UMass Amherst
Research: Office of the Vice Provost
 

 

Press releases

 

 March 11, 2005

 

SPECIAL COMMISSION ON CAMPUS DIVERSITY PRESENTS REPORT, RECOMMENDATIONS TO UMASS AMHERST CHANCELLOR

AMHERST, MASS. – The special Commission on Campus Diversity at the University of Massachusetts Amherst today delivered a comprehensive report to Chancellor John V. Lombardi, completing a four-month assessment that features 15 major recommendations.

The Commission, chaired by Orlando Taylor, officially submitted its report, titled “Diversity and Inclusion at UMass Amherst: A Blueprint for Change.” Lombardi appointed the 23-member commission last fall in the wake of racial unrest in the minority student community. Minority students were particularly concerned about a recent incident that involved photographs of student leaders posing in front of a cartoon of a Ku Klux Klan figure that mocked students of color. Referring to that incident and others, Lombardi said he was “seriously concerned about the effectiveness” of the university’s current approach on diversity issues and wanted expert guidance.

The complete report, as well as statements from Taylor and Lombardi, can be found on this site.

Taylor said the report places in context the diversity issues faced at UMass Amherst with similar issues faced by many, if not most, of the nation’s leading research universities. Among the Commission’s recommendations is a call for strategies to reverse the decline of underrepresented minority students as well as to significantly increase the diversity of faculty. Citing the absence of a coherent plan and a coordinating unit to achieve full racial and ethnic inclusion, the Commission called for the appointment of a “senior-level administrator with adequate staffing, budget and resources to report directly to the Chancellor to review and coordinate all diversity and inclusion activities.”

The Commission was particularly concerned, Taylor said, that a number of previous bodies were appointed to address diversity issues at UMass Amherst; none of those efforts has been able to sustain the changes required to make the university a teaching, learning and research institution that is welcoming for all students.

In its findings, the Commission observed, “It is essential that UMass Amherst fully embrace its responsibility to educate students on matters of diversity, to help give them the experiences and the preparation they need to welcome and appreciate difference and to live and work productively in a diverse society. Yet it is clear that UMass Amherst through the years has deeded over to students some of these essential responsibilities — responsibilities that need to be assumed by the Amherst campus as a part of its core mission.”

The Commission, Taylor said, held interviews and received testimony from almost 100 students, faculty, administrators, staff, alumni and others in the university community. The report noted that, “While quantitative data on diversity and inclusion are summarized in appendices to this report, these data do not reveal the climate of distrust that exists on the Amherst campus, nor the depth of the pain and passion voiced by many students, faculty, staff and alumni when they speak of their experiences as racially or ethnically isolated members of the campus community.”

At the same time, the Commission cited the leadership of UMass Amherst on diversity issues in the early 1970s and indicated that the campus now has an opportunity, through the implementation of the current set of recommendations, to recapture its national reputation on these issues to benefit the people of  Massachusetts. It also noted positive aspects and promising practices on campus. “The Commission applauds the firm commitment of the Chancellor and the Provost to support an enhanced diversity program. The Commission also notes the positive work being done by some units across UMass Amherst, such as the Community, Diversity and Social Justice Initiative (CDSJ).”

The report also noted the challenge “posed by recent rounds of brutal budget cuts,” observing that a reduction of 25 percent over three years “cannot fail to impact the campus severely.” The Commission, however, emphasized that “diversity and inclusion are so essential to the core mission of the Amherst campus that it must find or raise the financial resources necessary to support its efforts on matters related to diversity.”

The Commission’s major recommendations include:

    • Appoint a senior-level administrator with adequate staffing, budget and resources to report directly to the chancellor to review and coordinate all diversity and inclusion activities.
    • Establish an advisory council for the proposed senior diversity official consisting of individuals from a cross-section of the university community to assist in planning and assessing diversity and inclusion goals, policies and programs.

    • Restructure the administrative organization to enhance the achievement of inclusion and diversity goals, including the assignment of increased responsibility and oversight by the provost’s office in pursuing such goals, particularly those relating directly to academic functions such as student advising.

    • Establish a planning and assessment process to govern undergraduate and graduate enrollment management with particular attention paid to reversing the decline of minority students.
    • Restructure and improve academic advising services so they become more available and effective for all students, and sensitive to the unique issues and concerns of students of color.
    • Redefine and restructure ALANA support programs, including ALANA Honors. Programs should be supported in terms of budget and FTEs, and should provide the following services: mentoring and advocacy for students with such offices as the bursar, financial aid, career services, housing, public safety and counseling. [ALANA programs support African, Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Native American students.]
    • Restructured support programs should work in strict cooperation and collaboration with academic and student affairs units to supplement and enhance, as appropriate, the services of existing programs in tutoring, new student orientation, recruitment and outreach.
    • Launch a systematic and coherent drive to reverse the current decline of faculty and administrators of color.
    • Increase accountability and incentives for deaneries, departments and administrators to establish and implement benchmarks, targets and assessment procedures to govern diversity efforts.
    • Review, assess and strengthen, as needed, the general education requirement and courses within majors for undergraduate and graduate students to enhance their knowledge of and competence in diversity and inclusion topics.
    • Review, assess and strengthen, as needed, opportunities for staff, administrators and faculty to acquire the sensitivities and competencies required to meet the unique needs of racially and ethnically diverse students.

    • Require all members of the campus leadership community to develop plans to intensify and assess efforts to achieve an improved climate for enhancing diversity and inclusion within their areas of responsibility.

    • In full recognition of serious budgetary challenges, UMass Amherst must find or raise the funds necessary to provide the structures, educational experiences and infrastructures required to address the academic and campus climate issues contained within this report.
    • Establish a regularized and annual process for assessing the progress toward the achievement of inclusion and diversity goals by a body similar to the current commission, with the expectation that an annual written report and recommendations be provided directly to the chancellor.
    • Student voices should be valued and the integrity of student government and its agencies respected in the pursuit of diversity and inclusion goals.

The Commission stated in the conclusion of its executive summary that it “wants the readers of this report to understand that the overriding goal of our exhortations and recommendations is to help UMass Amherst enable students of color and indeed all students to be comfortable and to achieve within the rich context of culturally diverse, effective and socially just learning communities appropriate to what will be required for them to live and work successfully in the 21st century.” It is recommended that an assessment of the progress toward implementation of the recommendations be conducted in 12 to 18 months.