2008 Woodie Awards
Continuing multiculturalism at Macalester
Under new leadership, the DML works to expand its reach.
By: Anna Waugh
Issue date: 11/22/07 Section: Magazine Fall 2007
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Dean of Multicultural Life Tommy Woon, now in his second year at Macalester, is expanding the role of the Department of Multicultural Life on campus by moving toward an institutional transformation that, he says, will give even greater support to an increasingly diverse student body at Macalester.
The Department of Multicultural Life was created in 2002 under the leadership of then-Dean Joi Lewis; her role was fundamental in the creation of the department.
Lewis' resignation in the spring of 2006 due to what she called a lack of institutional support for multiculturalism at Macalester, spoke to a perceived tension between administrators and the DML. However, according to Karla Benson Rutten, the director of the Lealtad-Suzuki Center who worked under Lewis since the DML's creation, this perception may not fully encompass the complexity of the issue.
When Lewis announced her resignation in February 2006, she said she had been unable to gain the support from the college necessary to make the fuller institutional change that she felt Macalester needed to truly realize its multicultural mission, The Mac Weekly reported at the time.
As the DML became more established at the college, Benson Rutten said, Lewis became frustrated when she tried to increase the reach of the DML by engaging in talks of increasing diversity not only among students, but also among staff members.
As the first dean of the DML, Lewis focused particularly on defining the department's mission and creating student programs-programs like Pluralism and Unity and the Emerging Scholars Program. Where she had trouble, Benson Rutten said, was when these programs were established and she wanted to foster a campus-wide acceptance of multiculturalism.
"[Lewis] felt like the college wasn't ready to change or felt like she wasn't the person to make the change," Benson Rutten said.
Woon stepped into the role of dean the following fall to continue developing and carrying out the department's mission.
The Department of Multicultural Life was created in 2002 under the leadership of then-Dean Joi Lewis; her role was fundamental in the creation of the department.
Lewis' resignation in the spring of 2006 due to what she called a lack of institutional support for multiculturalism at Macalester, spoke to a perceived tension between administrators and the DML. However, according to Karla Benson Rutten, the director of the Lealtad-Suzuki Center who worked under Lewis since the DML's creation, this perception may not fully encompass the complexity of the issue.
When Lewis announced her resignation in February 2006, she said she had been unable to gain the support from the college necessary to make the fuller institutional change that she felt Macalester needed to truly realize its multicultural mission, The Mac Weekly reported at the time.
As the DML became more established at the college, Benson Rutten said, Lewis became frustrated when she tried to increase the reach of the DML by engaging in talks of increasing diversity not only among students, but also among staff members.
As the first dean of the DML, Lewis focused particularly on defining the department's mission and creating student programs-programs like Pluralism and Unity and the Emerging Scholars Program. Where she had trouble, Benson Rutten said, was when these programs were established and she wanted to foster a campus-wide acceptance of multiculturalism.
"[Lewis] felt like the college wasn't ready to change or felt like she wasn't the person to make the change," Benson Rutten said.
Woon stepped into the role of dean the following fall to continue developing and carrying out the department's mission.
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