“Cultural competency” is a euphemism for not offending so-called marginalized groups of people, usually racial minorities. It’s often deployed in mandatory training sessions for faculty and staff.
But at Texas A&M University-San Antonio, located in the heart of “Military City USA,” the marginalized group is student veterans.
The Washington Post reports on the university’s new program to train its employees in cultural competency for the “military-connected” students who are now a huge chunk of its population – 1 in 5:
“Sometimes we forget that the military is another culture that needs to be included in ‘multiculturalism,’” said K.C. Kalmbach, an associate professor of psychology at Texas A&M University-San Antonio who also does clinical work consulting with military service members. For many who joined when they were 17, the military has as profound an effect on their identity and world view as their religion, race and home town, she said. “I think it’s been left out.”
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The cultural gap is wide between the academy and military, with veterans used to order and clear direction:
In college, independence, individuality, reflection, exploration, creativity and collaboration are all valued. “That can be terrifying” for some veterans, Kalmbach said, leaving them feeling lost, adrift. “It’s a free-fall for them.”
Beyond making it easy for veterans to transfer credits and building a veterans’ center with an off-leash area for service dogs, A&M-San Antonio is teaching employees how to verbally relate to servicemembers:
They talked about ways to avoid offending students — such as assuming a woman is using her spouse’s benefit rather than assuming she served the country herself, referring to someone as a “former” Marine, or calling women “females.”
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“In the military, sometimes ‘female’ is used in a derogatory manner,” Kalmbach explained. And once a Marine, always a Marine.
They taught the faculty some military-specific language, as well. “Embrace the suck” (which roughly translates to “yes, this is hard, but we’ll figure out a game plan,”) was a hit with professors.
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