Last Tuesday, a story ran in The Crimson White examining why The University of Alabama does not have an Office of Diversity, despite the presence of such offices at public universities across the United States. I’m glad the story ran, as I feel the lack of an Office of Diversity is an oversight we desperately need to address as a university community; however, I feel that statements by UA employees quoted in the story put a damper on any constructive conversation that could have resulted.
Specifically, Lane McLelland of the Crossroads Community Center noted in last week’s article that Crossroads is “doing the same things that offices of diversity do on other campuses.” I have tremendous respect for Ms. McLelland and the work done by Crossroads, but this statement is categorically untrue.
By their own admission, Crossroads Community Center does not hold the same institutional authority at the University that offices of diversity do on other campuses. An Office of Diversity is typically led by a vice president of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs, something we don’t have at the University. The job title may differ from school to school (Auburn University employs both an associate provost of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs and an assistant provost for Women’s Initiatives, for example), but the function remains largely the same: ensuring diversity in curricula, maintaining a diverse faculty and staff, and overseeing diversity programs on campus.
Crossroads Community Center was created to foster dialogue and build coalitions between previously existing groups on campus. One such group named in last week’s story was Spectrum, the undergraduate LGBTQ student group. Having in the past served as Spectrum’s president, I can say with experience that relying so heavily on undergraduates to provide multicultural and diversity programs on campus is not only a way for the University to avoid institutionalizing and funding such programs, but also an unfair burden to place on undergraduate students.
How many more diversity related scandals will this University be implicated in before we begin to make institutional changes to be better? Whether they are cognizant of this or not, UA administration benefits from having a student body that is unaware of how Diversity and Multicultural Affairs are institutionalized at other schools. I urge students to join me in questioning why we must continually come in last place with regards to the way our school values, or more accurately, ignores the importance of diversity.
For a school of our clout and size, it is unheard of for the University not to have an Office of Diversity. More importantly, for a school of our history, it is shameful.
Noah Cannon is a junior majoring in telecommunication and film.
