The University’s Diversity Plan has been through a lot over the past year, and it has finally – after much debate and discussion – reached a point where some actual leg work can begin. We have reached the phase where different colleges, schools and departments within the University are beginning to draft their own Strategic Action Plans for addressing the issue of diversity within their own ranks.
As a University, it was important to experience the year-long discussion that followed the first unvieling of the plan and led us to where we are today, but we are nearing a point where we can no longer wait for change. The University began creating the plan in 2004, and more than two years later it has reached a finishing point that kicks off a stretch of new and different work to be completed.
It is reasonable to expect the Diversity Plan to mandate that the specific and targeted guidelines for each department are created by the each department itself, because that’s where the Strategic Action Plans will have the greatest impact. However, the departments on campus need to act quickly and efficiently to draft their plans and they cannot expect the same time cushion that was given to the drafting of the campus-wide plan.
Departments also cannot afford to be sloppy. We encourage departments to lay the groundwork during the summer so that when more faculty and students return during the regular school year, departments can hit the ground running to make the process for change as effective and efficient as possible. Debate and discussion are crucial for a document that has such a widespread impact on students, but it should be done in a way that is efficient so that the plans can be approved and put into effect.
in a time frame much smaller than two years.