TO: Executive Council, Faculty Senate
FROM: Faculty Women's Caucus
SUBJECT: Resolution of Censure
The present academic year marks a low point in progress toward the kind of institutional change necessary to improve race relations on our campus. In the last few months we have witnessed the Provost´s decision to disband the Commission on Racial Justice and Multicultural Education, a group established at the recommendation of two formal campus commissions, and with the support of the larger campus community.
At the same time, we are witnessing a search for an Executive Officer for Cultural Pluralism and Racial Equality which continues despite formal opposition from groups such as The President´s Commission on the Status of Women, The Faculty Women´s Caucus, and The Student Government Association. This opposition has been echoed by numerous faculty members, including many of those who teach in ALANA studies.
In addition, this academic year has been marked by a disturbing and immoral administrative silence as a response to the needs of the ALANA students. While students have used hunger strikes as a symbolic gesture with which to address racial problems in our midst, the President and Provost have refused to take swift and definitive action. This has led to national publicity, which is likely to compromise further future diversity on this campus.
We, the faculty, believe that the President and Provost have not exerted effective leadership in the area of race relations. The few decisions that have been made in this area have been characterized by a nearly complete abandonment of the values of collegiality and the results are reflected in the place we now find ourselves: matters of diversity have deteriorated still further, and the numbers of ALANA students and faculty remain painfully low.
Faculty participation in policy making and governance are at the heart of the history and functioning of the University of Vermont. The central administration´s methods of unilateral decision making and silence are unacceptable. It is for these reasons that we, the Faculty of the University of Vermont, officially censure the President and the Provost.
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