President’s Commission on Diversity
April 27, 2006
Room 103 Main Building
Minutes
Members Present: Linda Rakes, Weijia Ren, Gwen Christopher, Bessie Guerrant,
Ricardo Nazario-Colón, Jaime Nebbitt, Mary-Bolin Reece, Lars Bjork, Jim Wims, Mary
Bolin-Reece, Bonnie Mitchell, Harold Kleinert, Greg Pitch, Karen Slaymaker
Members Absent: Tracy Bonilla, Reb. Bob Brown, Laverne Carter, Sandra Chambers,
Jeff Jones, Marilyn Lyons, Mwabi Murdock, , Melanie Otis, Kathy Sheppard-Jones
Guests Present: Dr. William H. Turner, Dr. Phil Kramer and Quentin Tyler, College of
Agriculture who attended on behalf of Dr. Lionel Williamson. Dr. Williamson is going
to be a new member of the President’s Commission on Diversity.
Call to Order & Minutes:
The meeting was called to order at 11:45am on April 27, 2006 in Room 103 of the Main
Building. Jaime Nebbitt, Co-Chair, introduced Linda Rakes, the new STEPS
administrative support associate in the position of Pam Bischoff, and Weijia Ren, the
PCD’s new graduate research assistant. Jaime announced that Quentin Tyler was joining
the members from the College of Agriculture and was sitting in on behalf of Dr. Lionel
Williamson. Jaime announced that Dr. Willliamson will be on the Commission as a
faculty member.
Ricardo Nazario-Colón welcomed the members back and asked everyone to introduce
themselves briefly to the group.
Bessie Guerrant reported that she had just been elected to the Board of Governors for the
National Conference on Immigrant Research with a 3-4 year appointment with an option
for additional years.
Minutes:
Ricardo asked Commissioners for a motion for approval of the 3/24/06 minutes. A
motion for approval was made by Gwen Christopher and seconded by Mary Bolin-Reece.
The March 24, 2006 PCD meeting minutes were approved with no revisions by a
unanimous vote.
Subcommittees Update:
Ricardo stated that after the February meeting it was decided that the subcommittees
would be structured to work in 3 categories as part of the goals for the Commission;
Student Development, Faculty Diversity Recruitment and Community Relations. Several
meetings for these groups were scheduled but due to conflicts throughout the semester,
they did not occur. Ricardo suggested that in order for these to be viable groups we need
a commitment to coordinate within the committee via email or phone to begin the process
of identifying some key areas of these subcommittees that we are going to focus on. We
would like for this to build into our Retreat for August. We would like to go into our
retreat with a foundation that we can work on these two days so that we can make a
recommendation to the President and hopefully continue to do the work. Ricardo advised
that he and Jaime would talk to those interested in leading this subcommittee work so
they could be the point person in order for things to move along and not fall apart,
especially with summer break.
Faculty Recruitment Subcommittee: Lars Bjork, Harold Kleinert and Bessie Guerrant.
Ricardo advised that he and Jaime would be serving on all committees in some capacity.
Community Outreach:
Ricardo questioned how many members would be away for the summer for a significant
amount of time in order for him to consider in terms of coordinating 1 or 2 short meetings
which would be ideal to build a foundation.
For the Faculty Group, Ricardo announced that there was a great book, “Faculty
Diversity” by Joann Moody. This book outlines a number of strategies and areas of
concerns when it comes to faculty diversity and proposes some interesting ways to
address these issues. This will be a good resource and an easy read. The President’s
Commission on Diversity will have copies for the members on the committee and will be
notified when these books are ready for distribution.
In addition to this book, Ricardo reported that an additional book entitled “What Makes
Racial Diversity Work in Higher Education: Academic Leaders Present Successful
Policies and Strategies: has been ordered. This is an edited book of essays which present
successful policies and strategies with regard to diversity in higher education. Some of
the contributors to this book were Dr. Samuel Betances, who was the keynote speaker at
the President’s Awards for Diversity Awards Ceremony, Dr. Rick Turner, head of
Multicultural Affairs at the University of Virginia, which has the distinction of
graduating 86% African American cohorts, Dr. Frank Hale, Ohio State, who was
instrumental in the development of a cultural center which has been named the Frank
Hale Cultural Center on their campus and, several other distinguished key people at key
institutions that have been instrumental in best practices and policies all of which our
group can relate to and see how these ideas could possibly work for us on our campus.
