Office of the Chancellor > Speeches, Columns and Letters > 2008 Campus Diversity Summit

2008 Campus Diversity Summit
February 19, 2008

I would like to thank all of you for coming today and also to extend my thanks to those who helped make this event possible, including the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Minority Affairs which is hosting us, and especially Co-Chairs Mark Augustin and Judy Poynter.

I also would like to take this opportunity to ask all members of the four Chancellor's Standing Committees to stand and be recognized. They are the Chancellor's Committee on Women; the Chancellor's Standing Committee on Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Issues; the Program Accessibility Committee; and the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Minority Affairs. Please join me in a round of applause as we give thanks to them for their good work.

And finally, I would like to thank Vice-Chancellor Sallye McKee and the staff of ODECE, the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement. Will you please stand?

I'm very happy to be here with so many faculty, staff and students who are committed to our goals of enhancing diversity at CU-Boulder.

This is our 13th annual Campus Diversity Summit to honor diversity in all its forms including race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities, religious preferences, and intellectual and geographic diversity. Our educational and life experiences are enriched and fulfilled by the intellectual contributions of all people.

This year's theme is "Learning from Our Past to Build a Better Future," so I would like to talk about our past and our future.

Fourteen days ago, one of our pioneers in diversity -- and one of our own -- passed away. Rachel Noel was the first African American member of the CU Board of Regents, her service to the university beginning in 1976. She knew the sting of racism throughout her life. She grew up in the segregated south. Her grandfather was a slave who became a lawyer. Her father was a lawyer who fought for and won voting rights for African Americans in Virginia. Her mother was a teacher.

Her husband, Edmond Noel, was a surgeon and together Rachel and Edmond moved to Denver in 1950 thinking he would be able to practice medicine without racial bias. They were wrong. He was turned away by every hospital in Denver except Jewish Hospital, today's Rose Medical Center.

Rachel and her family received death threats in 1968 because, as a member of the Denver Public Schools board, she introduced a resolution directing the superintendent to create a plan for integration. It led to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling to desegregate the school district.

She said the catalyst for what became known as the Noel Resolution was the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Her fellow school board member, Ed Benton, said her power to effect change came from her quiet but firm demeanor.

A year ago, at the age of 89, Mrs. Noel recalled the integration battle, and said, "If you're right, you don't give up."

In September -- while we were busy beginning another school year with a freshman class of 5,555, including 871 students of color, the 50th Anniversary of the Little Rock Nine quietly passed. Today, one of the Little Rock Nine, Carlotta Walls LaNier, is a successful real estate agent in Denver.

The nation watched on Sept. 23, 1957, as Carlotta and eight other black children tried to enter an all-white Central High School. She had never missed a day of school. This was to be the first.

Until then, Carlotta was destined to attend Dunbar High School. Central had 11,000 library books. Dunbar had 5,000. Central cost $1.5 million to build, Dunbar cost $400,000. Central had 100 classrooms, Dunbar had 34. Central had science labs and athletic facilities. Dunbar had neither.

"I knew when the white kids got new textbooks," Carlotta recalled. "It always made me happy because I knew we were going to get their old ones."

Carlotta loved to learn. At Central High she endured threats and a mob mentality. Her heels were stepped on until they bled.

In her senior year, her home was bombed. And she graduated from Central High School with honors.

Can you imagine being the parents of these children? University of Arkansas oral historian Johanna Miller Lewis tells us that each of the nine talked about the pain and fear their parents endured. The bravery of the parents of these nine children has been forgotten, she says. But the Little Rock Nine has not.

Carlotta became a parent too. Her daughter, Brooke, benefitted from her mother's legacy; she attended integrated schools. Brooke graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

 Each of the Little Rock Nine was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999, the nation's highest civilian honor. At the time, President Clinton said, "It fell to these young nine Americans, when they were children, to become our teachers. Let us not forget to heed their lessons."

That is our call today. Let us not forget to heed their lessons. Rachel Noel and Carlotta Walls LaNier blazed a path for us that we must continue to go down.

That is some of our past. Now, what is our future?

When I am asked to describe my vision for diversity at CU, people often are surprised when I respond that I want to lead in a way that ensures we make diversity routine on our campus—to make diversity an unremarkable condition of our campus. I know that this troubles some.

