At the public’s first opportunity to critique the revised version of the University’s controversial Five-Year Diversity Plan, faculty, students and community members repeatedly raised a question of logistics: With a shrinking University pocketbook, how much will this mission for diversity cost?
Others questioned the morality of the plan. They suggested that hiring on the basis of diversity promotes prejudice because faculty would see others’ presence on campus as a result of the diversity plan, not necessarily their merits.
University President Dave Frohnmayer in March appointed the Diversity Advisory Committee, whose mission is to funnel suggestions and concerns from the campus community about the plan into formal suggestions to be submitted to the president’s office to make changes.
The committee, headed by Charles Martinez, the vice provost for institutional equity and diversity, includes students, faculty and community members. Campus community members voiced questions and concerns last week at three feedback sessions. More meetings will be held this week, with times and locations yet to be announced.
“This group’s charge, fundamentally, is to listen,” Martinez said. “We are so happy this is a packed room,” he said at the start of the Friday meeting, noting that the crowd of about 50 demonstrated the campus community’s interest.
Those who attended the meeting weren’t satisfied with just having the committee listen; they demanded answers. Martinez said the
Friday meeting wasn’t entirely representative of all views presented during the week, but the committee had consistently heard concerns about transparency of monetary resources.
“Many people have been asking for a long time, ‘How much has the University been spending on diversity?’” chemistry professor Michael Kellman said. “This is not rocket science. It is absurd to talk about a diversity program without having a line-item budget.”
Kellman, who was one of about 20 participants who asked about the costs, said there are critical needs of the University that are not currently being met, so in order to adequately measure the capabilities and needs of the plan, it must be balanced against costs of other essential programs, he said.
Martinez said the Diversity Executive Working Group, which made the revisions to the first draft, was not designed to determine costs, and that responsibility lies with the President’s office.
“It’s not a secret what we’re spending on diversity,” Martinez said, “and I understand the frustration, but when people say ‘What are we spending on diversity?’ I have to start with, ‘Well what counts?’”
He said many of the answers about resources will be discovered during the development of Strategic Action Plans that will be created by each department.
Chris Ellis of the Economics department challenged the logic of the plan and said the University is treating diversity as an achievable object. He said the University should focus its resources on helping youth of diversity succeed, which will inherently create more success within those groups.
“All we are doing is waving our hands and making a political statement,” he said, “and we are going to damage this institution by using the resources that way at this time.”
Kellman said faculty members should be hired based on their merits.
“We try to hire the best person, period. I don’t care what their race is, I don’t care about their ethnic background, I don’t care anything about them, except that they are the best person in their fields, and that they are the best person at teaching our students,” he said. “Anything else, as far as I’m concerned should not count, and if the University makes it a policy where this is going to count, then we need very serious scrutiny from the outside.”
Anne van den Nouweland, an associate professor of economics, said that using ethnicity, sexual orientation or political views as criteria for hire will foster feelings of prejudice.
“This person is never going to be able to shake loose from the impressions of outsiders that they were hired because they were (diverse),” she said. “In this way you end up damaging the people you are trying to help.”
The committee will take the next two weeks to hear more feedback and to formulate formal suggestions.
“People feel very passionate, and we need to listen to all of those voices.”

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