OUS Budget
continued from page 1
ture to support the planned improve
ments in engineering. He said the
drive to join the ranks of the top engi
neering schools will take time, but it is
an attainable goal.
“This is a gradual process,” he
Diversity
continued from page 1
hind in offering a diverse learning
environment. She said the Univer
sity needs to examine successful di
versity plans at other schools, in
cluding 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 Eu
gene in its student activism, and its
population make-up is also very
white,” Fuller said. “They’re deal
ing with it effectively by educating
and involving its general popula
tion in these tough discussions.”
Fuller was also critical of the cur
rent University multicultural re
quirements, which she said are
vague and don’t completely expose
students to multicultural issues.
Anne Leavitt, associate vice pres
ident 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-ex
amine course content to see if they
are bringing multicultural perspec
tives to the courses.
“It’s one thing for faculty to hope
they’re providing a substantial cur
riculum, but if students aren’t expe
riencing it, we need to know that,”
Leavitt said.
But Fuller said in order for classes
to truly offer multicultural perspec
tives, minority students and staff
must be present, and so far this has
n’t been the case at the University.
“It’s one thing to know that there
said. “It is something for all the insti
tutions that will take time. There are
no overwhelming sorts of impacts
until we’re going into the second bi
ennium or the third biennium.”
Anderes said it will be up to the
individual schools to raise the pri
vate funding through donors, schol
arships, tuition and fees, and re
search grants.
Computer and information sci
ence department associate profes
sor Virginia Lo said her department
is “very excited about getting more
resources from the state.”
She said the department has al
ready received a $1 million research
grant from the National Science
Foundation and a grant from Intel
Corp. for more classes and a new lab
in Klamath Hall. The grants will
help fund the department’s work in
studying how to ensure quality au
dio and video broadcasts over the
Internet, as well as its joint studies
with the biology department in us
ing the Internet to aid genetic re
search.
The most important impact of
the investment plan, Lo said, is
that it will provide the funds for
desperately needed faculty.
“We really need more faculty in
our department because the de
mand for computer science majors
has just exploded,” she said.
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 social
ly 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 liv
ing experience.”
Carla Gary, director and advocate
of the Office of Multicultural Af
fairs, said one of the most difficult
parts of providing a diverse learning
environment is approaching “dis
comforting” race issues in class. She
said that many students and faculty
don’t want to talk about these top
ics 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 real
ly hard, hurtful dialogue. Getting out
of our comfort zone is uncomfortable
... But if we allow students to gradu
ate 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. Accord
ing to Leavitt, the administration is
putting more than $1 million into
scholarships specifically to en
hance diversity and spending
$500,000 in recruitment and reten
tion activities for faculty of color.
Taking the proactive approach
But Fuller said that while recruit
ment is extremely important, the
climate needs to change before mi
nority 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 di
versity programs, came into his po
sition last summer from Ohio. He
agreed that the University atmos
phere and reputation need to im
prove before recruitment of minori
ty staff and students will be
successful.“I think traditionally, the
University has not been an environ
ment that has been 100 percent sup
portive 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 Ore
gon’s general lack of diversity, the
University is at a disadvantage be
cause 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 stu
dent’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 Univer
sity is a bit behind. If the issue is in
visible, then it’s not an issue at all.”
Tending to the goals
Fuller added that if the administra
tion 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 it
self 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 account
ability 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,” Leav
itt said.
Leavitt mentioned a few of the
specific plans underway. The ad
ministration will add an additional
staff member to the Teaching Effec
tiveness Program, which helps
guide teachers to incorporate di
verse perspectives in all subjects
and classroom discussions. The ad
ministration also plans to increase
staffing support in the Office of Mul
ticultural 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, sexu
al orientation or any other quality
that could single them out.
Chicora Martin, who became the
new director of Lesbian, Gay, Bisex
ual, Transgender Educational and
Support Services in August, said
she believes that although a lot of
work needs to be done, the adminis
tration has been working in the right
direction. She said the new Bias Re
sponse 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 diver
sity 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.”
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