Diversity: Plan calls for faculty cluster hires
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strategic directives are intended
to address various aspects of the
University’s ethnic and cultural
diversity situation.
The faculty members who wrote
the open letter took issue with
“the Orwellian insertion of the
undefined political notion ‘cultural
competency’ into every aspect
of administration, teaching and
performance evaluation.”
Developing Cultural Competency
is one of the plan’s strategic direc
tives. The plan calls for faculty to be
evaluated on cultural competency
when seeking tenure and for instruc
tional faculty to participate in cultur
al competency-building training,
among other things.
But what “cultural competency”
entails is not well-defined in the doc
ument, said emeritus math professor
Richard Koch, one of the professors
who signed the open letter.
“I had not the slightest idea what
they were talking about,” Koch said.
He asked, for instance, whether
learning French would be consid
ered cultural competency.
The term was defined on the Uni
versity’s Center on Diversity and
Community’s Web site as “an active
process and ongoing pursuit of self
reflection, learning, skill develop
ment and adaptation, practiced at
individual and systems levels, in or
der to effectively engage a culturally
diverse population.”
“The document has to be exactly
precise about what it means,”
Koch said.
The draft was “all over the place,”
Koch added, saying that while there
are indeed many problems with
diversity related issues, the plan
must be more specific in laying out
how the University should tackle
these issues.
Physics professor N.G. Desh
pande, who also signed the
open letter, said he believes the
draft’s objectives are good, but
he also questions the “cultural
competency” component.
“About cultural competency, how
does one measure that?” he said,
adding that in the sciences he is not
sure how one would be required to
demonstrate this ability.
Deshpande said if faculty raises
and promotions are based on this as
pect that has not yet been well-de
fined, it may have a “destructive
effect on hiring.”
Jeffrey Hurwit, chair of the Uni
versity Senate Ad Hoc Committee on
Diversity, acknowledged the con
cerns of faculty members in a May
18 letter to Frohnmayer and Vincent
that was circulated to members of
the Senate, as well as deans, depart
ment heads and program heads.
“Some legitimately see these
recommendations as threats to aca
demic freedom,” reads the letter,
which goes on to urge the formation
of a group to review and
address feedback.
Vincent said in an interview Tlies
day that cultural competency is a
long-standing concept.
“This term had been around for
20 years; some very well-established
universities have used this,” Vincent
said, adding that any changes would
be introduced as a bill on the floor of
the faculty Senate, which would
then vote on the initiative.
“We always recognized ... that
anything that had to do with faculty
governance would have to go
through the faculty governance
structure,” he said. “It’s not the ad
ministration, and it’s certainly not
me, coming and saying that they
need to do this.”
The diversity work group is seek
ing feedback, Vincent said. The
existing draft would serve as
a “blueprint.”
Funding is another issue not men
tioned in the existing plan but is
clearly a concern when initiating
hiring processes and scholarships.
Another faculty member who
signed the open letter, associate
physics professor Stephen Hsu, said
while many professors endorse hav
ing more diversity on campus, the
plan would take away from more
pressing priorities such as faculty re
cruitment and retention.
“This plan would have diverted
significant funds (from the budget),”
Hsu said. He added that some parts
of the plan, such as recruiting 40
new faculty in cluster hires, seem
rather optimistic considering the
University’s fiscal realities because
it’s hard enough to retain the faculty
already here.
“It’s just a little odd to think that
we’d be able to have cluster hires,”
Hsu said.
Funding issues should be ad
dressed in the next stage of the
process to formalize a diversity plan,
Vincent said.
“What we didn’t want to happen
is to have some good ideas left on
the cutting room floor because
we’re a relatively cash-strapped or
ganization,” Vincent said. “We
wanted to get it out there. Now we
have to get to reality and recognize
that there are many competing
priorities on campus.”
Those who helped to create the
draft have reiterated that it is just
that: a draft.
Kimi Mojica, director of Diversity
Education and Support in the Office
of Student Life, was part of the work
group that drafted the plan. Mojica
said the creation of such a plan is a
lengthy process — drafts go out, in
put is given, and they are revised.
“1 didn’t expect a final docu
ment,” she said. “In reality I don’t
think you can get (everybody’s in
put) just once.”
ASUO Women’s Center Interim
Director Erin O’Brien said the cur
rent draft offers some concrete steps
for addressing diversity or a lack
thereof on campus.
“It puts forward a bold vision, a
broad definition of diversity,”
she said.
She said some of the recommen
dations such as hiring 40 new facul
ty in cluster hires and making facul
ty accountable for cultural
competency do not seem like
impossible tasks.
“I don’t think there’s anything
shocking (in the plan),” O’Brien said.
O’Brien said campus community
members have been given many
opportunities in the past to give
feedback on the plan. The Office of
Institutional Equity and Diversity
hosted several “Community Conver
sations” to seek input and feedback
from campus community members.
“I find it mildly ironic that they
are upset now,” she said, adding
that those calling for the Diversity
Work Group’s censure are a testa
ment of how unwilling the Universi
ty is to address diversity issues.
“I think that it’s been really frus
trating that after all we’ve put into it,
some people are vehemently oppos
ing it,” O’Brien said, adding that
those charged with drafting the plan
did the work on top of their other
responsibilities.
But Hsu said faculty were
not properly consulted in the
planning process.
“There was a problem with the
process that produced the docu
ment,” Hsu said, adding that while
there were open sessions, it is unfair
to think faculty members, who are
already so busy, would be able to
participate actively in these sessions.
He said the University Senate should
have been used earlier as a forum to
discuss the plan.
The plan had an advisory council
with nearly 50 members, some of
whom didn’t feel their role was
well-defined.
Alison Ball, who sat on the coun
cil, said there wasn’t time for the
council to give input on the draft in
between its completion and its re
lease to the public.
She added, however, that she un
derstood it was a working draft.
“We would always have a chance
for input, so I didn’t view this as a
one-time thing,” Ball said.
Vincent said most of the input
has been positive, but he’s sur
prised at some of the more pointed
criticism that diversity issues have
elicited recently.
“I think that’s where people are
really frustrated,” Vincent said.
“The response was a lot more
unprofessional than it should
have been.”
Some wonder what will happen
next with the plan, especially now
that Vincent has announced his de
parture to the University of Texas.
Koch said that he generally sup
ports the plan’s principles but that
the University must remember its
ultimate goal.
“The thing that I support for
the University is hiring the absolute
best people,” Koch said. “You have
to keep your eye on that ball above
all else.”
Mojica said she believes the Uni
versity administration and the rest
of the campus community are still
focused on the plan.
“We have been given this reassur
ance that the ball won’t drop,”
she said.
Deshpande said the University
should re-start the process with a com
mittee that is representative of faculty
from various fields on campus.
Koch said he feels the plan should
be revisited.
“As a first draft, it has many drafts
to go,” he said.
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