Author: Claire Diggins
The Diversity Statement Subcommittee of Occidental’s Diversity Task Force recently released a draft of a new diversity statement for consideration by the Occidental community.
The statement has been revised since it was first published in the Oxy Digest in February, and a new draft will be revealed in April. The Diversity Statement Subcommittee will share the latest draft of the statement at a Faculty Meeting on April 14.
On April 20, the entire Occidental community is invited to share their opinion of the statement at a Town Hall meeting in Lower Herrick at 12:30 p.m. Each task force has held a similar town hall meeting, providing the entire Occidental community the opportunity to participate in the dialogue surrounding each issue.
“I would love it if the student body filled Lower Herrick on April 20,” English and Comparative Literature Studies Professor Eric Newhall said. “I don’t even care what their opinion about the diversity statement is, but I think that if the mission is to achieve excellence and equity, how can we achieve equity? It’s a tricky question, and I hope the student body will come and throw out questions and support the task force.”
The Diversity Statement Subcommittee first began the writing process in September 2010. The writers of the draft are Critical Theory and Social Justice Professors Elizabeth Chin and Heather Lukes, Assistant Professor of Sociology Lisa Wade, Intercultural Community Center Assistant Director Dominic Alleto and Office Associate Vice-President of the Office of Institutional Advancement Lakshmi Dastur.
“Our subcommittee on defining diversity worked pretty intensely. We did a lot of research in the Fall and dedicated a lot of our winter break to getting it done, because we knew the rest of the task force couldn’t really move along until we had this statement done,” Lukes said.
The statement itself emphasizes “inclusive excellence,” and the document’s intent is to broaden the college’s concept of diversity to make it more inclusive.
“The term ‘inclusive excellence’ comes from the American Association of Colleges and Universities,” Lukes said. “We were really glad to find in our research this term. People wonder if a commitment to having diversity is going to challenge academic excellence, and this term gives us a win-win, putting excellence at the center of the idea of a more inclusive campus.”
As an accompaniment to the new diversity statement, Dastur is compiling a “Timeline of Diversity” that will denote Occidental’s history of diversifying the college community through mission statements and admissions policies. This document will be used to share with the public the college’s pride in its commitment to diversity throughout the years.
“The objective is to demonstrate that Oxy has had a commitment to diversity since its inception 124 years ago – when we opted to go co-ed,” Dastur said. “The timeline will include bullets by decades and will highlight a variety of things. For instance, over 100 years ago we graduated our first Latino and Asian students. Today, Oxy ranks among the top three Colleges with Pell Grant recipients – which demonstrates the socio-economic diversity of our student body.”
The Diversity Task Force is one of many task forces created by President Veitch in order to improve aspects of the College. Other task forces include Academic Planning, Civic Engagement, the Core Curriculum, Undergraduate Research and Resource Optimization. Members of each task force have been asked to research their topic and provide a set of goals and recommendations by the end of the school year.
Newhall is the faculty chair and Dean Jorge Gonzalez is the administrative co-chair. The committee is in the process of adding student members as well.
Newhall, who attended Occidental from 1963 to 1967 said at that time the school was much less diverse than it is today.
“It was a good school in those days, but I think it’s a better school now. I think what you hear at a diverse institution is more and different options about things, about life, music, whatever. That’s a rich education environment. You will benefit from having professors and classmates who have different opinions,” he said.
Once the statement has been thoroughly reviewed by students, staff and faculty, it will be published on the college website.
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