Office of Intercultural Life
Mission Statement

For over 25 years, the Office of Intercultural Life has been an integral part of Carleton’s initiatives to enhance diversity and cultivate a fully inclusive community, enriched by persons of different ethnicities, nationalities, genders, economic backgrounds, ages, abilities, sexual orientations, and spiritual values. The primary mission of the Office of Intercultural Life is to provide programming that fosters intercultural dialogue in the service of greater cross-cultural awareness, empathy, mutual respect, tolerance, and recognition.

This goal is inextricably linked to the other dimensions of our mission that include:

• to ensure that members of under-represented ethnic groups have the space, visibility, and participation in institutional decisions necessary to sustain their full inclusion
• to help students of color identify and navigate the issues they may encounter at Carleton as members of under-represented ethnic groups on a predominantly white campus
• to assist students of color in their adjustment, satisfaction and persistance toward attainment of their educational goals.
• to enhance the social awareness of the Carleton community with regards to the histories, life experiences, and political-economic issues of the diverse ethnic groups on campus and in the larger global community
• to diminish the levels of racism and related forms of discrimination such as sexism and homophobia as they are manifest on our campus
• to enhance the capacity of all students, faculty, and staff to lead and work collaboratively in diverse groups

The Office of Intercultural Life works to fulfill this mission through sponsoring guest speakers, cultural performances, art exhibits, discussion forums, and films. The office also maintains a small library, publishes an office newsletter, and supports a peer-mentoring program.