Rutgers currently provides an array of experiences for students that address a variety of cultures. These take the form of majors, minors, courses, cultural programs, special interest housing, and student associations. There are also committees of faculty and staff that address multicultural issues and may sponsor multicultural events. Notable among these is the universitywide Committee to Advance Our Common Purposes. Some units have required courses that do not focus on multicultural understanding, but that have multicultural components within the course.
Some units have no such requirements.
Some units offer, but do not require, courses with multicultural components. Rutgers made great strides in its curricular and co-curricular offerings related to information about a large variety of individual cultures. However, in order to provide our students with the knowledge and skills for success in the 21 st century, and, as an institution, to provide leadership in dealing with one of the major global problems of our time, it is essential that we go beyond an emphasis on increasing student knowledge about individual cultures, to an emphasis on increasing student knowledge concerning intercultural interaction. The outcomes of tasks, problems, and opportunities that we, our students, and our society face require not only knowledge that many cultures exist, but knowledge of how cultures interact with each other, and how this interaction can occur in a positive, productive manner. This knowledge cannot be gained by studying individual cultures in isolation.