Strategy: Foster and sustain a diverse, respectful and cohesive campus community.
Point People: Rahim Reed and Rex Perschbacher
Narrative Summary of First Year Implementation Efforts:
Our goal is to restructure the current “Diversity Paradigm” from one in which diversity is viewed simply as an add-on value, to one where the educational value of diversity is fully integrated with our core mission and is viewed as an essential part of our commitment to excellence as an institution of higher education. The successful implementation of this strategy will also require the development of a Comprehensive Diversity Action Plan that coordinates the affirmative action, diversity education & training, and campus community relations activities of our major campus units. The plan must also provide a structure that enables us to move beyond the goal of numbers and the simple tallying of our diverse representation, to facilitating the development of cultural competency and leadership skills that promote the educational value of diversity and foster a sense of inclusiveness.
During the past year, we have focused our attention and resources on developing the foundation for restructuring our diversity paradigm and creating a comprehensive diversity action plan. It is difficult to develop metrics to accurately measure “campus climate” and a “sense of inclusiveness.” However, we have made progress. We also joined with the City of Davis and the Davis Joint Unified School District in a public re-affirmation of our Principles of Community and established an annual Principles of Community Celebration to highlight our campus’ commitment to diversity, freedom of expression, and respect for the personal dignity inherent in all of us. The Campus Community Book Project, developed two years ago, has grown significantly and continues to promote a greater sense of community among students, staff, faculty and community members by providing a common experience to facilitate dialogue between the various groups.
Advances and Ongoing Programs Consistent with Strategy:
- Campus Community Book Project (http://occr.ucdavis.edu/bookproject.html)
- OCCR Diversity Education Program (http://diversity.ucdavis.edu)
- New Principles of Community Website is intended to provide electronic coordination of the many university and community resources which pertain to diversity, freedom of expression, hate and bias related incidents and other community –related topics (http://principles.ucdavis.edu)
- Creation of Annual Principles of Community Program to highlight our commitment to building a more diverse and inclusive community. (http://occr.ucdavis.edu/occr_html/reaffirmation.html)
- The Office of Campus Community Relations began the process of coordinating all of our campus activities and programs that relate to promoting diversity, fostering a sense of inclusiveness and building community under the “Principles of Community Programming” banner.
1. Disability Pride Week (http://dpw.ucdavis.edu/)
2. Soaring to New Heights
3. Cultural Days
4. Pride Week
5. Picnic Day
6. TGFS
7. Campus Community Book Project
8. Annual Principles of Community Celebration - UC Davis Forums on Diversity (three forums during fall & winter quarters) dealt with issues in the aftermath of an allegation of discrimination (by a UC Davis employee terminated at the end of his probationary status) but also included a much wider discussion around the University’s commitment and efforts to increase diversity in our faculty and staff.
- UC Davis Police Dept. sponsored a regional training for police depts. (West Sacramento, Davis, Yolo County Sheriff) entitled “Building Cultural Competence: Arab, Muslim, and Sikh Americans”. The training program was presented by the US Dept. of Justice Community Relations Service in partnership with Connecting Cultures and the Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force.
- Associate Executive Vice Chancellor Reed was appointed as official UC Davis liaison to the Davis Human Relations Commission to facilitate better communication and cooperation between the City of Davis and the campus regarding matters impacting campus-community relations.
- Creation of a Faculty Leadership Development Program by the Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Personnel.
- Creation of a MSO Competency Pilot Program to increase the diversity in the MSO personnel grades.
- Orientation/Training for all Chairs of Academic Search Committees sponsored by the Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Personnel and OCCR.
Short Statement of Plans for 2004-05:
- Continue the development of a Comprehensive Diversity Action Plan to both guide and coordinate our campus efforts to foster and sustain a diverse, respectful and cohesive campus community.
- Continue to develop and expand the impact of our Campus Community Book Project (e.g., online course related to the Book Project that is available to alumni, parents and community members at large).
- Update the Principles of Community Website and promote it use as a self- educational resource tool to support our efforts in increasing the understanding of the educational value of diversity.
- Complete the reorganization of our Affirmative Action Unit Coordinators. Deans and Vice Chancellors should be held accountable for affirmative action and diversity efforts and goals in their units. High level staff (Senior Advisors and/or Assistant Deans) within each unit should be appointed and held responsible directly by the Dean or VC for implementing the necessary practices to achieve the unit goals. The OCCR, HR and Academic Personnel should provide consultation and resources to support the efforts of the units to achieve their goals.
- Increase the availability of opportunities to develop cultural competency skills for students, faculty and staff. Our diversity education and training initiatives should operate from an education-competency skills models approach rather than from a reaction to crisis and conflict model.
- Revise our campus organizational structure to enable us to be more responsive to issues challenging the campus’ cohesiveness.
- Continue to expand the number of opportunities for constituent groups to be successfully supported and connected to the university community.
Evaluation of Metrics:
- Increase in the diversity of faculty and staff to better reflect the population of California
We currently assess and report the demographics of our work force annually in our Affirmative Action Plan. However, our challenge is to maintain our commitment to diversity and remain in compliance with Proposition 209.
- Increase in the diversity of undergraduate, graduate and professional students to better reflect the population of California
We currently assess and report on the demographics of our student body. Again our challenge is to maintain our commitment to diversity in this area and not violate Proposition 209. We will be further challenged by a number of issues in this area including changing eligibility criteria, funding for outreach and limited financial aid programs to compete for high credentialed minority students.
- Improve campus climate (evaluation of campus climate through periodic surveys, data collection, assessment of Principles of Community Programs and implementation of compelling recommendations)
We continue to work on identifying factors that reflect the campus climate and attitude, and which also are quantifiable in a meaningful way to guide us making effective change. This metric still remains somewhat difficult to evaluate at the campus level, however it appear somewhat easier to assess at the unit level. We are therefore focusing attention on working with our major units to assess unit climate and attitudes.
- Improvement of physical spaces and programs that support diverse communities and provide a welcoming environment
We have not spent much time discussing this metric independent of the other metrics. We need to have a fuller assessment and discussion about it.
- Increase the number of opportunities to develop cultural competency and leadership skills for faculty, staff and students
We are developing a list (baseline) of the various opportunities that exist now on our campus to facilitate the development of cultural competency and leadership skills in our classrooms (curriculum) for students and in our professional development training sessions for faculty and staff.
- Expand the number of opportunities for constituent groups to be successfully supported and connected to the campus community
We are gathering data and assessing our current constituent group structure (i.e. number of groups, charge/missions, overlapping areas, reporting lines, advisory status, impact on policy decisions, etc.) with a focus on increasing the advisory/consultative process as it relates to major policy decisions. This may require some restructuring of our organizational lines of communication.