While diversity has been a foremost concern for many universities for more than two decades now, some recent studies suggest that many of the ambitious goals set have not been reached, leaving the success of these programs in question. With an issue as complex as institutional diversity, it is not surprising that the accomplishments of such programs depends on whom one asks.
The Chronicle of Higher Education recently reported that the Committee for a Multicultural University at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, a watchdog group that does not report to the university's administrators, released a report saying that the university has not met goals for diversification set 20 years ago. The Chronicle reported that the group's report said, "Claims of increasing diversity have, in recent years, actually camouflaged its true picture."
The committee's report found that though the university made significant advances toward diversification in the first years of their initiative, recent practices have simply maintained a consistent level of diversity without growth. "If we don't change this thing around, we are not going to have a second generation of black faculty to replace people like me," Billy Joe Evans, an emeritus professor of chemistry at the University of Michigan, told reporters.
The Chronicle also reviewed plans put forward by other universities such as Harvard University, Virginia Tech, Duke University, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, as well as the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. In the past 20 years, these schools adopted some of the most ambitious plans for institutional diversity, but, like at Michigan, these other universities have struggled with effectively accessing progress.
"This is not an issue that is going to be resolved by one initiative," Peter Lange, Duke University provost, told reporters. "It requires a lot of vigilance. If you take your eye off the ball, you run the risk that you'll fall behind."
Richard Jefferson, executive director for the Office of Institutional Diversity at Boston College, works with his staff of four to improve the situation for diversity at BC, quantitatively and qualitatively. The office, formerly referred to as the Office of Affirmative Action, underwent a series of changes in 2004 that included the instatement of Jefferson first as interim, then as executive director.
"We went through a change in our program that began in 2004. … We expanded the scope of the programs," Jefferson said. He said the office had previously been concerned with issues of government regulation, ensuring that the University conformed to the guidelines for diversity and affirmative action as set forth by the government, which the office still manages.
Additionally, the office submits a report every year demonstrating the University's percentage of minorities' employment within certain subsets of the University work force. These percentages are compared to similar subsets in the broader work force outside the University, and if the office finds University numbers to be lagging, goals must be set to make up for the difference.
Yet, Jefferson said, these initiatives do not ensure that the numbers will ever be equal. Legislation requires that universities make, "Good faith efforts to reach that goal," Jefferson said.
"There are not quotas and it's not the real strong hammer that people think is there," Jefferson said. "It's good in a way, but it's also a challenge." Instead, Jefferson said that the goal is to foster a climate that will make the best of diversity.
"A diverse environment by itself can be good or bad," he said. "It's not enough to bring a number of faculty and students of color here. If you just bring people here and if you bring them to a toxic environment … you won't have productive people."
He said that he has seen efforts for diversity fail in the University because of unfriendly environments. An environment that is diverse will not necessarily be productive, and will sometimes fail outright. "We've seen it happen in some areas," Jefferson said.
As to the environment for faculty as it stands today, Jefferson said, "It depends on where you are that it is more or less welcoming. … I think we're making improvements across the University regarding the climate. It's a tough job."
Jefferson said the cultivation of a better climate for diversity has become the foremost consideration for his office, particularly since it began restructuring four years ago. The previous office was fairly limited in its mission, he explained; except for government compliance, it occupied itself for the most part with programs devised as the need for them arose.
"We've put some structure in place that wasn't there before," Jefferson said. The office developed a Diversity Steering Committee, which guides the office's efforts, as well as a Diversity Advisory Committee composed of students, faculty, and staff that meet two to three times a semester to discuss contemporary issues of diversity on campus. Jefferson said that these two committees help to shape diversity priorities across the University.
Jefferson said that two and a half years ago the office put out an employee survey. The participation rate was about 50 percent and produced what Jefferson said was a huge amount of data. This data has helped in the creation of seven key initiatives that guide the University's current efforts toward institutional diversity. These initiatives include a program called Focus on Leadership, recruitment and retention, investigations into performance management, an exploration of diversity and the Jesuit mission, an effort to strengthen relationships with faculty minority groups, an effort to measure progress made in more comprehensible ways, and a program called Focus on Respect.
"One of the things that we're really trying to do is see how we can take those initiatives … and drive them down into the way departments across the University do their work," Jefferson said. Part of this will be efforts to "develop a plan for that area that will meet their needs and hold them accountable for what they do," he said. One of the office's themes has been to stress how it is not just its responsibility to foster productive diversity, but rather that of the whole University.
Jefferson also said that the office has made recent efforts to reach out to the Office of AHANA students and find more ways to involve AHANA students in their work. "We need to get more involved in looking at student needs," Jefferson said. To that end, he is meeting today with AHANA representatives to discuss a new program focusing on the spiritual growth of AHANA students. "We take that seriously to be a diversity issue," Jefferson said.
"One of the things we have not done is really be clear about how we want BC to look in five or 10 years," Jefferson said. "It's really becoming clear to some of us that we need to do that. … We haven't grown in the way we would like."
For the most part, Jefferson is hopeful regarding the work he and his office are doing for the University. "Things do change very slowly," he said.
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