Credit: Max Blodgett
Despite outlining a plan of action to promote “community in diversity” in September, only some of the suggestions made by last year’s Diversity and Inclusiveness Initiative Workng Group have been adopted by University officials, with others seeing little recent progress.
A suggestion made by the Academic Working Group to add a two-course diversity requirement to the University’s undergraduate general education, which recieved a mixed reception from the student body, has yet to be implemented.
“We recognize this is an ambitious goal and we have confidence that faculty and administrators working together with student leaders can be effective in addressing the key questions and issues,” President John DeGioia and Provost James O’Donnell wrote in a September email addressed to the University community.
Earlier this week, O’Donnell wrote in an email to the Voice that the diversity requirement will not be in place next year, but the “discussion continues.” According to Marjory Blumenthal, associate provost for academic affairs, the establishment of a diversity requirement will most likely not occur until after the University is reaccredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools in late 2012.
The Academic Working Group also recommended hiring more faculty members in the African-American studies program, and according to Professor Maurice Jackson, who is involved in the process, the search is close to being fulfilled.
“We’re interviewing people who are in the final pool,” Jackson said. “They’ll start coming to campus very soon.”
Some recommendations made by the Admissions and Recruitment Working Group may have also led to changes. DeGioia and O’Donnell claimed that the changes, which included an advisory group on diversity for the Dean of Admissions, a college prep program for students from Cristo Rey high schools, and help offered to student-run groups, such as GAAP and Blue & Gray, have potentially promoted the diversity of the student body.
“Since last winter, much progress has been made, perhaps contributing to the significant increase in African American students who accepted our offer of admission into the Class of 2014,” DeGioia and O’Donnell wrote.
However, Ryan Wilson (COL ’12), who co-chaired the Admissions and Recruitment Working Group, thinks that more still needs to be done.
“I know the numbers look better for this year,” Wilson said. “[But] having them in the pool isn’t enough … The recommendations were geared toward winning those students and a lot of those recommendations haven’t been implemented.”
The third working group, on student life, suggested the renewal of A Different Dialogue, a program that brings students together for discussions on diversity. This semester, A Different Dialogue plans to host casual discussions about gender, social class, and religion.
“The facilitators have a syllabus that we use as kind of a guide,” Aeriel Anderson, a facilitator for A Different Dialogue on gender and the Center for Multicultural Equity and Access’s program coordinator, said. “We want the process to be organic.”
According to Anderson, student interest in the program has existed since it began in Spring 2010. Last semester, each dialogue drew approximately 10 to 14 students; participation is about the same this semester.
Despite some of the changes, Wilson remains cautious about the progress made so far with respect to admissions and recruitment.
“We have to get re-energized about making this happen,” he said. “These recommendations were approved by the President and the Provost … We’re in the next phase now, which is about implementation.”
