Making Diversity Tangible: Assessing the Role of Service-Learning in Teaching Diversity

There is a growing need for students to be able to work within diverse environments, yet there is little evidence to suggest that they are more prepared or ethically grounded to work with diverse populations, specifically protected groups. This study examines a course that was designed to specifically to prepare student to lead in diverse work environments by examining issues of diversity and social justice. A service-learning pedagogy was used to help link critical in-class discussions and course content to the lived experiences of the protect groups by working in the community. Findings suggest that the service-learning is an important component to increasing awareness and understanding of diversity and social justice. Suggestions for improving similar courses are provided.

"Embarrassingly White": Faculty Racial Disparities in American Recreation, Park, and Tourism Programs

The publisher-authenticated version of Mowatt, R. A., Johnson, C. W., Roberts, N. S., & Kivel, B. D. (2016). “Embarrassingly White”: Faculty racial disparities in American recreation, park & tourism programs. Schole: A Journal Of Leisure Studies & Recreation Education. 31(1), 37-55. is available online at: http://js.sagamorepub.com/schole/article/view/7268 DOI: 10.18666/SCHOLE-2016-V31-I1-7268The recruitment and retention of faculty and students of color is a long-standing challenge in academic programs focusing on leisure studies, parks, recreation, and tourism. However, when confronting the predominantly white composition of educational programs, many evade or, at most, acknowledge the situation as a "deficit." Few offer specific strategies for reversing this pattern, if that is the desired outcome. The purpose of this essay is to extend the discourse beyond traditional diversity initiatives by undertaking a field-wide initiative focused on the disparities in faculty and student representation. First, the essay examines systems that have created and supported the persistence of "white" as privileged in academia. Next, a summary and critique of institutional faculty demographic data over the 5-year period from 2006-2011 from four diverse institutions are presented. This analysis illustrates patterns that have resulted in presumably less than desirable numbers of faculty and students of color. Concrete suggestions for recruiting, retaining, and promoting people of color in academic leisure studies programs are included. Increasingly, today's students are attracted to academic programs in which they will be exposed to faculty representing the diversity they will encounter as professionals. This essay offers a call to bridge the perceived gap between practitioners and academia by recommending systemic changes informed by the lived experiences of communities of color that are effectively served by various leisure service providers

Black Lives as Snuff: The Silent Complicity in Viewing Black Death

The aim of this photo essay, through simulated director cues, is to question viewers’ intent in the consumption of videos that make a spectacle of the vio- lence perpetrated on Black bodies. In the vein of the underlying principle of Black Lives Matter, does a Black life really matter for those of us who pro- claim it? The ubiquity of social media has fostered an ever-increasing, medi- ated culture and mode of communication on the injustice of racialized vio- lence. What are the politics of the gaze at play in this culture of viewing Black death? With the proliferation of videos that are taken from a scene, posted, and shared, have we truly become more engaged citizens, staunch activists, and effective community organizers? Or have we sat back, copied and pasted a link, and made a statement of our dismay in the spirit of social change online while offline nothing changes at all? We proceed with our weekend plans, go to work, do household chores, and continue our random daily activities