To: WSU Office for Diversity

From Abdulmalik Alothman

Date: 6/29/2016
Subject: Recommendation for Increased Cultural Diversity Programs

Purpose:
The purpose of the accompanying document is to explain the need for additional programs to
promote cultural awareness between Middle Eastern and American students at Washington State
University. The publication of this document is the result of extensive research in this field and
contributions toward developing greater awareness among the people of these groups. Cultural events
at American universities have a long history of making certain groups more visible and accepted in the
communities where they are living and studying. The chief goal of conducting this research is to
research ways to create a more inclusive campus environment where all students can feel safe and
accepted regardless of their culture, religion or location of national origin.
Summary:
This memo contains a review of some of the academic literature regarding multicultural
outreach to Muslim and Middle Eastern student populations and some examples of discrimination that
they have experienced as result of their religious beliefs or areas of national origin. Many media
resources from Western culture portray Middle Eastern people as backward, violent or prejudiced.
However, Middle Eastern students are a large part of many university communities and they contribute
a lot to the economies of the towns where they live. It will also present an explanation of different
accomplishments that can be obtained. Overall, the findings presented are those drawn from the
research that was conducted.
Introduction:
The problem of discrimination against students of Middle Eastern origin is well documented in
both American universities and in American society generally. This has, in some circumstances, created
a hostile environment for Muslim and Middle Eastern students that increases their difficulties in
adjusting to life in America. There are already many struggles and difficulties that Middle Eastern
students face because of differences in culture, location and daily routines. Collected together, they all
make people from the Middle East have a difficult time studying for their degrees. In addition, these
differences in culture sometimes bring out the racist prejudices of American people, who act
aggressively to the Middle Eastern students. It is clear from the established literature that these negative
views are caused by misunderstandings between different cultures.
For the last several years, American universities have made the focus of their efforts the
promotion of a diverse student population in order to correct the many years of discrimination that non-

white people have been suffering from against the United States. These programs have seen some
success, but in many cases they have served only to make people more aware of the problems. These
programs must be interacting if they are to have the best chances for success, which is the main focus
for our goals in this respect.
Attitudes toward the behaviors of outsiders are a challenge in every country. Wherever there are
cultural differences, there are cultural prejudices. These cultural prejudices make an extremely different
situation. The things that are lacking are the forces that cause people to mix together and get to know
each other even in a situation where there might be prejudice or other problem. However, there exist
many resources regarding the media portrayals of Middle Eastern people in American culture. In
addition, there is a substantial amount of organizations that are devoted to the providing services for
Middle Eastern students at American universities. Beyond this point, there is a large and growing body
of research about intercultural communication and its difficulties and consequences.
Research Methods
This section will explain the methods that were used to perform this research and the ways that
this improved the understanding of the issue and then contributed to the creation of the
recommendation at the end. The research methods included an extensive search of past literature on
this topic and a review of major news reports regarding the discriminatory behaviors that have been
exhibited toward Middle Eastern students at various American Universities. In addition, I spoke with an
anonymous member of the Middle Eastern Students Association at WSU. The situation was a relaxed
interview with a person I that I know, who preferred not to be directly used in the citation.
The research also included a short review of media reports relating to the discrimination against
Middle Eastern students. The largest profile of these was recent assaults and burglaries in Pocatello, ID,
a city that is in the same region as Washington State University.
In addition, I conducted a search of various resources provided through the Academic Journal
articles that are available on the WSU library website. Through these resources I was able to find some
empirical data about cultural programs that have been tried at other universities and how they might
contribute to implementing this type of system as WSU.
After obtaining these sources they were reviewed and brief notes were taken. An analysis was
done to examine the different aspects of these sources. After the analysis, some conclusions were found
about the topic.
Results
The results of the research clearly show a cultural and systemic bias against Middle Eastern
students in American society and culture. In addition, the results of the research show a clear upward
trend in the ability of the university system to accommodate the Middle Eastern students with their
culture and their ability to have cross-cultural experiences with the American students. The results are
in fact various and complicated.
It is clear from the review of the media reports that Middle Eastern students receive unfair
treatment and frequent discrimination from their American peers in some American universities. There
is a record of robberies, assaults and public harassment that is committed by the Americans against the