My goal is to have diversity a part of everyone's daily activity to the point that visitors perceive that we work tirelessly to ensure that diversity is fully engrained and incorporated into everything that we value, much like we do for women. When was the last time that anyone asked how much we spend to educate women? They don't ask because we can't tell them. It pervades everything we do. Wouldn't it be great if no one ever asked "how much do you spend on diversity?"

A university should be, and CU should be, a place where a mosaic of different backgrounds, cultures, experiences and ideas come together to create a rich and fascinating intellectual quilt.

Our vision of diversity will make us a better university -- a more dynamic institution that draws from the power of unlimited human resources and ever-expanding ideas, hopes and dreams. Our achievements in this arena will make us better people, and better prepare our graduates to work and lead in an increasingly global society.

In the near future we at CU may be placed under intense public scrutiny by upcoming political challenges. As the flagship university we are the best institution, and the most scrutinized institution in the state - our reflection shines brightest.

But as the state's flagship university we also are the first to be put under the microscope by challengers and detractors who do not share the value we place on diversity. This is where we can and shall bond together for what is best for the university, for the state, for our students and for all of humankind.

To help us respond effectively to impending threats to our goal to achieve seamless diversity, we are inviting University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman to our campus to talk about her experiences in Michigan where the civil rights ballot measure sponsored by Ward Connerly passed in 2006.

Much has happened in the year since our last Campus Diversity Summit. We hired our first Vice-Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement in Dr. Sallye McKee following a national search. Dr. McKee is notnew to campus. From 1993 through 1996 she was director of the Minority Arts and Sciences Program during its formative years.

You've heard me say before that my vision is to make diversity at the University of Colorado an integral part of what we do and who we are. The Office of Diversity and Equity was created 10 years ago, and when I arrived here at CU, it was clear that it was time to move our diversity efforts to the next level and to create a cabinet-level position.

In the past we've had a Vice-Provost and Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Equity. This new position is an enhanced position, as Dr. McKee serves as part of the senior leadership team to ensure that diversity permeates everything we do and is a consideration in every decision we make.

We appointed Dr. McKee in August as Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement to broaden the scope and responsibility and to reach out beyond just student diversity. In this role, she is coordinating our overall diversity efforts – those that involve faculty, staff and students -- and she is managing our outreach to under-represented communities throughout Colorado.

The goal in creating this position was to ensure that we clearly articulate a vision, and provide leadership in the development of university-wide programs that support and foster a more diverse community—one that embraces and welcomes diversity in all its forms, and makes diversity a seamless part of our basic endeavors. I said last year that creating this position is a turning point in our history and I believe that even more strongly now, that we have Dr. McKee with us.

As a member of our senior leadership team, Dr. McKee will make sure that we are always integrating diversity as a core value – that it's always a part of our decision making - in our budgeting, our academics, our administration, and our governance.

You might notice that her title includes "Community Engagement." That means she extends well beyond campus to the wider Boulder and statewide community and beyond.

One of the potential pitfalls in appointing a Vice-Chancellor for Diversity is that our challenges will be seen as "Sallye's job." No. It's everyone's job to make diversity a routine, standard, regular, unremarkable part of this campus.

Diversity must be viewed as a core value. It can be found in many places in our strategic plan for the future, Flagship 2030. One of the core initiatives of Flagship 2030 is "learning in a diverse world," which calls for improving diversity and fostering a supportive and inclusive climate for all students, all faculty and all staff.

The initiative says that "By 2030, CU-Boulder will be a model for the nation, in applying best practices in support of diversity and inclusive excellence." Now it's time to develop the strategies to reach that goal.

We are making progress in recruiting students of color and in recruitment of faculty of color. This last fall, we enrolled one of our best qualified and most diverse freshman classes two years running with 16 percent students of color – or 871, an increase of 134 students of color over two years ago.

Last fall we hired 17 faculty of color including nine Asian-Americans, four African- Americans and four Hispanic Americans. That's not nearly enough. Our deans and department heads are working with faculty and ODECE to improve those numbers, and they will improve this year.

Clearly we have much work to do. This year we enrolled 4,158 students of color. That breaks down to 6.1 percent Latino students, 6 percent Asian American, 1.5 percent African American and 0.8 percent American Indian. We must continue toward our goal of improved access for all students.

With the exception of our Asian-American enrollment, we are below the respective percentages in both the state population and K-12 enrollment.

