FOLLOWING a series of racially charged incidents reported in the fall, there was an outpouring of solidarity based on the belief that black students at the University should not be subject to bias or intimidation. The persistence of these incidents forms a powerful source of support for a variety of diversity initiatives at the University.
Unfortunately, the administration's interest in diversity appears to have strayed from a focus on the welfare of the current minority students at the University to a broader political agenda advocating affirmative action-type programs in any and all areas involving University hiring. This focus is reflected in new programs to increase "diversity" with regard to University contracting and faculty hiring.
Many of the new proposals floated by Chief Diversity Officer, Bill Harvey, African-American Affairs Dean M. Rick Turner and other administrators are not the interests of minority students currently at the University. In an interview,Harvey confirmed that the main purpose of diversity initiatives at the University is to make "the University community more reflective of the population at large" and said that diversity initiatives at the University are not focused on specifically on minority students at the University, but on changing University demographics for to improve "educational quality for all."
But this focus is misguided. The administration's greatest duty is to students at the University, not to its affirmative action agenda, and the University's diversity initiatives should put the interests of current students first. The administration has enjoyed its greatest success with programs that are focused on improving student life and race relations for students currently at the University programs such as Peer Mentoring and Sustained Dialogue.
The President's Commission on Diversity and Equity has hired a director of supplier diversity tasked with the job of ensuring that the University conduct more business with women- and minority-owned contractors. Harvey said in an interview that the University is "committed" to this program. But whatever the merits of this proposal, it has nothing to do with minority students at the University or with improving race relations; no student has significant contact with the owners of contracting companies. Bill Cooper, director of supplier diversity, has admitted that finding woman and minority-owned contracting companies has been a difficult, and thus Cooper has attempted to lure such businesses with "high-paying contracts." It would be unfortunate if in order to hire more women and minority-owned businessesUniversity construction projects become more expensive.
In his recent State of African-American Affaurs address, Turner proposed adding more black staff in management positions at University facilities. He complained, "If you don't have any black folks in these buildings, there's no conversation, no learning that's taking place." It is difficult to see what Turner means by this; if anything, promoting facilities workers to management positions will reduce the level of student interaction with these employees because management-level positions often involve more office work.
Finally, there have been proposals to increase the number of minority faculty members and the overall numbers of black students. Neither proposal will aid minority students already at the University. Shifting University faculty hiring away from a strict meritocratic model threatens faculty quality, not to mention intellectual freedom. This proposal undermines the interest of all students in maintaining a top-notch faculty. Furthermore, increasing the overall number of black students without maintaining an equal focus on students with exceptional academics only dilutes the quality of the student body and could even lead to a decline in the University's prestige. Students of all races have an interest in maintaining the status of the University, manifested in its faculty and student quality, and any proposal to change this will harm University students more than it would help.
In constructing diversity initiatives, the administration should be guided by what has worked in the past. The University enjoys the highest black graduation rate among the top 25 public institutions, for example, a fact largely attributable to high admission standards. The focus on numerical integration threatens to detract from an emphasis on the quality of minority life at the University.
Noah Peters' column appears Mondays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at npeters@cavalierdaily.com.
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