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Adding Color CRE and Curricular Initiatives |
"I think this institution is really confronting several controversial issues," says assistant provost Tanya Saunders, "race being chief among them." Studies have demonstrated that greater racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity in higher education --- or in a corporation, for that matter --- allows for a better intellectual environment, better interpersonal relations, even a better overall life. University of Michigan psychology professor Patricia Gurin concluded in 1999 after a lengthy study that "a university composed of racially and ethnically diverse students is essential not only to the intellectual well-being of individual students but also to the long-term health of our American democracy." This certainly rings true to the Ithaca College administration. In the
institution’s planning and priorities document, increasing diversity on
campus was among the top goals for the College. Since the document’s approval
last year, people across the IC community have been working actively toward
this goal. Over the past few years the College has devoted considerable
resources toward diversifying its curriculum and its people with the intent
of becoming a more successful, creative, and flexible institution. The
Martin Luther King Jr. Scholar Program for ALANA (African American, Latino,
Asian, and Native American) prospective students has been established;
a permanent director has been hired for the Center for the Study of Culture,
Race, and Ethnicity; and the affirmative action office is developing initiatives
to help boost the number of faculty and staff of color. Clearly, the College’s
"heart" is in the right place. So why is the face of the campus still,
overwhelmingly, a paler shade of white? Photo of Latitia Green by Nicola Kountoupes; all other photos by George Sapio. |
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A. Ozolins, Ithaca College Office of Publications, 6 August, 2002
