Soto: State law should require cultural competence

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By JoANNE YOUNG / Lincoln Journal Star

Nebraska is changing. So is the University of Nebraska system, Lincoln Public Schools, other schools, the city, the country. There are new faces, new languages, diversity. It is time, said Southeast Community College Vice President Jose Soto, for the leaders and workers in local and state schools, governments, health care systems, criminal justice systems and businesses to change, too.

“The status quo is no longer an option,” he said.

Soto, speaking at the 10th annual conference on People of Color in Predominantly White Institutions, said Nebraska and its institutions and businesses need to follow New Jersey’s lead in requiring cultural competence — by law.

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Soto

Soto

As of this year in New Jersey, physicians are required to take cultural competency training to obtain or renew a medical license.

Cultural competence refers to a set of values, principles, behaviors, attitudes, policies and structures that enable people to work cross-culturally, according to the Center for Cultural Competence at Georgetown University.

People with cultural competence have the ability to value and adapt to diversity and understand the dynamics of difference in policy making, administration, practice and service delivery.

Soto said New Jersey’s law was a “very bold and progressive step,” and called on Nebraska legislators and other government, organization and business leaders to come up with similar expectations.

Accreditation and certification should include a requirement of cultural competency, Soto said.

If it was required of Nebraska educators, there would have been many more than 130 people registered for the conference, he said.

Employers should make proof of cultural competence a minimum requirement for employment, Soto said. And it should be an ongoing component of professional development.

Soto said there’s no doubt that cultural competency is needed in Nebraska.

* In 14 schools, students of color make of the majority of enrollment.

* In Lexington, estimates show 60 percent of the population is Hispanic/Latino. Classroom enrollment is 90 percent Hispanic/Latino.

* In 1990, 40 Hispanics lived in Crete. In 2004, that number was 913. By this year, the Hispanic population was expected to increase to more than 1,000.

* Hispanics make up the largest minority in the state with 119,975 residents, according to 2004 Census estimates.

* In LPS last year, students of color made up 19 percent of enrollment, up from 14 percent five years ago.

College participation by high school graduates in the state is decreasing, going from 75 percent in 1990 to 61 percent in 2000.

“We should be concerned, we should be alarmed about this,” Soto said.

Students who don’t make it to college are disproportionately students of color, he said. Institutions fail to connect with these students and they feel unwelcome, unwanted and unseen.

School districts, colleges and universities should recruit and retain people of color for their faculty and administrative positions, he said.

Higher education administrators and governance bodies need to also beef up curricula to ensure their graduates have exposure to cultural competence in their classroom experiences, he said.

Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.