An administrative plan aimed at boosting the University of Vermont´s diversity was criticized Friday for not including ways to measure its success or failure.
About 100 people attended Friday´s UVM board of trustes committee meeting to talk about thc school´s missions and goals as well as diversity.
The administration´s plan could be the first campuswide effort in more than two decades to boost campus enrollment and employment of minorities. The school is embarking on this effort because it calls diversity the core of a quality education.
But several people questioned whether the administration is committcd to sccing thc plan put in place and whether measureable goals were built into the proposal. Several people noted stagnant or declining enrollment numbers for minority students and some segrnents of the minority faculty.
Last fall, about 5 percent of the school´s 10,230 students were minorities. UVM´s roughly 2,700 faculty and staff payroll is about as diverse.
Because these numbers have stayed about the same the past few years and are not likely to increase in the fall, Kathleen Manning, chairwoman of the Commission on Racial Justice and Multicultural Education, asked the trustees to hold the school´s feet to the fire and make sure this plan doesn´t end up collecting dust on a shelf.
In February, trustees asked the administration to develop a plan to increase diversity in all levels of the campus community.
The plan will review affirmative action and diversity programs, implement new programs and have officials give a status report with possible changes next year. The plan also calls for a review of the campus climate and how amenable it is to diversity.
UVM President Thomas Salmon said he is committed to putting the proposed plan in place. "There is a lot of anxiety over this issue at this place ... and there is a lot of anxiety on this board in its desire to move forward. But the only way to do it and do it right is to move forward under a plan," Salmon said.
Trustees Richard Dcnnis and Richard Tarrant asked for, and received, an assurance that the administration will outline a series of measurable goals to the trustees at their August meeting. "We, as a board, have got to have something that will allow us to determine if we have succeeded or failed," Tarrant said.
"We should have had that today," Dennis added.
A student asked if the university would pursue diversity as a matter of principle if federal affirmative action laws are watered down or eliminated. "Does this represent a moral and ethical commitment to affirmative action or is it just a lawful requirement?" asked Valentine Douglas.
Trustee Chairman Edward Zuccaro said the school had a moral commitment.
Near the end of the meeting, the African American tenured faculty, representing all minority faculty, asked the trustees to remove UVM´s policy statement on non-discrimination and its banner of being an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer until "such time as this is actually the case."
"Nearly 30 years ago, the UVM board of trustees passed a resolution exhorting the university´s administration and campus community to embark on efforts to bring about the representative diversity needed by an international research institution ... movement since that time has by and large been regressive," said professor Dolores Sandoval, as she read from a statement.
Dennis, in response to the faculty"s request, said the trustees would address the complaints raised in the group"s three-page statement in August.
"What is missing from this discussion on our part is the passion. We haven´t brought the passion into this discussion and we need to do that," Dennis said.
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