The Women's Studies Program will distribute a survey to students enrolled in Women's Studies courses later this term to investigate the way perceived race, gender, class and sexual orientation differences are treated in the classroom.
"We are trying to find out how to better integrate issues of diversity in the classroom," said Diane Taylor, co-chair of the Women's Studies Program and co-author of the survey.
One in a proposed series of surveys, the goal of this questionnaire is to gauge the success of Women's Studies courses in dealing with issues of diversity into its own curriculum and the daily conduct of their classes.
A rough draft of the survey, written by Taylor; Ivy Schweitzer, an English Professor and co-chair of the Women's Studies Program; and Anne Brooks, Women's Studies Program coordinator, was given to two Women's Studies courses last fall.
"The fall survey was very repetitive," Taylor said. "We are looking at ways of making it more interesting."
Because the aim of the survey is to eliminate prejudicial treatment of perceived differences, some students objected to the survey's request to identify themselves by race, gender and sexual orientation.
The winter questionnaire will not ask for student identification.
Eventually, the Women's Studies Program hopes to hand out the questionnaire to all students on campus but is using the survey to examine its own courses first, Schweitzer said.
In conjunction with the survey, the Women's Studies Program plans to sponsor a seminar on multi-cultural education later this term, Schweitzer said.
The six-page questionnaire handed out this fall asked students to think about how professors, students and curriculum format treat perceived differences in race, class, gender and sexual orientation.
"For example, is it harder to address issues of diversity in a large lecture hall or in a small seminar room?" Taylor said.
Schweitzer would not discuss the results of the fall survey, but said "there seemed to be certain programs and departments that are less equitable than others."
The survey grew out of a Fall 1992 Women's Studies 10 course, "Sex, Gender and Society" in which students were asked to reflect on their personal experiences in inter-group relations, Schweitzer said.
Several student-conducted analyses during that course showed that the treatment of diversity remains a vital issue in the classroom, Schweitzer said.
The survey is sponsored by the Women's Studies Program, but was created by a committee under the direction of the Bildner Grant, which was awarded to the College to fund projects examining inter-group relations.
Schweitzer and Taylor both said they hope to get more funding from the Bildner Grant for ongoing volunteer workshops for faculty and students to foster a greater understanding of diversity on campus.
