Comprehensive Strategy for Achieving Diversity
and Multicultural Education at the University of Vermont

As an educational institution, our primary mission is to provide quality education for our students. In today´s global economy, and in a country as diverse as the United States, interactions with people from various cultures, races, religions, and perspectives is inevitable. To prepare our students for this changing world, we must provide them with the skills and knowledge necessary to interact positively with people unlike themselves.

We believe every student at the University of Vermont should:

• Acquire knowledge of the diverse cultures, communities, and histories that comprise the United States society;
• Connect this knowledge to a continuing engagement with democratic ideas and aspirations;
• Develop experiential as well as formal understanding of these topics;
• Develop deliberative capacities for a world in which unitary agreement does not, and is not likely ever to, exist.

Consistent with the pluralistic nature of the world and in agreement with the U.S. Supreme Court in Bakke vs. Regents of the University of California 1978, the University of Vermont understands diversity to include, but not be limited to, people from various races, religions, cultures, nationalities, socio-economic groups, physical and mental abilities, sexual orientations and/or preferences, ages and genders. It is our belief that each individual brings a unique perspective and contribution to our educational environment.

Strategies for Achieving Diversity and Multicultural Education

The University of Vermont uses many initiatives, approaches, and programs to increase diversity, educate students, develop faculty and staff, and improve campus climate. No one strategy alone will have a substantial effect on the University. Rather, it is the combination of successes from all our efforts that will make a permanent impact. We must have the commitment of faculty, staff, students, and the surrounding community to work continuously towards a climate of acceptance and equality.

The four components of our overall strategy are:

1. Recruitment of Diverse Students, Faculty, and Staff
2. Retention of Diverse Shudents~ Faculty, and Staff
3. Curriculum Transformation
4. Campus Climate Improvement

All of our strategies are intended to move us along a continuum toward a goal of increased diversity and greater cultural competence rather than an end result that is quantifiable. The evaluation process must focus on both short term accomplishments and long term goals. Statistics on recruitment and retention of students and faculty as well as multicultural courses and programs are included in the Annual Report to the Ad-hoc Committee on Diversity of the Board of Trustees. The assessment of improvement in campus climate is the most difficult because of its subjective nature, but will include the accounting of specific events, positive and negative, within the institution and measuring attitudinal and behavioral change.

Copies of the Comprehensive Strategy for Achieving Diversity and Multicultural Education at the University of Vermont are available from the Executive Officer for Cultural Pluralism and Racial Equality, Allen House.

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