Committee on Equal Opportunity
EQ.05.01 Annual Report for 2004-05
(Final - Information)
The Senate Committee on Equal Opportunity (EQ) is
responsible for developing, encouraging, and evaluating the development of equal
opportunity and affirmative action programs and guidelines that are intended to
increase the numbers, and improve the status, of minority groups in the
University community. A summary of issues concluded or considered at length by
EQ during the 2004-05 academic year is provided below.
Campus
Diversity
EQ.97.03, Climate for
Ethnic Minorities
I.
Asian American Perspective on Diversity The climate on campus for
Asian American students, faculty, and staff was addressed by inviting Dr. Kent
Ono (Director of Asian-American Studies) to meet with EQ. He identified several
concerns regarding representation of Asian Americans among faculty on campus and
made suggestions for improvement. For instance, Dr. Ono noted that there are
few Asian American faculty members in leadership positions on campus. In his
opinion, there has not been a concerted effort to hire Asian Americans for
faculty positions and to promote them into administrative roles. He suggested
that inclusion of Asian Americans as racial minorities for faculty recruitment
through TOPS would be constructive.
Another observation offered
by Dr. Ono pertained to the operational differences between the Asian American
Studies Program and the Asian American Cultural House. Currently, the former is
under the auspices of LAS and the latter is under the administrative oversight
of the Vice-Chancellor for Student Services. He posited that the administrative
separation of the two programs results in different and potentially conflicting
goals and agendas at times. Since both programs exist to improve campus life
for Asian American students, Dr. Ono felt that communication, coordination, and
cooperation between the two should be frequent and continuous. He felt that a
merger of the two programs should be considered in the future.
Dr. Ono indicated a desire to see continuous expansion
on diversity topics among general education courses on campus. In particular,
he feels that students across campus will benefit culturally and socially from
greater exposure to Asian American content. In addition, he would like to
develop an academic major for Asian American studies.
II. Fostering
Dialogue on Diversity Among Students
EQ is keenly interested in the type and number of
opportunities available for students from diverse backgrounds to interact and
learn from each other. We continued our exploration into opportunities for
dialogue on diversity by reviewing the university’s Program on Intergroup
Relations (PIR). Dr. Joycelyn Landrum-Brown, Coordinator of PIR, attended an EQ
meeting to describe the mission of the program. As part of the office of the
Dean of Student Services, PIR offers dialogue courses on a variety of topics
(e.g., gay/straight issues, Jewish/African American issues) for academic
credit. PIR attempts to balance topics across gender, race, religion, and
sexuality issues. Dr. Landrum-Brown noted that PIR teaches “dialogue” and not
“debate.” The aim is to create a safe and congenial forum for students to
exchange ideas, to dismiss stereotypes, to broaden cultural awareness, and to
develop mutual respect.
Dr. Landrum-Brown indicated
that PIR is part of a national research initiative on the educational effects of
intergroup dialogues. The project evaluates the effects of race and gender
intergroup dialogue courses at ten universities across the nation. Other Big
Ten participants include Michigan and Wisconsin.
III. Equal Opportunity and Fairness at
UIUC
To learn more about
programs with similar purposes and goals to EQ’s, we invited staff from the
university’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Access (OEOA) to meet with our
committee. Ms. Larine Cowan, Assistant Chancellor and Director of OEOA,
responded to our invitation and brought along Assistant Directors Pamela Pirtle
and Katherine Whitecloud-Craig. Ms. Cowan provided EQ with a general overview
of OEOA’s mission and objectives regarding the promotion of diversity,
collegiality, access to education and resources, and compliance with state and
federal laws governing inclusion and protection of civil liberties. According
to Ms. Cowan, OEOA is the campus’ primary source of training on diversity and
sexual harassment. In addition, Ms. Cowan indicated that OEOA would be
launching “diversity discussions” between students, faculty, and staff. OEOA
also offers guidance to campus administrators on issues related to the
recruitment and retention of minority faculty and on issues related to
affirmative action. For instance, Ms. Cowan noted that OEOA is a key proponent
of the TOPS initiative and a frequent advisor to Deans on the hiring process of
TOPS candidates. EQ requested and was provided the statistics for faculty
representation by race.
Ms. Pirtle is the grievance
officer at OEOA for matters concerning affirmative action, equal opportunity and
access, sexual harassment, and disability discrimination. She ensures
campus-wide compliance with federal laws such as the American with Disabilities
Act (ADA). Compliance is essential to help the university maintain federal
funding, including student loans and research grants. Although grievances are
naturally contentious, she indicated that OEOA strives to resolve differences
between parties through fairness and sensitivity to the grieving party. She and
Ms. Cowan applauded the central administration’s attitude to “do what is right”
when the university is found wrong as a result of a grievance investigation.
However, the university will defend itself against flagrant charges.
