SCOPE looks to expand beyond MRC

After a year of organizing MRC, committee looks to next task

The Standing Committee on Pluralism and Equality (SCOPE), which was created late in 1995, spent last year assessing multicultural issues on campus, specifically the Multicultural Resource Center (MRC).

SCOPE's recommendations spurred many changes in the MRC, but there are several proposals endorsed by SCOPE that have not yet been implemented.

Some of the SCOPE recommendations that were implemented last year or over the summer were to move the MRC to Wilder, form the new assistant deanship in the MRC, a position which calls for someone who specializes in Asian-American issues, increase student involvement in the intern hiring process and an MRC budget increase.

The committee also made recommendations that have not been acted upon. These include the addition of two more assistant dean positions, one for someone specializing in lesbian/gay/bisexual (LGB) issues and the other for someone specializing in African-American issues. Last year, two assistant deans specializing in Asian-American and Latino issues were hired. Over the summer, the MRC hired four interns to represent Latino, Asian-American, African-American and LGB students.

This year, since the committee has not met yet, the work of SCOPE is still undetermined. When it does meet it will have a new chair and new members. Student Senate has yet to nominate the student seats.

According to Diana Roose, assistant to the President, the college hopes to consider multicultural issues as part of their long range planning process. It is not yet clear what part SCOPE will play in the process.

Chris Baymiller, a member of the SCOPE committee said, "SCOPE worked only on the MRC last year, and we're finished with that. Maybe now, we'll work on admissions or retention. We'll see when the committee meets."