1. Step Out of Your Comfort Zone: Reach out and seek different perspectives than your own. If you and your programming team share the same perspective, only one of you needs to go to the table to brainstorm.

2. Educate Yourself: So many cultures, so little time. Become familiar with terminology, issues and concerns.

3. Build Alliances with other Student Groups: Become an ally! Reach out to all groups on campus. Attend their meetings and become familiar with their mission statements and goals. Don’t program what you think a particular target group will enjoy – ask that target group for direction.

4. Co-Sponsor Events: More hands make the workload lighter! Your programming board can supply the production knowledge and facility, while the special interest group (from your campus or the community) supplies the program.

5. Build Bridges With Your Faculty: THE KEY to success. Three reasons why: a) if a faculty member deems the event mandatory, there will be a guaranteed audience; b) faculty members are excellent consultants for recommending programs and speakers; and c) money can be saved by using on-campus experts (a faculty member) as opposed to outside speakers.

6. Include An Educational Component in Your Program: Move beyond traditional food and music fests by also providing an educational component. Students need to better understand a culture before they can appreciate it.

7. Develop Clear Objectives: Know what you want to achieve and how to determine success. Does the program reflect the institution’s mission statement? Is the program clearly defined? Are you looking for qualitative or quantitative results?

8. Program for Balance: It’s just not about race and gender! Develop a student advisory board from the leaders of your clubs and organizations to be sure all interests are represented. Also, consider programming about groups NOT represented on your campus. Be sure to include religious groups, students with disabilities, and students with non-traditional lifestyles.

9. Be Patient! It takes time to develop a successful program. Remember to program events on days when nothing else is going on and establish sufficient budgets.

10. Remember that multicultural events are for everyone! It’s not where you are now, it’s where you are going. If you plan to work in an urban center, you WILL be exposed to people different than you. Your boss could be a different race than you, speak English as a second language, be gay, and/or disabled. If you are not comfortable with people different than you, you will not be effective in today’s job market.

(presented at the 2000 NACA National Conference in Boston as part of the session, "Great Times for All: Multicultural Programming on a Predominantly White Campus.")