President's Preamble

In Willamette's Mission Statement, we state that in all of its pursuits, Willamette University "cherishes the dignity and worth of all individuals and strives to reflect the diversity of our world."

The University's Long-Range Plan, adopted by the Board of Trustees in 2001, incorporates five major University goals, including the goal of Strengthening Diversity, as follows:

Commitment to diversity is needed as a visible expression of our collective worldview and the world in which we live. It is essential to quality education and supports our sense of moral duty to overcome racism, bigotry and discrimination in all forms. Thus, we must invest in people, programs and activities to strengthen our appreciation of and commitment to diversity.

Diversity matters.

The different points of view that emerge from diverse cultural heritages and ethnic backgrounds enlarge our aesthetic horizons, enrich our intellectual discourse, sharpened our historical perspective and give increased focus to who we are and what we stand for as a nation.

These important ends are best met within a context of learning that is multi-dimensionally. One of the outcomes of a good college education is that it should prepare its graduates to succeed in a work environment that is increasingly diverse and global in many of its dimensions. America's future will depend, in large measure, on the capacity of people with increasingly different cultures, backgrounds and skin color to study, to live and to work together.

Our commitment to diversity must be co-joined to our commitment to social justice, which includes not only underrepresented minorities and students of color but low-income students, many of whom are finding it increasingly difficult to afford the college of their choice.

Foremost, as we renew our commitment to diversity and social justice it is important that our perspective extend beyond the notion of diversity as an end related merely to the composition of the student body and include an ideal that embraces diversity as a core value intrinsically connected to our educational mission.

During the last five years, we have made very good progress in our efforts to enhance and support diversity at Willamette. An almost two fold increase in the percentage of undergraduate students of color, the establishment of the Lausanne Fellowship, the creation of a Native American lecture series, a small but steady increase in women and faculty of color, the American Ethnic Studies Program, the Willamette Academy and other outreach programs are examples of movement in the right direction.

However, there is much work still to be done.

During the fall term 2006-07, a group of students calling themselves the Concerned Students for Social Justice formed, organizing protests on campus and asking the Willamette community to take actions to reaffirm a commitment to values of diversity and social justice.

In response to these students concerns, I established a Council on Diversity and Social Justice (CDSJ), whose membership broadly represents the faculty, students and staff of the University.

The purpose of the CDSJ is to deepen the University�s commitment to diversity through a four-point framework suggested in a joint diversity project of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) and the James Irvine Foundation.

• Institutional viability and vitality characterizes an institution's capacity to plan, implement and evaluate comprehensive diversity work (e.g., centrality of diversity in the mission and institutional planning, diversity in the composition of faculty and staff, history of diversity issues and incidents, and so on).
• Education and Scholarship involves establishing courses with significant diversity of content as well as faculty engagement with diversity issues and student learning outcomes related to diversity.
• Access and Success relates to the ways in which institutions measure student success using a variety of benchmarks (e.g., graduation performance, retention and honors, pursuit of advanced degrees).
• Campus Climate and Inter-group Relations encompasses the type and quality of social interactions among students, faculty and staff. ¹

While it is clear that individuals, groups and offices at Willamette are engaged in each of these key areas, the purpose of the CDSJ is to coordinate these disparate activities into a well defined and clearly understood set of goals that are habitually measured and assessed.

The CDSJ is off to a good start under the leadership of Charlie Wallace. Among its many projects are a resource guide on diversity and social justice and a Mini-grant program for students and staff. A faculty grant program is also in the works.

With the assistance of faculty, students and staff of good will I am confident that we have the capacity to become an even better institution of higher learning.

11-7-07

¹ Making a Real Difference with Diversity: A Guide to Institutional Change, Alma R. Clayton-Pedersen, Sharon Parker, Daryl G. Smith, Jose R. Moreno, and Daniel Hiroyuki Teraguchi, Association of American Colleges and Universities, 2007)