Another 8 percent are developing such mandates, according to the study. Students themselves began the movement toward requiring diversity courses, said Dr. Debra Humphreys, vice president of communications and public affairs for the national group that conducted the survey. Students were complaining that college catalogs had an abundance of courses on Western civilization but few on other cultures. Black history courses were among the first such courses added, she said. The recognition that diversity is important in the country has shifted the debate a little bit.
Policies vary across the state.
They were supposed to find a way to include that somehow. What happened is a lot of institutions did. UT-Austin was the same way. At UT, faculty members from the science, engineering and business departments argued against adding another graduation requirement to already crowded lists, said Dr. Wayne Danielson, a journalism professor. Dr. Danielson led a committee that created a multicultural proposal.