To help us with this important work Dr. McKee and I have organized the Chancellor's Diversity Advisory Board that had its initial meeting Feb. 8. This is an advisory board with 35 community leaders from across the state and nation representing all facets of diverse communities. The board will advise us on how we can continue to improve and enhance diversity on campus in all its forms.

The advisory board is forming into work committees on student success, faculty recruitment and retention, campus climate and community engagement.

This advisory board is in addition to my ongoing campus-based advisory committees that will continue to lead our efforts.

I mentioned that much has happened since our last Campus Diversity Summit a year ago. But I also know from yesterday's student forum that there are concerns about our commitment to diversity and about the changes underway.

Do not doubt our commitment to enhancing diversity at CU. We are making progress. Our efforts and programs are continuing to be reviewed by the Blue Ribbon Commission on Diversity convened by President Brown, and we have already adopted virtually all of their recommendations including increasing scholarships, and expanding our K-12, pre-collegiate and summer outreach programs.

In December Vice-Chancellor McKee and I gave the Blue Ribbon Commission updates on campus climate, student enrollment and retention, and newly recommended improvements to programs, recruiting and financial aid.

Here are just a few of the changes we have made.

• We have conducted a peer program review and evaluation of the CU LEAD Alliance program of 12 learning communities and received a number of recommendations which include expanding the summer programs, increasing scholarships and improving staffing levels.
• We have increased the total amount of need-based financial aid for 2007-2008 by 40 percent over 2006-2007.
• We have enhanced merit-based financial aid programs including pre-collegiate and CU-LEAD Alliance Scholarships.
• We have established the First Nations Scholarship to annually fund 15 four-year-awards for tribally enrolled students.
• We have introduced the Chancellor's Citizenship Scholars program in 2007 to fund 25 four-year merit-aid scholarships for Colorado residents.
• We have utilized the President's Scholars program to increase the enrollment of first-generation students from diverse backgrounds.
• We have renewed federal grants that improve access and student success for first- generation and ethnically diverse students.
• We have developed and are currently piloting the undergraduate multicultural leadership course we call University 101 with over 400 students in a residential hall setting,
• And in just the past two years, we have increased the number of Native Americans in the freshman class by 46%; the number of African Americans in the freshman class by 55%; and the number of underrepresented minority graduate students by 10%.

While these are significant, none of us are satisfied. However, these achievements, taken alongside our other gains in enrollment and the recruitment of faculty, are significant.

In the ongoing effort to enhance diversity, we have to measure each gain carefully. We can't afford to dismiss the steps we take, even if they are small steps, because large leaps are often built of many small, sustained steps. And I frankly believe we are taking both large and small steps in greater increments than at any time in the last 25 years on this campus.

I know many of you are concerned about the changes underway but as I have said before, diversity belongs to all of us. We have to own it as an entire campus. We have to own it as a university. We have to own it as a community. We have to own it as a state. We have to own it as a nation.

Diversity is and should be an enriching hallmark of the university experience and that is what we are working toward today.

A climate of healthy diversity is one in which people value their differences, respect the perspectives of others and communicate openly. We hold these values in high esteem at CU. It was Helen Keller who said, "The highest result of education is tolerance."

But embracing diversity is not just about promoting tolerance and acceptance of, and respect for, people who are different -- different genders, sexual orientations, ethnicities, religions, and mental or physical capabilities -- but it is about promoting tolerance and acceptance of, and respect for, different ideas and approaches, some of which you may not necessarily agree with.

A major national comprehensive research university like CU cannot achieve and maintain excellence in education without diverse peoples and a diversity of ideas.

But as I have said, we must own our commitment to diversity completely and totally. The challenge for us ahead is to share our commitment and to build on our investment in diversity from the inside out, and the outside in.

It was after World War II that there was a great breakthrough in making a post-secondary education available for the many outside of the privileged class and for making good on America's promise. In the 1960s, the clarion call for equal access and the notion of inclusive excellence was called for, following Brown vs. The Board of Education – the Supreme Court decision that outlawed racial segregation in public education. Three years later, Carlotta Walls LaNier and her eight classmates walked into Central High School. Now in 2008, we are still working to realize both access and excellence for all in higher education.

We owe it to Rachel Noel and Carlotta Walls LaNier to continue to blaze the path they bravely set for us. I believe the walk is worth it. And I believe we have to walk it together if we are to be successful.

G. P. "Bud" Peterson, Chancellor