Ms. Whitecloud-Craig stated
that her responsibilities at OEOA include recruitment of Native American
students to the university. She noted that her task is complicated by the
resolutions in many Native American communities which discourage enrollment at
universities with Native American mascots. Ms. Whitecloud-Craig is coordinating
meetings between campus administration and Native American leadership from
across the country. These meetings have been delayed because of the transition
in leadership at the university and central campus. Ms. Whitecloud-Craig has
organized meetings of students on campus who have self-identified as Native
Americans. The meetings are part of her efforts to create cohesiveness among
the few Native American students at the university. In terms of student
recruitment, EQ suggested that she expand her coalitions to include minority
graduate student organizations in business, law, and health care.
IV. Perspectives by Interim Chancellor
Herman
The Chair of EQ wrote
Interim Chancellor Herman regarding the following two items: (1) status of the
establishment of a multi-cultural living and learning community for
undergraduate students and (2) the campus’ planned response to the North Central
Association’s (NCA) suggestion that the controversy surrounding Chief Illiniwek
interferes with the educational experience of students at our university.
Interim Chancellor Herman responded to the Chair’s letter in writing and
informed him that the new multi-cultural living and learning community had been
established by Housing. He indicated that Associate Provost Ruth Watkins has
worked closely with Housing on the creation of the dormitory environment and
that all stakeholders are pleased with the initiative. The purpose of the
community is to promote dialogue and understanding of diversity by assembling a
balanced ratio of students by gender and race in a living environment.
In terms of the NCA’s
report, Interim Chancellor Herman informed the Chair that he would instruct the
Senate President (Michael Grossman) to appoint a committee to conduct an
examination of the educational impacts of Chief Illiniwek. On behalf of EQ, the
Chair offered to serve as an objective reviewer of the process. Interim
Chancellor Herman and Senate President Grossman has appointed the Chair as an
Ex Officio member of a six person committee to investigate the possible
interplay between the controversy surrounding the Chief and the academic
atmosphere at the university. The committee has been given the charge to design
a study on the issue by the end of summer and conduct the study during the Fall,
05 semester.
As a result of an
invitation from the Chair, Interim Chancellor Herman also visited with EQ during
one of its monthly meetings. He shared his plans to increase minority
enrollment by implementing a minority recruitment and retention program called
Illinois Promise. The aim of the program is to assist economically
disadvantaged residents in the state attend UIUC free of charge. It is hoped
that many qualifiers for Illinois Promise will be minorities. He also explained
the reduction in enrollment of new minority students this year by acknowledging
some problems with admission reviewers, particularly in the Chicago metropolitan
area. In addition, he noted that minority enrollments are lower at major
universities across the country. Nonetheless, he restated his commitment to
ensuring that education at UIUC “reflects the face of society.”
Flexible Tenure-Track
Appointments
Senate President Michael
Grossman inquired with Chair Alston about the results of EQ’s faculty survey
concerning flexible tenure-track appointments. The Chair consulted with Dr.
Linda Beale, who is a former member of EQ and one of the key developers of the
survey and analyzers of faculty responses. The preliminary findings from the
survey were sent to Grossman and Chair Alston made a brief report to the Senate
Executive Committee. Senate President Grossman encouraged the Chair to proceed
with the initiative and perhaps submit a resolution to be considered by the
senate. Since the Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Women (CCSW) was a
collaborator on the faculty survey, Chair Alston informed Senate President
Grossman that he would consult with Dr. Kal Alston, Chair of CCSW. Dr. Kal
Alston accepted an invitation from EQ’s chair to meet with his committee, but
she requested attendance by Chair Alston at a monthly meeting of CCSW. Chair
Alston accepted the invitation.
As Chair of CCSW, Dr. Kal
Alston met with EQ and provided an update on her committee’s plans to proceed
with the question of flexible tenure-track appointments at UIUC. She informed
EQ of a national study being conducted and strongly suggested that UIUC
participate or at least monitor the results before formulating a policy
statement to forward to the senate. It was also agreed that other members of
the Senate Executive Committee (e.g., Academic Freedom and Tenure, General
University Policy) be asked to join the deliberations. In response to the
suggestion that another faculty survey should be administered, Dr. Kal Alston
recommended that our committees should evaluate the qualitative results from the
first survey before embarking on another survey. During Chair Alston’s visit
with CCSW, he participated with committee members in attempting to identify
major themes in the comments from the open-ended questions on the survey. EQ
and CCSW will continue to consult on the matter of whether the university should
create a flexible tenure-track appointment system for faculty. Numerous
questions about the parameters of such appointments require deliberation among
campus faculty prior to the presentation of a proposal to the senate.
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
Reginald Alston, Chair
Ryan Capps
Belden Fields
Gary Kesler
Guillermo Mendoza
Jacqueline Priego
Ellie Tewksbury
Tiffany White