Middle Eastern students. The cause of this unfair treatment is not only in the unfair racism of American
society but also in the media portrayals of Arabic people in the American popular culture, which makes
the Americans feel that all Arabic people, Muslim people and Middle Eastern people share the same
qualities.
The roots of this systemic cultural discrimination against Middle Eastern students comes from
the process of Othering, which means creating any image of certain people in order to discriminate
against them. The Othering places these people outside of the inside group, which makes them easier to
target for hatred and discrimination. Othering is the result of a lack of awareness and the general
ignorance of a group against another.
Based on these unfair assumptions, the American people go to treating the Middle Eastern
people in these unfair ways. These ways cause hurt and harm to the Middle Eastern students. However,
this is largely because of media programming, and we can do our best to fix this issue by promoting
ross-cultural engagement.
Cross-cultural engagement activities such as the celebrations that are performed by the Middle
Eastern community at WSU have the ability to make non-Middle Eastern people have a greater
appreciation for the culture and society of the Middle Eastern people. According to the anonymous
source, there has been increasing interest in Middle Eastern activities in the last several years since they
have been done. Where previously, these events were mostly attended by Middle Eastern students, the
hard work of the students has led to more American students attending these events.
Research Limitations of the Study
The limitations of this study were mostly relating to the availability of data about these
programs. There is a large amount of data relating to the discrimination against Middle Eastern students
in American universities as well as a lot of data relating to the portrayal of Middle Eastern people in
American media and culture, but it is much more difficult to find studies of attitudes that change as the
result taking part in cultural activities. Some assumptions needed to be made that combined
information from other studies about other topics instead of directly relating to the effects of these
kinds of programs.
Conclusions
In short, it is clear that the racism of America cannot be fixed only by a certain cultural outreach
series of programs. However, it is possible that the situation can be made better if there is more mutual
understanding between the different kinds of people. The research clearly shows that there is a large
bias against Middle Eastern people that is gained from the portrayals of these people by the media
sources. These sources include films and television and their portrayals are too diverse to fully fix
using only traditional methods like the cross-cultural programs.
There has been a large amount of scholarly research showing the negative mental health effects
of discrimination and fear of discrimination. This is particularly stressful for Middle Eastern students,
many of them are away from home for the first time and for very long periods. These fears and events
lead to add stress which makes it difficult to sleep, study or relax. With these added difficulties, Middle
Eastern students may have a more difficult time completing their studies and achieving the grades that
they are capable of.

From the results of this study, it is clear to see that increased awareness of the Middle Eastern
community contributes to a better environment for these students at the WSU campus. Events such as
national holiday celebrations, cultural events/presentations and intercultural activities give a human
face to the Middle Eastern people that eliminates the negative stereotypes that are presented in the
media.
Another important conclusion is that the Middle Eastern students have a more difficult time
presenting their culture in the United States because in most of the places there is not a large immigrant
community from the Middle East with American-born children. Immigrants from Eastern Asia,
Southern Asia and Central America have a long and active presence all over the United States and
people of their group are represented in almost every place. Middle Eastern students do not have this
same kind of cultural visibility, so they need extra help and support in bringing awareness of their
culture to other students.
Recommendations
The recommendation that is reached as the result of this research is to conduct and
implementation of additional cultural outreach programs with the existing Middle Eastern students
association that are present at WSU. The university should work with cultural ministries of Middle
Eastern countries through the student groups in order to obtain funding,
There is already a community of Middle Eastern people here that can contribute to this type of
activities and will take their time to do these events with only a small amount of funding. In addition,
there is the possibility that the Saudi cultural mission can contribute funds for this type of intervention
activity.
Support and publicity should be given to these events, and they should be allowed to go for
many areas. The university plays an important role in promoting cultural awareness for the minority
students. Because of the atmosphere of great racism against the Middle East people all over American,
I think it is time that WSU made a commitment toward the change of this situation in order to make the
campus a more accepting environment to all of the other students who do not fit the standard American
way.
In many ways, Middle Eastern students are a more vulnerable group than other populations of
students. Unlike many other minorities in the United States, there is not a large population of
Americans descended from the Middle East in most areas of the country (as is the true with Chinese,
Mexican or other groups). For this reason, special care should be given toward creating a positive and
accepting environment for them on the American campuses. Also, the discrimination that they have
been experiencing demands immediate action on this topic.

Works Cited
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Amer, Mona M., and Bagasra, Anisah. "Psychological Research with Muslim Americans in the Age of
Islamophobia: Trends, Challenges, and Recommendations." American Psychologist 68.3 (2013): 13444. Web.
Bleich, Erik, Hasher Nisar, and Rana Abdelhamid. "The Effect of Terrorist Events on Media Portrayals
of Islam and Muslims: Evidence from New York Times Headlines, 19852013." Ethnic and Racial
Studies (2015): 1-19. Web.
Farfan-Cobb, Irma, and Lassiter, Linda E. "How National Foreign Language Week Promotes Cultural
Awareness at a Historical Black University." Foreign Language Annals 36.3 (2003): 397-402. Web.
McFarland, Cyndy. Amid Reports of Racism and Stabbing, Pocatello tells Muslims Theyre Welcome
Here. The Idaho State Journal. Apr. 17 2016
Saul, Stephanie. Muslim Students Report Burglaries and Hate Literature at Idaho State. The New
York Times. Apr 14 2016