The Multi-Racial Unity Living Experience

1. The Multi-Racial Unity Living Experience Global Learning, 2012—2013 Assessing Progress & Improving Practice Jeanne Gazel, PhD. Amy Franklin Craft, PhD JordynBussey, MRULE, IDS (2014)

3. Background • In August of 2014, MRULE will be 18 years old, the life of an incoming college student. • From its inception we have refined several key pedagogical approaches. • It was designed to ensure students gain consistent practice at studying social reality, acting in the world to improve social conditions and reflecting on that action to further study, act and reflect. The goal is to develop competencies around an informed practice. • It was designedaround three pillars: Social Justice, Human Agency and Action Research.

4. MRULE Components • Weekly Round Table Discussions • Weekly Community Service/Engagement • Monthly Socials • Semester Community Building Trip Student Leadership/Peer Education supported by academic rigor and accountability to mission. The goal

5. MRULE Mission (MRULE) offers students in Residence Halls and beyond opportunities to increase knowledge and understanding of what they can do to contribute to positive race relations in their lives and their communities. It provides students from all backgrounds a unique forum to come together. Through open and frank discussions on controversial issues, informative presentations, interactive exercises and a variety of experiences that encourage the development of genuine friendships, students create and cultivate the experience of multiracial unity. They learn through action the concept of unity and diversity, while developing leadership skills that give them an edge on working and thriving in diverse environments

6. 2012-2013 Goals • Increase capacity for collecting, analyzing and reporting data that helps us see where we are and where we yet need to go. • Assess strengths and weaknesses of collaborations to build and improve. • Systematize assessment processes—Instrument/Methodologies, Venues (MRULE RTDs, Class, Off campus activities, Student Leader seminar)

7. Data Points Intercultural Aide Collaboration Demographics Global Perspectives Inventory ISS Reflection Papers MRULE Year End Evaluations

8. Global Perspective Inventory • Fall of 2012—Used on line survey in ISS 215 class which has MRULE component embedded in the class. • N = 39 (Students in class) N= 150 (Students in another ISS class who did not go to MRULE). • Asked MRULE participants (not in class) to take GPI –(N =44) + MRULE Student Leaders—(N = 15). • Spring, 2013—Several of the 44 were no longer in MRULE and few of the SLs pre-test were found. • Several problems with the on-line system and the data collection at GPI

9. Global Perspective Inventory

10. Lessons Learned • Pre and Post of the GPI Fall, 2012 ISS class showed a clear difference for all students and helped us to know the following: College matters in expanding global perspective. • N was too small to align this expanding global perspective with MRULE. • Loss of Student Leader data • Difficulty in getting students to take on line survey consistently to increase N

11. MRULE 2012-2013 End of Year Evaluation Institutional Learning Outcomes Qualitative and Quantitative Results

12. Beneficial Aspects of MRULE N=96; 502 Responses

13. Has your participation in MRULE helped you better understand any course material? N=94; Presented as %

14. Cultural Understanding

15. How helpful was MRULE in assisting you to engage in genuine relationships with people from different backgrounds and perspectives? The family that I have made in MRULE are some of the most genuine friendships that I have ever made. – East Participant I am open to having conversations with language barriers. – East Participant I met people from my hall and all of Brody Neighborhood through MRULE. – Brody Participant N=95

16. How helpful was MRULE in assisting you to recognize commonalities among people of different cultures? I could actually realize we are all people and these are human issues. – South Participant When we talked about problems we’ve faced as individuals I was able to relate to more people than I thought. – Brody Participant I met people from all over the world that love to help other people. – East Participant N=96

17. How helpful was MRULE in increasing your openness to different beliefs and opinions This has particularly helped me regarding the topic of race. – South Participant I was aware of why people stood behind something, which gave me a better understanding of the issues. – Brody Participant N=93

18. Effective Citizenship

19. Now that I have participated in MRULE program I intend to… • … attend next year! It has helped me figure out that I care about how people of different cultures are represented, which I want to incorporate in career. • … incorporate everything I have learned in my daily life and help make others more aware. • Further my involvement with the organization and strive for leadership roles roles and research opportunities related “MRULE” issues. I would love to go on to become and ICA or Student Leader.

20. Please comment on what you learned about leadership through interactions with your student leaders. What qualities did you see from them that helped MRULE develop? • I think having leaders with diverse personalities was important, because we have a diverse group. Truly they are a great model of collaboration. • The leaders were very patient and never shut down other people’s opinions, rather they built off of them and turned it into a learning experience. • I see a genuine concern and relatability. Although the leaders may not always agree with every opinion or approach, they are active in being patient and allowing every opinion to be heard. They don’t prioritize their own knowledge about the group’s.

21. Effective Communication

22. How helpful was MRULE in assisting you to communicate and interact with diverse audiences? MRULE Community Building Trip – This was the most diverse group of people I have ever interacted with! – Brody Participant Before attending MRULE I didn’t interact with different audiences. – South Participant This helped me more easily approach someone of another ethnicity. – Brody Participant N=95

23. How helpful was MRULE in developing your capacity to actively listen and dialogue with people from different backgrounds and perspectives? I became a better listener because I’ve become more interested in what others have to say. – Brody Participant First, I get to practice my English. Second, the students in MRULE are friendly, which gives me courage to talk with them. – East Participant Usually I am always talking so this made me step back and listen. – Brody Participant N=96

24. Integrated Reasoning

25. How helpful was MRULE in assisting you to recognize differences and nuance among people within common cultures? It actually heightened my ability to perceive religious differences in people seeming very socially similar. – Brody Participant I learned this growing up, but I didn’t have the terminology to describe it before college and MRULE. – East Participant Opinions aren’t restricted to cultures. – South Participant N=94

26. How helpful was MRULE in assisting you to recognize implicit and explicit forms of power and privilege? The bootstraps game really helped with this. – Brody Participant Male privilege/misogynistic culture. We teach “don’t get raped” instead of “don’t rape.” – Brody Participant N=96

27. Personal Development

28. How helpful was MRULE in your personal development (learning, critical thinking, self-understanding)? I’m still working on it, but this has helped with my stereotyping and judgment of others. – South Participant I was provided the opportunity to reflect on my experiences getting to MSU and also how I interact with my peers. – Brody Participant It helped me realize that my beliefs were not the only “right” beliefs and that as I become more aware of the world my perception changes. – East Participant N=93

29. ICA 2012-2013 End of Year Evaluation of MRULE Qualitative and Quantitative Results *Rating on a scale of 1(Strongly Disagree) – 5(Strongly Agree)

30. Survey Results • Has participating in MRULE been helpful to you as you perform your role as an intercultural aide? – 70% of ICA’s rated this as somewhat to very helpful (N=50) • Has participating in MRULE assisted you to communicate more effectively with your peers? – 71% of ICA’s rated this as somewhat to very helpful (N=52)

31. Survey Results • Has participating in MRULE assisted you in communicating across differences? – 86% of ICA’s rated this as somewhat to very helpful (N=51) • Has participating in MRULE assisted you in becoming an informed citizen? – 90% of ICA’s rated this as somewhat to very helpful (N-52)