The year may be 2000, but at least one person on campus thinks the University hasn’t left the mid-1970s in regards to offering a diverse enough environment for teaching and learning.
“The University of Oregon does not represent the rest of the world and my concern is that the students are not getting their money’s worth in terms of a well-rounded education,” Multicultural Director Erica Fuller said.
Fuller said that the University administration uses the term “diversity” to deal with specific issues and individuals, instead of approaching it as a far-reaching concept. Besides that, Fuller added, the time for the University to be on the same page as the rest of the world has long passed.
Diversity, she said, is “not something to be discussed anymore, it’s something that exists and now it’s about preparing for the reality of the world and the University of Oregon is about 25 years behind in that reality.”
Fuller, whose most recent work in this field was at the University of Florida, started at the MCC in mid-July. Mark Tracy, assistant dean for diversity programs, and Chicora Martin, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Educational and Support Services, also arrived at the University within the past two months and the trio’s perception of the administration’s dedication to multiculturalism is not a positive one. However, they are not shying away from the challenge of slaying the past.
“It’s not going to be a one-step, one-shop solution,” Tracy said. “It’s not like you can go to the store and pick out the black problem, buy it and then it will be solved. It’s not like we can go get a black professor, a black administrator and a black coach and then, now we’re diverse and the black situation is dealt with.”
Tracy, who came to Oregon from Ohio in mid-July, also stressed that addressing the idea of privilege at the University is crucial to tackling and solving these problems. He said that administrators and the majority culture tend to want convenient definitions when confronted with discussions about diversity.
“Breaking down those majority privileges is not going to be a fun and easy experience,” he said. “It’s going to be a somewhat painful experience, because we’re going to have to step back and say ‘Why do I need to change?’”
University President Dave Frohnmayer acknowledged that there is a lot of work to do on diversity, but he said there has been decades of work directed at changing the campus climate and the next step is to broaden the base of people working on achieving that goal.
“Students are growing up in a more diverse world than any other experience in American history,” Frohnmayer said. “Although Oregon has been relatively homogeneous ethnically and culturally, that is changing very rapidly and we need to be ahead of that.”
Part of that diverse world is the multi-dynamic aspect of students, said Martin, who left Florida State University in mid-August to take the LGBTESS position. She wants to look at cross-sections within the different minority groups on campus, so that a student who may be, say black and gay, won’t feel compartmentalized into one group or the other when seeking resources on campus.
Any steps taken in creating that “multi-dynamic” student have to go beyond just accepting and discussing diversity, she said.
“It means promoting programs and encouraging students and faculty and staff to celebrate what makes us different, but inherently that binds together, because we are a unique community,” Martin said.
Part of being able to celebrate diversity, however, means having enough of a diverse population to join in the party, not always an easy feat to pull off, especially at this University, Fuller said. The administration does not put forth the resources, either monetarily or in terms of people, she said, to recruit students to the University and then keep them here.
The University’s philosophy on recruiting minorities is that any administrator can handle the task, Fuller said. It’s not that simple in her opinion, however.
“Yes, in a Kumbaya world, then yes, everybody can recruit, but that’s not where we are right now,” Fuller said. “We need people — plural — to focus on minorities. Plus, they’re only focusing on Oregon students. There is no money for attracting minorities from outside of Oregon.
“These are basic concepts, basic ideas that the University of Oregon has been talking about for years and years and years and years, but they’re not taking any action and they’re not putting any money behind the mouth.”
Vice President for Public Affairs and Development Duncan McDonald said that the University has just about tripled the number of scholarships available to all students over the past five or six years. But, using federal monies toward increasing diversity on campuses has to be handled delicately, because of a few recent court rulings on race-based scholarships in certain states, with Georgia being one of the most recent ones.
“The difficulty is always saying ‘here is a scholarship for one specific group,’” he said. “You’re flirting with danger.”
McDonald said that several scholarships from U-Lane-O Credit Union — more than two dozen University students received the $4,000 gifts last fall — went to minority students. In addition, McDonald said that another way the University helps minority students is to match their particular needs with potential financial donors.
He said that although the University does work to increase diversity on campus, those actions may not always be enough.
“It’s a consistent goal and a persistent need,” he said.
But just having a more diverse population on campus isn’t the panacea either, Martin said. The entire issue is complex with no single remedy, but part of the solution is preparation.
“We’re trying to prepare students to go out into the world and be ready to interact with their colleagues and with their patients if they’re a medical student or with their clients if they’re an attorney,” she said. “And we want them to realize that they leave the institution not as students but they leave it as citizens of a greater population and that population includes people that they may not see every day.”
Students will leave campus eventually, and Tracy questioned whether the University is producing “marketable students,” ones capable of succeeding in a more diverse world than the University offers.
“It’s about having an education that gives you the opportunity to engage in conversation and to be somewhat educated about another person’s basic cultural background, ideas and concepts,” he said. “International boundaries are dissipating quickly … and we as an institution need to embrace that.”
While making students feel more comfortable in international settings can be seen as a long-term goal, making minority students feel safe on the University campus is one that needs to be dealt with right away, Martin said. She pointed to the November ballot measure written by the Oregon Citizens Alliance — Measure 9, which would eliminate discussion about homosexuality in schools that receive public funding — as one example of a “hostile environment.”
“There’s always groups that we’re going to be in conflict with,” she said. “But what a student sees is ‘I’m not welcome here. There are groups of people that don’t value my experience or my existence or my issues and topics being talked about.’
Martin and Fuller each talked about how their two program offices, located in the EMU basement, can be seen as “safe places” for minority students. Still, the pair plan on doing a good amount of reaching out to the majority groups on campus to educate and inform.
“I think that’s part of what we do and we’re doing some of that outreach because we’re in a position where we can stand up for those people who aren’t strong enough to do that for themselves,” Martin said.
Whether it’s a first-year minority student needing reinforcement that they have value as individuals
or a fourth-year student who wants that extra insight into a different culture before leaving campus, Tracy recommended that students take advantage of whatever possibilities are available.
“College is such a great opportunity … to step out of your box and step out of your environment, and experience something new,” he said, listing events such as Gay Pride Day or , but adding that attendance at more than one event throughout the year is needed to get a more complete picture.
And that complete picture is what Tracy, Martin and Fuller plan on beginning to paint at the University this year. But, they are keeping their obligations in perspective.
“We are not here to do the administration’s job,” Fuller said. “I’m here to help the administration do what they are already supposed to be doing, but I’m not going to do it for them.
“We are here to help the administration serve the students and it is the administration’s job to make the University diverse.”
However, that challenge is one that Frohnmayer said will be met through collaborative endeavors.
Diversity will be improved with “a combination of student and faculty efforts,” he said. “It doesn’t just rest on administration — everyone has to see it as a separate part of their experience.”
Leaders broaden diversity plan
Daily Emerald
September 17, 2000
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