B-CC HOSTS MILITARY RACE RELATIONS CLASS

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Eighteen members of the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI) toured Bethune-Cookman College Thursday, March 11, 2004 in order to enhance their knowledge while learning lessons that may be put to work helping improve race relations in the U.S. military.

The group consisting of Army and Navy men and women in training to become Equal Opportunity Advisors (EOA) spent the day visiting the College’s historical sites and interacting with faculty and students.

Visits from the group based at Patrick Air Force Base have been a regular part of the training program in recent, both for many participants, it was his or hers first exposure to a Historically Black College or University (HBCU).

“Today has definitely clarified my misconceptions of an HBCU,’’ said Sergeant First Class Tangela Hatcher of the Fifth Army Headquarters based at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas..

Sergeant First Class Michelle Custard, currently stationed at the U.S. Army Chemical School in Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, had attended Lincoln University, an HBCU, before joining the Army.

``This made me realize the experience I had was an unique one,’’ SFC Custard said.

Discussion of racial stereotypes, diversity and what draws students to HBCU’s filled a Thursday morning panel moderated by Dr. Claudette McFadden, Head of the Speech Communication Department and including Dr. Russell Mootry, Head of the Sociology Department; sociology instructor Dr. Linda Scola, Dr. Paula McKenzie, Assistant Speech/Communication Professor, and Sekou Smith, assistant director of admissions as well as numerous students.

“When it comes to race relations, we need to stop thinking along the likes of `how do I deal with this person of this race?’” Scola said. “We have to look as every as human and go from there.”

Based out of Patrick Air Force Base, DEOMI’s goal in to enhance leadership and readiness by fostering Equal Opportunity (EO) and Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) programs and positive human relations through education, training, and research.

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Bethune-Cookman is a comprehensive college, which offers degrees in liberal arts as well as professional fields, such as business, education and nursing. A United Methodist Church-affiliated school, the College has a diverse and international student population of more than 2,700 and a solid reputation for academic excellence and community service. As evidence of its outstanding program, the College has been listed in the Templeton Honor Roll of Character Building Colleges and Universities, and it was ranked by Black Enterprise magazine as one of the “Top 50” schools in the nation for black students.  B-CC is one of 10 charter member colleges of Project Pericles, a program to create civic leadership and involvement on its member campuses.  The College will celebrate its 100^th year of founding on October 4, 2004.

For more information, contact our website www.bethune.cookman.edu. 

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