Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs (review)

A student affairs professional takes a break to watch a news program in the lounge. Eight students are also in the lounge watching the news. When the show returns from commercial, the story is on the "differential treatment Whites and Blacks receive in employment and housing." When the segment ends, a White student complains that the story was "grossly one-sided" and inaccurate and explains how he was once discriminated against in obtaining a summer internship. Another student in the lounge, a Latino student, interrupts the White student, saying, "White people cannot possibly understand what discrimination feels like, even in that situation." The other students and the student affairs professional watch as the heated discussion crescendos, ending with the White student leaving the lounge. One of the students looks questioningly at the student affairs professional, "Well, what are you going to do about that?" (Pope, Reynolds, & Mueller, 2004, pp. 207–208).

The above scenario is summarized from one of the seven case studies presented in the book Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs. In addition to these practical cases, the authors, Raechele L. Pope, Amy L. Reynolds, and John A. Mueller, have provided student affairs professionals with a guide to infusing multicultural competence into student affairs work. Multicultural competence is an increasingly important topic in student affairs. It can be defined as "the awareness, knowledge, and skills needed to work with others who are culturally different from self in meaningful, relevant, and productive ways" (p. 13). As a term, multicultural competence originated in the 1980s in the counseling psychology literature. It was here that the idea of using a tripartite model of multicultural competence, involving awareness, knowledge, and skills, was developed.

The objective of the authors is to fill the gap that exists in the student affairs literature on this topic. As Pope, Reynolds, and Mueller point out, the existing literature on student affairs focuses more on issues of multiculturalism and on researching students, rather than on multicultural competence and researching the student affairs professionals. The authors introduce their three core beliefs in the preface, and return to them throughout the text. The first belief is that multicultural competence can no longer be left to a limited group. Pope, Reynolds, and Mueller understand that we cannot all be experts, but that every student affairs professional needs to be able to meet the changing needs of our students. The second belief is that all aspects of our work must include multiculturalism. In other words, those working in offices of multicultural affairs should not be the only ones responsible for handling these issues. Finally, the authors believe that to fully incorporate multiculturalism into everything we do, we have to examine the beliefs and values of our profession.

The terms multicultural and multiculturalism are used quite often in this text. The authors share that there is no "broadly accepted definition of the term multicultural" and that even "multicultural scholars have often disagreed about the definition" (p. xiii). Pope, Reynolds, and Mueller "believe it is important to acknowledge that all of our social identities (race, class, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, and abilities) influence who we are and how we view the world" (p. xiv). In other words, the basis of the definition of multiculturalism for which the authors are arguing is the concept of multiple identities. Vasti Torres, Mary F. Howard-Hamilton, and Diane L. Cooper discuss this concept of multiple identities in their 2003 report, Identity Development of Diverse Populations: Implications for Teaching and Administration in Higher Education.

The intention to focus on student affairs professionals is clearly seen in the format of Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs. The authors base the first seven chapters on the seven core competencies for student affairs professionals, created by Pope and...