Diversity Plan Sparks
Controversy with Faculty

The University has received letters
criticizing the plan from
faculty members and the AAUP.



The controversy surrounding the University's Five Year Diversity Plan shows no signs of dissipating, as professors threaten to leave the University if the current draft is approved, while the American Association of University Professors wrote a letter criticizing the administration for allegedly bypassing the standard set of faculty committees while drafting the plan. [A little awkwardness with tenses in there, but basically a good first paragraph. “Dissipating” is good.]

The AAUP letter came at approximately the same time that 25 faculty members drafted their own “Open Letter to President Frohnmayer,” in which they called the Diversity Plan “Orwellian” and “frightening.” [Orwellian it certainly is, but there’s no need to be frightened by the diversitocracy. The diversitocracy lacks O’Brien’s genius. In the twenty-first century, brain wins over brawn.]

The AAUP letter, dated May 10 and addressed to former University of Oregon Senate President Andrew Marcus, states that the charter for the University places the governance in the hands of the faculty and that the AAUP principles emphasize faculty involvement for proposals relevant to professors.

Jean Stockard, a Planning, Public Policy Management professor, said she shared the AAUP's concerns and was upset that faculty had “virtually no involvement” in drafting the plan.

“Members of the committee listed at the front of the document were only shown the document after it was printed,” said Stockard, referring to the 80 names listed as active participants. Some professors have threatened to leave if the current draft becomes a reality. [Eighty! I thought it was seventy, already a shitload. And see what I mean about the diversitocracy‘s intelligence problem? They just put people’s names on the thing…]

“As for faculty thinking of leaving: I am,” said N. Chris Phillips, a math professor and co-signer of the open letter.

Mathematics Associate Professor Alexander Kleshchev said he has heard of other professors who might leave but says it is too early to tell.

“I did consider leaving, and if anything like this plan will be implemented I will continue to think very hard about this,” Kleshchev said.

Kleshchev, a Russian immigrant, says the plan conjures up memories of his former homeland.

“Look, I am personally not going to be interrogated about my thoughts, and I am not going to go to reeducation camps either,” said Kleshchev, alluding to the Five Year Diversity Plan's requirement that faculty participate in a summer diversity seminar. [You can hear the diversitarians firing up their version of Frohnmayer’s response to the anger and national attention that the draft originally drew -- “You’re over-reacting! You’re making a fuss about nothing! You don’t understand what you’re talking about!” “Okay. So tell me what I’m talking about. What’s cultural competence?” “ We don’t believe in defining it.”]

“I've had enough of that in my previous life in the Soviet Union, and I just will not have this again. I tried freedom now; I liked it, and I am not about to give it up,” Kleshchev said.

For the most part, criticism of the diversity plan has come from professors in the sciences. Twenty of the 25 co-signers of the open letter are in the sciences; 14 of those are math professors. [Hm. What’s this factoid mean, UD wonders… I mean, she’s an English professor, about as far from a math professor as you can get. Together, her math SAT and GRE scores would add up to… whatever. But as you know if you read UD, she’s the daughter of a scientist, an authentic, all-the-way-down empiricist, and that did rub off… But let her put on her humanities professor cap here and try to figure out why any self-respecting faculty member from any division would accept or even welcome this particularly gruesome diversity project … Maybe it has an analogue in Kleshchev’s former setting: “Please, comrades! Put me on stage! Let me show you the depth of my passion for the party!”…]

Phillips said the Five Year Diversity Plan is a “terrible idea” because it “calls for us to judge new faculty hires first and foremost by the color of their skin.”

More than that, Phillips believes the Diversity Plan would create a bureaucracy the University cannot afford. The Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity already costs approximately $1.5 million per year.

“This plan calls for millions per year in extra spending. What will happen to faculty salaries then?” said Phillips.

Of primary concern for the AAUP and some faculty members is the plan's use of the term “cultural competency,” which is not defined within the plan's text [That‘s what I meant up there. The Oregon Eighty don‘t define the central term of their proposal.]

John Shuford, the interim associate director for the Center on Diversity and Community (CoDaC) said that cultural competency was not defined for two reasons: It would not be appropriate for the drafters of the blueprint to impose a definition because that might have led to adverse responses by some. [Gevalt. No comment. Beyond gevalt.] Secondly, the working definition would have become the focal point of debate, preventing a deeper discussion of the ideas presented. As such, the diversity work group, led by former Vice Provost for Institutional Equity and Diversity Greg Vincent, decided not to include a definition. Shuford said that various definitions of cultural competency could be found because it is a popular concept [You can see how popular just by following this non-dissipating story.].

Byron Kunisawa, a lecturer and academic who specializes in analyzing the relationship between people and institutions, helped popularize the term cultural competency. He first used it in his seminal [Why not ovulal? Three weeks, summer diversity camp...] work “Designs of Omission,” in which he concluded that “bias and discrimination are endemic to the structure and methodology of every system and institution in America.” [Bias: It’s everywhere you want to be.]

Although he had no direct role in the drafting of the Five Year Diversity Plan, he said he was thrilled that another institution was taking steps to rectify racial biases.

“I'm glad the University is trying to do something measurable,” said Kunisawa. [Going to be hard to measure if you won’t define your central term.]

Kunisawa said cultural competency is a generic term that describes the importance of utilizing the elements of culture to assess and interact with diverse populations. [Huh?] He said it has been most helpful in the medical field.

“Bottom line, it forces one to acknowledge that culture is an important factor to consider whenever a multicultural situation presents itself,” Kunisawa said. [Culture’s in play in culture, and don’t you forget it.] Currently, President Frohnmayer said he is taking the AAUP's suggestion and creating an executive council of faculty members to review the Five Year Diversity Plan in order to define key terms, assuage faculty concerns and iron out the wrinkles.