Despite an increase in the number of minority faculty and students at the University, some of the new voices on campus want to see the administration answer the question of how much progress has actually been made to attain long-term diversity objectives.Multicultural Center Director Erica Fuller, who took the newly created position this fall, said that while some improvements have been made, the University is still at least 25 years behind in preparing students for the reality of the world.
Fuller, whose came from the University of Florida, said curriculum is one of the biggest reasons the University is behind in offering a diverse learning environment. She said the University needs to examine successful diversity plans at other schools, including the University of California, Santa Cruz, that deal with concepts such as privilege and correlating race and gender with economics and politics.
“Santa Cruz is very similar to Eugene in its student activism, and its population make-up is also very white,” Fuller said. “They’re dealing with it effectively by educating and involving its general population in these tough discussions.”
Fuller was also critical of the current University multicultural requirements, which she said are vague and don’t completely expose students to multicultural issues.
Anne Leavitt, associate vice president for student affairs, said the curriculum has been strengthened with classes such as Judaic studies and ethnic studies. She added that professors and administrators re-examine course content to see if they are bringing multicultural perspectives to the courses.
“It’s one thing for faculty to hope they’re providing a substantial curriculum, but if students aren’t experiencing it, we need to know that,” Leavitt said.
But Fuller said in order for classes to truly offer multicultural perspectives, minority students and staff must be present, and so far this hasn’t been the case at the University.
“It’s one thing to know that there are diverse people in the world, but it’s something entirely different to actually have them sitting next to you in class and being able to socially interact with them,” she said. “You have to have people here that live these issues day to day so that it’s not an abstract notion, but a living experience.”
Carla Gary, director and advocate of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, said one of the most difficult parts of providing a diverse learning environment is approaching “discomforting” race issues in class. She said that many students and faculty don’t want to talk about these topics because they don’t know how to engage in that kind of conversation.
“It’s not always the questions that are asked in class; it’s the questions that aren’t asked,” she said. “Skin privilege is still a trump card, and we have to be prepared to engage in really hard, hurtful dialogue. Getting out of our comfort zone is uncomfortable … But if we allow students to graduate who are technically competent and culturally unconscious, we will have failed them.”
The University’s diversity goals have included a focus on minority recruitment and retention. According to Leavitt, the administration is putting more than $1 million into scholarships specifically to enhance diversity and spending $500,000 in recruitment and retention activities for faculty of color.
Taking the proactive approach
But Fuller said that while recruitment is extremely important, the climate needs to change before minority teachers and students will even want to be at the University.
“It is about going out there and getting the students, but when you get to them, what are you going to tell them about the University of Oregon?” Fuller said. “How are you going to get them to leave their safe environment to come here?”
Mark Tracy, assistant dean for diversity programs, came into his position last summer from Ohio. He agreed that the University atmosphere and reputation need to improve before recruitment of minority staff and students will be successful.”I think traditionally, the University has not been an environment that has been 100 percent supportive to students and faculty of color,” he said. “I haven’t been here that long, but from what I’ve learned, the University hasn’t done everything they need to do to keep that faculty here.”
Tracy added that because of Oregon’s general lack of diversity, the University is at a disadvantage because it has to compete with the more diverse cities nationally, where minority students are more likely to attend. He said that because of this, the University needs to take a proactive approach to recruiting and keeping minority faculty.
Fuller also said that one of the biggest obstacles standing in the way of moving forward is the average student’s indifference to diversity.
“I don’t think the average student thinks [diversity] is a priority, and that’s what I think is sad,” she said. “That’s again where I feel the University is a bit behind. If the issue is invisible, then it’s not an issue at all.”
Tending to the goals
Fuller added that if the administration created a fact sheet that stated goals and accomplishments more clearly, then the University’s progress would be more measurable.
“I feel like the administration itself needs to show us what they’ve done in the last 25 years and what improvements they’ve made,” she said. “In my mind, visually there are some differences [because] the MCC exists and my position exists … but it’s a minimal investment … If the president would state ‘these are our goals, this is when they’re going to be done,’ then there’s some accountability there. We’d have concrete goals to work toward.”
Leavitt agreed with Fuller that if the administration documented all the steps that have been taken, their efforts would be more obvious to students and faculty.
“From where I sit, in the last 17 years we’ve made so much progress in so many little ways. But students are only here for a few years, and they want to see change fast,” Leavitt said.
Leavitt mentioned a few of the specific plans underway. The administration will add an additional staff member to the Teaching Effectiveness Program, which helps guide teachers to incorporate diverse perspectives in all subjects and classroom discussions. The administration also plans to increase staffing support in the Office of Multicultural Affairs, establishing a President’s Planning Committee on the University Diversity Institute and creating the Bias Response Team, a group that provides support to students who have experienced bias because of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or any other quality that could single them out.
Chicora Martin, who became the new director of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Educational and Support Services in August, said she believes that although a lot of work needs to be done, the administration has been working in the right direction. She said the new Bias Response Team is a good example of how the University is moving ahead and making changes.
“The Bias Response Team is a part of a big policy step,” said Martin, who left Florida State University to work at the University of Oregon. “When people come into my office and ask what we’re doing, I can honestly tell them what our goals are and what we’re doing to make it real.”
Leavitt said she recognized that although specific objectives are helpful in pushing the University forward in accomplishing its diversity goals, these plans will never be completely finished.
“I like Erica’s challenge to us, and I like the impatience our students have, because it makes us work harder,” she said. “I’ve heard Erica say that diversity isn’t something you pick up and put down — you have to live it. If we’re going to live it, we have to be challenged daily … This diversity challenge is in front of us all the time, never allowing us to think we’ve gotten there because we always need to keep going.”< /p>