LAWSUIT
continued from page 1A
said. "Lawsuit settlements would not
be something we would normally
bring up."
Moseley said the new provost posi
tion was not created solely to come to a
settlement agreement with Wade,
adding that the University would not
have created a new position "out of
thin air."
"We wouldn't want this miscon
strued," he said.
But Wade said administrators "saw
no need for any such position," and
that it was his and his attorney's sug
gestions that eventually led to the
post's creation.
"The position came about as a result
... of the negotiated settlement of my
lawsuit," Wade said. "It was, I thought,
a grand idea. But it was a struggle."
Diversity concerns surface
Moseley said discussions about cre
ating a position to focus solely on cam
pus diversity began prior to the 2001
lawsuit, and the settlement was intend
ed to prove to Wade that the University
would follow through with its plans.
"(Wade) wanted assurance that we
were going to do that," Moseley said.
"And we intended to do that."
Moseley added that the settlement
did not expedite the process.
"Did the settlement make us move
faster? No," he said.
The issue of diversity grabbed the at
tention of University administrators in
May 1999, when up to 75 protesters
‘ invaded Johnson I lall demanding im
proved campus diversity. By the end of
the day, 31 protesters were arrested for
. refusing to leave the building.
University President Dave Frohn
mayer met with about 60 students ear
ly the next morning to form commit
tees to oversee policy changes. Student
interns were appointed to research di
versity issues and provide recommen
dations, Moseley said.
"We shared their concerns," Moseley
said. "We didn't really want this to be a
confrontational tiling."
Moseley said students concluded
that the University needed to hire
some sort of diversity-focused official.
Administrators later decided to hire
a consultant to provide further advice
on what the University needed to do to
successfully deal with diversity issues,
Moseley said. In July and October
2001, Western Michigan University
President Elson Floyd visited the Uni
versity to assess the school's racial cli
mate He completed his report in Feb
ruary 2002.
Wade said it was pressure from the
lawsuit that led the University to con
sult Floyd. Wade said he originally sug
gested the University retain a diversity
consultant during the mediation
process preceding the lawsuit, which
began in September 2000. He said ad
ministrators felt no need for such a
"grandiose process."
Court documents from the lawsuit
show that Wade and the University
awaited Floyd's findings before any
monetary settlement between the par
ties was discussed.
The report's first recommendation
was to "establish a new position of Vice
Provost for Institutional Responsive
ness (or Equity)" at the University.
In September 2002, a national
search for the new provost began.
The settlement's impact
ASUO Multicultural Center Pro
gram Adviser Steve Morozumi said the
lawsuit, combined with various other
pressures from campus community
members to improve diversity, proba
bly led to the post's creation.
'The status quo doesn't change un
less there's a will to change and there's
a pressure to exercise that will," he said.
But, he added, the administration
showed it wanted to address the is
sue by including the provision in the
settlement.
Office of Multicultural Affairs Direc
tor Carla Gary said her office and other
diversity divisions had been discussing
the need for a top diversity player for a
number of years, but she said adminis
trators didn't feel it was the appropri
ate time to take action. Still, Gary said,
University members continued to ad
vocate for the position.
"Decisions come when you're get
ting encouragement," she said.
Gary said it is possible that the law
suit put pressure on the administration
to establish the position. She said
sometimes lawsuits aren't about win
ning — they're about getting people to
realize the seriousness of an issue.
"1 don't know if it was the tipping
point," she said. "It would not sur
prise me."
Vincent said he feels the administra
tion's plan to create his position was
sincere. Vincent added that he would
have hesitated in accepting the job if he
thought it had only been created be
cause of legal requirements.
"I would have been very reluctant to
take the position," he said. "I get the
sense that people felt very enthusiastic
about this."
In addition to the creation of Vin
cent's position, the University and
Wade settled the lawsuit with the fol
lowing provisions:
• The University paid Wade's lawyer
$10,000;
• The University contributed
$98,500 toward Wade's Oregon Public
Employee Retirement System account;
• The University paid Wade
$114,537 in additional retirement
salary each year from 1997 through
2001;
• The University also agreed to fill
the position of Vice President for Stu
dent Affairs.
Contact the higher education/
student life/student
affairs reporter
atchelseaduncan@dailyemerald.com.
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