Special Attribute Search - Cultural Diversity

The Diversity Studies Committee administers this requirement.

This requirement encourages students to understand cultural diversity in complex ways and in multiple contexts by taking courses that attend to questions of difference, imbalances in political and social power, diversity in cultures and the interactions among and between cultures, and methodological approaches to the study of diversity. In awarding Cultural Diversity (CD) credit for international study away programs and some U.S. study away programs, this requirement recognizes that study away is a profound pedagogical encounter with diversity that complements the engagement of diversity in courses across the Oberlin curriculum.

As noted in the Graduation requirements for the College of Arts and Sciences section of this catalog, the cultural diversity requirement is as follows:

Students must complete at least three full academic courses with the Cultural Diversity (CD) designation. The three courses must be earned in at least two different departments or programs, as indicated by the course prefix. These courses must be completed at Oberlin College. Students who study away in a full-semester, credit-bearing international program will receive CD credit equal to one course. Students who study away in a full-semester, credit-bearing U.S. program that directly addresses diversity may petition the Diversity Studies Committee to receive CD credit equal to one course.

Criteria for CD courses

Courses carrying the CD designation must fall into at least one of the following categories:

• Courses whose primary focus of inquiry is on a disenfranchised group (or groups) in the United States
• Courses whose primary focus of inquiry concerns national and/or transnational cultures outside the United States
• Courses whose focus of inquiry includes substantial attention to methods of inquiry analyzing and interpreting cultural differences
• Courses taught in a language other than English