The Educational Virtues of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice
Our faculty and our curriculum embody a commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, and social justice in which students develop their capacity to learn from and about difference, to understand inequality, and to apply these values in the wider world. From the core program’s US Diversity requirement, to the content and structure of many major programs, to individual courses, to co-curricular programs, and to inclusive pedagogical strategies, Oxy students acquire knowledge, cultivate skills, and build tools to contribute meaningfully to making a more just world.
Departments understand these values to be not merely held in the abstract and not merely a feature of our campus community, but also a hallmark feature of our curriculum. Many departments note the centrality of these values to department learning objectives, offer individual courses on these subjects from their unique disciplinary vantage, offer tracks or concentrations within their major on these subjects, and/or aspire to one of the former. In short, students--no matter their major and minor--should graduate from Oxy with a more critically informed sense of social inequality and a capacity to contribute to the public good.
Mastering Disciplinary Knowledge and Methodologies
No matter what students major in, they will become well-versed in the knowledge and methods of their chosen discipline. There will be opportunities to develop critical thinking skills through a focus on research in the classroom, independently, and in close contact with faculty. Students master the theoretical frameworks within the discipline and achieve depth in their chosen subject through multiple levels of analysis. And they learn to be effective communicators in their disciplines.
Interdisciplinarity and Multidisciplinarity
Both within and between departments, our curriculum regularly crosses disciplinary boundaries and draws on multiple types of expertise--from the team-taught CSP lab courses, to the guest faculty program support for linked courses sponsored by the Center for Teaching Excellence, and to cross-listed courses throughout the curriculum. Students learn how concepts and methods of multiple disciplines add richness and context to a variety of subjects.
Urban, Global, Los Angeles Perspectives
Occidental possesses the distinct privilege of being a liberal arts college in the heart of a major global city, one of the largest and most diverse metropolitan areas in the United States. Across divisions, our curriculum engages its local geographical resources (both the natural and the built environment), community-based organizations and institutions, and the cultural richness that represents the larger world. Through community-based learning and community-based research, geological and biological fieldwork, partnerships with cultural institutions and local industries, internship programs, Professors of the Practice, and a formal partnership with the City of Los Angeles, students’ learning in the classroom is deeply connected to learning in the community.
Students at Oxy are also afforded many opportunities to connect their learning to the wider world. Whether through study of a foreign language, a semester spent at the United Nations, or our international programs, or through interactions on campus with students that come from all over the world, Oxy students gain an appreciation for the global context of their educational experiences.
Undergraduate Research
Undergraduate research is a hallmark of an Occidental education--from their first-year CSP course, to the notable Summer Undergraduate Research program, to Richter- and ASP-funded research abroad, to CCBL- and ASP-supported community research, to Senior Comprehensive projects. Moreover, Oxy students take research-rich courses that give them hands-on experience in the lab, archives, community and field. The goal is for students to become creators of knowledge in collaborative partnerships with faculty members, other students, and members of local and international communities.
