BFA Minority Affairs Committee
Annual Report 2001 - 2002

BFA MINORITY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
REPORT: 2001-2002
Anne Bliss, Ph.D., Chair

The Boulder Faculty Assembly Minority Affairs Committee met eight times during the academic year, in September, October, November, December, January, February, March, and April. Although the committee roster was nearly complete with the ordered number of committee members, most members did not attend meetings or participate in committee work. Active members included Kuan-yi Rose Chang (Director of ALTEC; ex-officio member), Gail Ramsberger (Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences; committee member), Arrah Closson (UCSU Representative), and Anne Bliss (Program for Writing and Rhetoric; Chair). William Wei (History, Seward Hall Program Director; committee member) attended one meeting. Because this committee is a response committee rather than an activist committee, members tend to become involved only when problem with minority faculty or students occur.

During the academic year, the committee addressed the following concerns:

September 11 or the 9-11 Disaster: The committee chair worked with the A&S Committee on Diversity and Community to foster understanding and community for the campus community. A letter of support was written to the Muslim Student Association, which was harassed to some degree by anonymous parties.

Work with UCSU: The committee worked closely with the UCSU to foster mutually beneficial diversity programs and understanding of minority affairs.

Diversity Forum: The committee chair worked with the A&S Committee on Diversity and Community to sponsor and hold a diversity forum featuring Dr. Mohammed Akacem, speaking on "Globalization in the Arab and Islamic World: Implications of Post 9-11"; the forum was held in April 2002.

Diversity Training: The committee worked steadily from November-April with the Diversity Education Team, headed by Gwendolyn Bock and Cleopatra Estrada, to develop a resolution, subsequently passed by the BFA Executive Committee and the full BFA, resolving that all faculty members receive diversity education. The DET will work with the Vice Chancellor’s Office of Diversity to develop a number of ways in which this education may be delivered, e.g., in person at faculty meetings, website, pamphlets, etc. A strong push for Diversity Education will begin in the fall term 2002.

Future committee needs:

1. This committee constantly suffers from a lack of interested members. Most faculty who agree to serve on the committee are too busy to participate; minority faculty rarely serve on this committee because they are overwhelmed with requests to serve on committees and task forces on a wide variety of issues.
2. The BFA could foster stronger efforts on behalf of diversity and minority issues if the BFA drew attention to specific issues, perhaps on an annual basis, and gave a charge to the committee to work on them. Currently, the committee has a weak charge, which is primarily responsive rather than activist.