-curricular learning into the University’s programs and offerings through integrated and partnering efforts within, between and across organizational units; by promoting strategies for multicultural collaborations, and by using facilities, programs and campus-wide involvement strategies to promote a more user-friendly campus.

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