Ricardo introduced a handout from the American Council on Education and American
Association of University Professors, “Does Diversity Make a Difference”. Ricardo
suggested that while those present probably did not “need” this information that it is part
of the background and foundation that everyone should have so we can speak of one
mind when we communicate and we can communicate the same message across the
board. Copies were available for everyone present.
In addition, Ricardo introduced copies of two (2) booklets of very interesting works that
came out of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the
National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges. The title is about
the Now Is The Time: Meeting The Challenge For A Diverse Academy. One booklet is
an overview and the other is a manual. These documents provide a format that if this
were the right pick for this university we could start utilizing this manual now. Ricardo
suggested that everyone on the Commission needs to have a copy. He suggested that the
members read these booklets and afterwards to give their opinions in terms of how they
felt about the documents and about the research.
Ricardo suggested that for the other subcommittees they will work on getting a
foundation of background literature as well and should be getting that to them for reading
over the summer
Ricardo asked for any questions or concerns regarding the subcommittees that are in
place. Mary Bolin-Reece asked whether we had tentative dates for the August Retreat. It
was reported that the dates have not yet been chosen however, the dates used in the past
were the first or second week of August. Jaime suggested possibly August 4th and 5th or,
the following week of August 11th and 12th. The goal is to have as many present at the
retreat as possible and Ricardo asked for everyone to check their calendars to see which
dates would work best.
Update on Cultural Competency Conference: Jaime Nebbitt reported that there was
another planning meeting earlier in the month and that it was still in the early stages. She
advised there were several people they were trying to bring in but have not finalized
anyone yet. The Commission is going to assist with the Conference in some way and as
soon as things are finalized Jaime will let the Commission know. Jaime further advised
that they are open to having a separate day i.e., a Saturday morning activity for faculty
based on the Diversity Stride model from the University of Michigan. Bessie Guerrant
advised that they wanted to provide sessions for faculty and piggyback on something that
has been successful for a number of years. They are open and excited about the ideas
from various models and that what they have heard from the various models is that this
should start at the top level and we should be communicated to the Deans. Jaime said
that the tentative date for this is set for August 25th (Student portion) and August 26th
from 9:00-Noon (Faculty component).
Update on Task Force on Racial Equality & Diversity: Jaime reported that there was
a brief meeting on March 2, 2006, and the interviews that were discussed have begun and
they are beginning to work on the focus groups for these. There are approximately 5 or 6
people who are conducting these interviews.
Task Force on Racial Equality & Diversity:
Ricardo recognized our guest speakers, Dr. William H. Turner and Dr. Phil Kramer,
members of the Task Force on Racial Equality and Diversity. Their work intersects with
that of the Commission’s work and they wanted to have a meeting of the minds to advise
us on what they are doing, how we could work together and how the two different groups
could move along toward achieving the same goals which is the institutionalization of
diversity on this campus.
Speakers:
Dr. Bill Turner thanked the members for the honor given to him for the President’s
Award on Diversity in the area of administrator. Dr. Turner came to UK after having
transferred from Southeast Community College in Harland County, KY where he grew
up. He came to UK in 1966 and moved in and out of UK and stated there had been quite
a few interesting things that have happened throughout these past forty years. Dr. Turner
came back to UK in 1978 after finishing graduate school and began teaching in the Dept.
of Sociology. Dr. Turner left the state of Kentucky in 1982 and returned to Kentucky in
2003 as the Interim President of KY State. In the spring of 2004, he had a conversation
with one of his fellow classmate from the class of 1968, Lee T. Todd, Jr. Dr. Todd asked
Dr. Turner to come back to UK and work for him. The first position discussed was that
Dr. Turner would head up an Honors College. However, Dr. Todd later advised Dr.
