Longwood University

OUR GOALS

• To provide a welcome environment for students of many cultures in order to recruit and retain a diverse student body.

• To insure that student support services, academic support services, and co-curricular programs are sufficiently diverse to meet the needs of a multicultural student body.

• To prepare all students to function effectively in an evolving, pluralistic, and increasingly diverse society.

• To provide co-curricular programs and training opportunities to increase intercultural competence among Longwood students.
• To collaborate with campus groups, committees, and the community on issues of diversity.

What are the Benefits of Diversity at Colleges and Universities?

“A racially and ethnically diverse university student body has far-ranging and significant benefits for all students, non-minorities and minorities alike. Students learn better in a diverse educational environment, and they are better prepared to become active participants in our pluralistic, democratic society once they leave such a setting”

“Higher education is especially influential when its social milieu is different from the community background from which the students come, and when it is diverse enough and complex enough to encourage intellectual experimentation”   

“Students learn more and think in deeper, more complex ways in a diverse educational environment.” Expert report of Patricia Gurin:

  LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Increase awareness of diversity by sponsoring a broad range of campus programming

• Increase the satisfaction of diverse populations by providing programs and services

• Raise awareness of the need for Multicultural Competencies by speaking before various learning communities 

THE STUDENT'S ROLE

• Commitment, engagement, and active participation
• Risk involved in moving out of one’s comfort zone 
• Role modeling

SERVICES TO STUDENTS

• General counseling (academic and social adjustment) and academic advising
• Career development assistance
• Outreach service (consultancies and training) and learning opportunities within the Farmville community
• Mentor and Mentee identification
• Judicial advocacy
• Advising to student organizations  

Through effective planning and collaboration within the University community, the Office of Multicultural Affairs encourages and enhances student learning and personal development.

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“Many counselors now recognize that cultural issues in counseling do not just pertain to clients from the recognized ethnic groups or minority groups. Rather, in the multicultural settings of North America and elsewhere, cultural difference in all counseling relations are the rule rather that the exception.” Ponterotto et al

“A community is democratic only when the humblest and weakest person can enjoy the highest civil, economic, and social rights that the biggest and most powerful possess.” Philip Randolph  

“I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.” Ralph Ellison