Student Program Honored For Promoting Diversity And Understanding

The University of Cincinnati’s Racial Awareness Program (RAPP) is the recipient of a regional Celebration of Diversity Award from the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA). The award was recently announced at a NASPA Region-IV East Conference in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Composed of more than 8,000 members and more than 1,175 member campuses, NASPA is a professional organization dedicated to building excellence and leadership in higher education for college units that coordinate the student affairs divisions. The NASPA Region-IV East covers Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada. The Celebration of Diversity Award recognizes institutions that encourage diversity and understanding through student programming, support services and staff development.

The Racial Awareness Program, operated by UC Diversity Education under the Office of Student Activities and Leadership Development, first appeared on campus in 1986. At that time, it was called the Racial Awareness Pilot Project. Students must go through an application process to take part in the program, which covers an entire academic year.

Those who are selected for RAPP take part in a weekend retreat every quarter, plus meet every other Sunday for discussions and presentations aimed at examining diversity and building bridges between cultures. “RAPP slowly allows students to gain a better understanding of the role of culture, societal norms and societal constructions such as race, gender, class, sexual orientation, age or disability,” says Ahoo Tabatabai, UC program coordinator for Diversity Education.

Irene Stevens, chair of the NASPA Region-IV East Awards Committee, says the program was selected for the award because “the committee was impressed with the depth of the discussions that took place in the RAPP series. It went beyond the typical one or two sessions on the topic.”

Rich Robles, assistant director for Student Activities and Leadership Development, says generally 25 students are considered for the program from a pool of about 30 applicants. However, this year, the 25 were chosen from a higher than usual number of 48 applicants. The participants are selected by former RAPP members who also serve as diversity outreach coordinators.

Mitchel D. Livingston, UC Vice President for Student Affairs and Services, says, “RAPP is an excellent example of UC’s Just Community initiative at work. Students who participate in RAPP will develop a multicultural literacy that will serve them well for the rest of their lives.”

UC’s 2004 total student population of 34,364 is:

• 71.9  percent white
• 11.5 percent African American
• 2.9 percent Asian
• 1.4 percent Hispanic.
• Broken down by gender, there are 18,235 female students and 16,129 male students.
• The International Student Services Office reports that each year, more than 2,500 international visitors from 90 different countries come to UC to study, teach, lecture and do research.

Tabatabai adds that the need for diversity programming on college campuses is growing, as students look ahead to living and working in a global economy. “The world is changing. Through RAPP, our students are getting ready to not only tolerate differences which they will undoubtedly face, but also thrive and incorporate differences into their thought processes and take their understandings to a new level. At the University of Cincinnati, we have recognized this concept.”