GE Domestic Diversity Literacy

I. Regulations

Davis Division Regulation 522 sets forth the Baccalaureate Degree Requirement in General Education. Civic and Cultural Literacy, a component of Core Literacies (522.C), includes the requirement for at least 3 units of coursework in domestic diversity (522.C.2).

Regulation 523 sets forth the Criteria for General Education Certification of courses, stating “A course in Domestic Diversity provides an understanding of issues such as race, ethnicity, social class, gender, sexuality, and religion within the United States, and develops the student’s ability to think critically about diverse socio-cultural perspectives.” (523.C.5)

II. Interpretation

The objective of Domestic Diversity Literacy is to prepare students for thoughtful, active participation in civic society. Students will learn to think analytically about American institutions and social relations, and understand the diversity of American cultures.

Courses that meet the Domestic Diversity literacy must provide students with an understanding and appreciation of the social and cultural diversity of the United States, the relationships between these diverse cultures, and larger patterns of national history and institutions.

Minimum Elements Checklist

Courses in the Domestic Diversity Literacy must:

ME1) Demonstrate that a substantial portion of the course is

  • Teaching students to develop the ability to critically examine the structures from which cultures in the Unites States emerge with an emphasis on diverse socio-cultural perspectives on these issues.
    -OR-
  • Teaching students to think analytically about the nature of patterned differences that characterize human populations, such as gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, or social class, as determinants of issues pertinent to the United States.

ME2) Provide specific demonstration and justification of how student competency in the Domestic Diversity literacy will be assessed through student assignments, exams, surveys, or other means.

ME3) Demonstrate that achieving the minimum set of learning objectives of the literacy is an integral part of the class.

III. ICMS Submission Requirements

The Committee on Courses of Instruction (COCI) evaluates whether the course proposal satisfies the minimum elements checklist above. COCI uses the information provided in the answers to the General Education literacy justification questions and the Expanded Course Description. Departments requesting that a course be approved for this GE literacy must answer the literacy questions in the Integrated Curriculum Management System (ICMS), as listed below.

For this literacy, COCI evaluates the minimum elements as follows:

  • ME1: ICMS literacy questions 1 and 2
  • ME2: Expanded Course Description and ICMS literacy questions 1, 2, and 3
  • ME3: Expanded Course Description
  1. How will the course provide an understanding of issues such as race, ethnicity, social class, gender, sexuality, and religion within the United States?
  2. How will the course develop students’ abilities to think critically about diverse socio-cultural perspectives?
  3. How will the instructors assess student competency in this GE literacy?

Departments may leave the “ICMS Justification” field blank, or use it to provide any additional information about the GE literacy for this course that may be helpful as COCI reviews the request.