After concluding the Plan 2008 diversity program did not entirely meet its intended results, the University of Wisconsin System is forming a new program to speed up the increase in diversity and close the diversity achievement gap through a series of reforms.
According to a report by the UW System Board of Regents, Plan 2008 initiated an incremental increase in the enrollment of students of color by 64 percent over the past 10 years.
The number of minority students who stayed enrolled in the UW system after their second year also increased by 2.9 percent.
Additionally, the number of UW employees of color increased by 64 percent.
UW System spokesperson David Giroux said the board hopes to create more effective methods to improve diversity among the 32 campuses at its meeting this Thursday.
Giroux added the goal of Thursday’s meeting is to address a “long range vision to the university and the city where we attempt to create a more educated workforce and vibrant economy,” as well as encourage more diversity among applicants and work to encourage minority students to graduate.
According to Board of Regents member Danae Davis, the updated project will include a reconstruction of Plan 2008’s Inclusive Excellence program.
“I believe it’s quite strategic and inclusive,” Davis said. “It will take the work that has been done on many of our campuses to diagnose what the issues are to closing the achievement gap, which is the overall goal, and then to have each institution come up with a strategy to work towards the evidence-based issues revealed.”
Ten of the UW campuses have participated in or are currently enrolled in the regents’ data-gathering process called the “Equity Scorecard,” according to Davis.
Davis added the process helps diagnose both unique and universal issues among the campuses that are responsible for preventing the closure of the achievement gap among different races.
The data then allows the regents to better develop personalized strategy for addressing campus problems.
“Whether it be math or within a certain discipline they can come up with a strategy,” Davis said. “For the last two years the regents have been setting admirable goals for recruitment and retention, but without having the baseline data to say that any of these strategies are going to work it resulted in modest progress.”
Another data-gathering initiative known as the “Climate Study” was also conducted across the majority of UW campuses to determine how welcoming each campus is to diverse students.
The project hopes to target problematic departments, teachers or student groups and work to make them more inclusive.
The studies will be further analyzed and used to help develop future programs within the diversity initiative.
Davis said UW did not participate in either study and has been committed to its own unique strategies for tackling diversity issues for many years.
Davis added she is confident the board will have a positive reaction to the proposed changes to the systemwide diversity initiative.
Presuming feedback from the board is positive, Davis said, the initiative will be enacted immediately.
