Among the many voices that have discussed the multiculturalism issue at Macalester, the now-defunct Council of Multicultural Affairs (CMA) would seem to be one of the most obvious and appropriate to make recommendations on the subject. Perhaps that is why President Michael McPherson charged the CMA last year with researching "ways that we can strengthen our recruiting efforts for U.S. students of color."

The CMA published a report last month to answer this issue. Committee co-head and MAX Center Director Michael Dickel stressed, however, that the report comprised only suggestions, not concrete solutions.

"The intent was to add ideas to a conversation that already existed," Dickel said. "McPherson's charge [to us] was to contribute to a discussion on campus; unlike Admissions and Financial Aid [Taskforce], we weren't charged with implementation."

Highlights of the report include three broad recommendations: admissions support, accountability and innovative thinking.

The recommendations for more admissions support entails, in large part, the hiring of an admissions officer specifically for students of color. Along with focusing on recruiting domestic students of color, this officer would also better organize and provide leadership for the recruiting of minority students.

In terms of admissions, the report further suggested that the multicultural recruiting officer be offered a multi-year contract in order to counteract the turnaround common among multicultural recruiters at Macalester and, taking a suggestion from MCSG's student forum last year, that admissions should focus on recruiting more from within the Twin Cities.

The committee also suggested that there be more accountability, particularly within the Admissions Office. "We have found it difficult to get information from [the Admissions Office]," the report said. "Our impression is that admissions tightly controls the information they have."

The report suggested setting goals for recruiting students of color (not quotas it emphasized), which would be preceded by a community-wide discussion. Then the college would have a way to assess the attainment of those goals. The report also solicited "widely available, good data" for widespread dissemination among the com unity as well as communication, from Admissions to the community, and vice versa, in order to better the process of recruitment and retention.

The last and most extensive suggestion was a need for innovation. The report recommended recruiting the "whole student," developing pipeline and bridge programs, providing financial incentives for students of color, developing and supporting alumni participation and extending the college's outreach.

Recruiting the whole student would entail involvement from the entire Macalester community in the recruitment process, as well as involving more people than just the prospective student, such as the student's family and community.

Bridge programs help students make the transition from high school to college and include programs such as the Hughes Science Institute Program and MACCESS. The report recommended an extended orientation program for students of color that would occur simultaneously with the international students' orientation.

Pipeline programs are defined as "programs that work with public education systems to foster a population of upcoming students so that they will be adequately prepared for higher education."

Dickel expressed optimism about the effectiveness of pipeline programs. "The most useful of the suggestions might be the pipeline programs," Dickel said. "If you look at the number schools competing for students of color in our test score range, there aren't many."

For this reason, these programs have the potential to provide Macalester with a long-term improvement in this arena. One option the report presented was that Macalester work with ACTC or ACM schools in order to broaden the college's reach.

"The pipeline programs are the most cost-effective," Dickel said. "With a consortium of ACM schools, we could hit Chicago, St. Louis, Denver—we could hit more than one urban area. I don't accept the idea that there is any inborn or inherent reason why these students cannot do as well as white students. Minorities ought to be able to do as well as everyone else."

Financial incentives included a rethinking of financial aid to students of color, with possible scholarships for students involved in bridge programs. Alumni participation was also suggested and consisted of a mentorship program, service learning opportunities, the interviewing prospective students and coordinating the Reunion for Alumni of Color with the Students of Color fall sampler.

Lastly, extending the college's outreach would mean making the college more visible in communities of color. The report outlined a general idea for this: a speakers bureau, with topics including study abroad, capstone projects, faculty research, topics relating to alumni and creative efforts by students and faculty. Other suggestions included working with domestic cultural organizations, improving Macalester's multicultural presence on the web and improving volunteer coordination efforts.

As for the possibility of these suggestions being put into practice, that stage has not yet been reached. Committee co-chair and English professor Diane Glancy said that implementation of the changes has to wait, for now.

"Right now, we are waiting for the Academic Dean of Multicultural Studies to be hired, so we can find out the vision of that person, so we don't implement all these ideas, and then have to change them when the dean comes in," Glancy said.