TRICE: The Tri-College University Newspaper
Vol. 32, No. 2 / February 2002

TOCAR: Building anti-racist, multicultural, community-based campuses
by Phyllis May-Machunda, MSUM Assistant Professor of Humanities and Multicultural Studies; and- Amy Phillips, MSUM Assistant Professor of Social Work

Training Our Campuses Against Racism (TOCAR) is a multi-campus, anti-racism initiative which seeks to improve campus climate, promote equal opportunity, and dismantle institutional racism in the four institutions of higher education in the Fargo/Moorhead area (Concordia College, Minnesota State University Moorhead, North Dakota State University, Northwest Technical College). This initiative, directed by a collaborative of student, faculty, and staff representatives from each campus, was awarded a $77,000 grant this past fall from the Otto Bremer Foundation. The Bremer grant supports a two-year process of institutional reflection, action, and change involving anti-racism trainings, institutional assessment, and anti-racism plan development tailored to each campus as overseen by campus TOCAR chapters.

TOCAR evolved out of the community-wide study circle process that took place in the spring of 2001 in response to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Report, "The Status of Equal Opportunity for Minorities in Moorhead Minnesota." From the study circle process emerged eleven Citizen Action Teams, one of which focused on higher education. The higher education team decided that its focus would be the development of a multi-campus antiracism initiative, and one of the team's student members recommended that the initiative be named TOCAR -Training Our Campuses Against Racism ("tocar" means "to touch" in Spanish). The TOCAR Collaborative and its chapters have been meeting monthly since summer 2001 and the campuses have begun holding their first anti-racism trainings for students, faculty, and staff.

TOCAR seeks to address a fundamental factor inhibiting the success of efforts to ethnically and racially diversify predominantly white institutions of higher education - inhospitable and unsupportivc campus and community environments. As opposed to their white counterparts, people of color are faced with multiple barriers to stability and longevity in university settings and the daily costs of survival are high. Most of these barriers are based on individual and institutional forms of racism and may include: subtle bias in decision making; stereotypical expectations of the roles and performance of students, faculty, and staff of color; traditional requirements for Job performance that conflict with special service and advising expectations; differential covert evaluation standards; devaluation of credentials and research interests; tokenism; isolation and exclusion from informal networking and social events; and harassment on campus and in the larger community.

TOCAR challenges the systemic, attitudinal, and structural factors that overtly and covertly create inhospitable campus environments through a theoretical framework which moves beyond a traditional model of cultural diversity. The traditional model views diversification as merely a process of inserting students, staff, and faculty of color into existing institutional frameworks. This approach, however, has been insufficient and generally unsuccessful because it does little to address the systemic racism which overtly and covertly creates inhospitable environments.

Instead of a model of diversity that does little to alter the status quo, TOCAR's paradigm promotes institutional change and moves the institution toward an identity anchored in anti-racist, multicultural, community-based perspectives. As an antiracist institution, the organization operates out of an awareness of white systemic advantage that confers power and privilege on whites and disempowers people of color. As an anti-racist multicultural institution, diversity develops beyond mere representation to become a force which shapes the institution through shared power and full participation of diverse racial, cultural, and economic groups. As an anti-racist, multicultural, community-based institution, the university operates in partnership with people of color on campus and in the larger community to define its role and responsibilities in creating inclusive campus and community environments which are strengthened by the presence and contributions of diverse groups.

TOCAR encourages anyone interested in helping with this initiative to contact any of the following individuals at her/his institution: Concordia - Kay Schneider, 299-4723, or Michelle Fleming, 2993703; MSUM - Phyllis May-Machunda, 236-2975, or Amy Phillips, 236-2724; NDSU -- Sandra Holbrook, 231-7703, or Larry Peterson, 231-8824; Northwest Technical College - Ted Guerrero, 2996514, or Claudia Simon, 299-6605.