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UW addresses diversity issues at Plan 2008 forum
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by Andriy Pazuniak
Friday, September 30, 2005
During Thursday's Plan 2008 "Creating Community" forum, an overwhelming number of University of Wisconsin administrators, faculty and staff supported efforts to improve campus diversity.
Presenting a status report on the university's Plan 2008 — an initiative implemented in 1998 to increase diversity at UW — Provost Peter Spear cited lower graduation rates among UW minority students and disconcerting survey results as proof the university needed to continue working on creating a more "welcoming climate" for students of color.
"Students that come in with the same academic credentials are not succeeding at the same rate if they are of a minority," Spear told an audience of UW administrators, faculty and staff packing the Memorial Union Theater. "And it's not because of credentials; it's something else."
Spear presented "very disturbing" statistics showing the number of incoming freshmen who graduate within six years was 20 percent lower for minority students. Sixty percent of minorities complete their degree within six years, while 80 percent of majority students do.
While the retention rate of minority students has been steadily increasing — from 80 percent among first-year students in 2000 to more than 85 percent in 2003 — Spear said there is still a disparity in the graduation rates, revealing an "unwelcoming" environment on the UW campus.
"The climate is very different for students of color than for white students," Spear said, referring to a survey the university conducted in 2003.
According to the survey results, 68 percent of minority students on campus feel the "problem of race relations is either 'extremely' or 'somewhat serious,'" compared to 48 percent of majority students.
I another survey, fewer than 60 percent of UW minority faculty members rated the "climate for faculty of color in [their] department as 'good,'" compared to majority faculty members, who gave a 75 percent rating. The same climate was given a "good" rating by more than 80 percent of department chairs.
Spear said these results show minority students and faculty members "feel more isolated" on campus than those in the majority.
UW Chancellor John Wiley addressed concerns over diversity and the public's "demand for action" in his introductory speech at the forum.
"It's not an administrative problem solved by administrative decree," Wiley said at the forum. "It's a campus problem, and we need to look into ourselves and ask what we'll do to fix it."
Wiley, while addressing the situation regarding former Vice Chancellor Paul Barrows, said the university administration needs to do its part to create a "comfortable environment" for minority students, faculty and staff.
"Women and people of color on this campus do not feel comfortable bringing forward complaints," Wiley said. "We need to find a way to change this."
Vice Chancellor Darrell Bazzell added his perspective on what the consequences would be if UW did not continue working toward diversifying the campus and creating a "welcoming" community for minorities.
"If we fail to create a welcoming climate, we will fail to retain the best and brightest students," Bazzell said. "And we will rapidly become an irrelevant anachronism."
