The task force created last fall in response to allegations of segregation in the Greek system has begun to show the first fruits of its labor in encouraging campuswide diversity.
The Senate Task Force for Excellence in Equity, Inclusion & Citizenship, which was initiated in a unanimous resolution by the Faculty Senate, hopes to present its findings and recommendations to the senate before the spring Student Government Association elections.
“It’s a temporary task force [that] brings a lot of different good people together to help overcome some of the problems that occurred during the fall semester,” Norman Baldwin, task force member, said.
Though Baldwin was unable to comment on what the recommendations are, he said the panel’s report to the next Faculty Senate Steering Committee will involve SGA election reforms. In the past, SGA has had a number of problems with diversity, including election infractions and over-representation of Greek members, Baldwin said.
(See also, “Student organization hosts lunches to promote diversity“)
“The committee is interested in any number of things, including making sure elections are fair and that they will allow for an inclusive SGA, that a variety of people can in fact get elected and essentially that there are fair processes and [that] when there are violations, people are held accountable,” Baldwin said.
George Daniels, associate professor and member of the Black Faculty and Staff Association, said the task force is a way for the Faculty Senate to continue the efforts initiated by the Greek controversy. Maintaining ongoing dialogue about diversity and inclusiveness is a positive movement, he added.
The task force, which is comprised of faculty, students and UA administrators, meets every Tuesday for two hours. Members also meet informally throughout the week. The committee’s meetings are currently private, though it will hold some public meetings in the future, Baldwin said.
The committee has also spoken with several representatives from student organizations, including SGA and the Panhellenic Association.
“They spend a lot of time every week meeting with a number of individuals across campus, [including] administrators and faculty members, to get a sense of the temperature on campus – where there’s opportunity for improvement,” Steve Miller, faculty senate president, said.
Baldwin said there are a few problem areas on campus concerning diverse student representation.
“Throughout the University there are organizations that are more exclusively one race,” Baldwin said. “The University as a whole is integrated, but the organizations within the University need to be further integrated and diverse.”
(See also, “Lack of diversity traces back to last of interest“)
While there are departments on campus that address diversity and integration issues, there is no formal Office of Diversity. Baldwin said the absence of an Office of Diversity may also be addressed by the task force.
Though an Office of Diversity has been suggested, various organizations on campus, such as the Crossroads Community Center, reflect that the University is clearly concerned with diversity, Baldwin said. However, the task force is open to hearing about any new structures that are suggested.
The task force’s upcoming report was a joint effort from a variety of elements on campus, he said.
“The key is what happens after the recommendations are released,” Daniels said. “Will they actually become actionable? It’s not enough to just have a controversy and nothing changes. The question that those of us on the outside should be asking is what permanent changes are going to happen as a result of the task force.”
(See also, “HCA Diversity Branch to host ‘Diverse Desserts‘”)