Turner that he was going to combine a couple of positions for him. In addition to being
an Associate Provost of Multicultural and African Affairs he added being the Vice
President of the University of Initiatives. For the past two years, this has been Dr.
Turner’s work. He indicated that while it had been fun, it too had been challenging. He
referred to the biggest challenge he faced in Multicultural Affairs was that the office had
changed from minority affairs, which was meant to focus on black issues with black
students, to changes which came about with the Michigan case in 2003 which determined
that all race specific admissions and financial aid policies were considered
unconstitutional. Dr. Turner said that in 2002, Lester Motts, Senior Vice President for
Diversity at the University of Michigan came to UK to consult on the Office of Minority
Affairs. He left a report stating that UK should change the name to the Office of
Multicultural and Academic Affairs in order to reflect a broad and conclusive approach to
student and cultural programming.
Dr. Turner returned to UK in 2004. Dr. Turner made the assessment after coming back to
UK that diversity was everywhere but only “the thickness of a human hair” and, there
seemed to be very little collaboration and management with regard to diversity on the
campus. There was little communication between the people who were responsible for
diversity even though the President’s Commission came about in 2002. Dr. Turner stated
that right after he came on board at UK, and before he could get a grasp on things, the
President’s Chair for Diversity, Dr. Deneese Jones, Chair, President’s Commission on
Diversity, was leaving UK and the question of who would be leading this group was left
unanswered. Then, in October of 2005, there was a dramatic drop in the coming of black
students to campus.
Dr. Turner said he was very pleased to be a part of the Equal Opportunity Panel and the
Task Force on Racial Equality & Diversity as well as the part of the work Phil Kramer is
doing. Prior to this, Dr. Turner stated there was a strategic mismatch between the office
of multicultural and academic affairs which had its staff dedicated to the identification
and recruitment of black students. Dr. Turner advised that he and Dr. Kramer are in the
process of realigning their work toward the fact that the future is here now where they
have to recontecturalize race and that the matters that were important in the past (when
Dr. Turner was here in 1966) is a whole different set of issues today. Dr. Turner
expressed his confidence in Dr. Todd as he believes he is committed to what we are
trying to do in relation to diversity and feels that within a month when the new Provost,
Dr. Swamee, gets here, that things will be much different. Dr. Turner believes that with
the new Provost will come a top level leadership who will give strong leadership to the
Deans and in turn will become a more positive leadership group to meet the common
objectives regarding the diversity needs on our campus. Until the Provost is on board,
Dr. Turner believes that the university will continue with a lack of energy and hesitant to
take a position on diversity.
Dr. Phil Kramer stated that the Task Force that Dr. Turner chaired adds a contribution as
does the President’s Commission on Diversity. Dr. Kramer advised that at the present
time, no one is accountable for the diversity issues on campus but he believes that when
the new Provost is here that these issues will be addressed and in turn will go to the
Dean’s level to be carried out. Dr. Kramer referred to Dr. Jones’ Diversity Plan with
regard to addressing the issues of diversity on our campus. He suggested that when there
is a chief executive officer in place there needs to be accountability, presumably on the
Dean’s level. Currently there is no mechanism in place for this. Dr. Kramer further
believes that diversity needs to be recognized as an academic resource.
Mary Bolin-Reece stated she was glad that the report Dr. Jones gave was brought up
because this report was an amazing one however, nothing was done with the report and it
was good to know that it was still alive and being considered. Ricardo stated he believed
this too was important. He said that he and Jaime had been working diligently trying to
make sense out of the Diversity Plan. He handed out copies of the missing Diversity
Plan’s Best Practices Grid and subgroups that went along with the grid. He suggested
that this was a sample of what should happen with the Diversity Plan. He explained how
the grid was categorized and that it defined where our campus was in terms of each
category. He suggested this was one component that was missing on how to implement
the Diversity Plan. Ricardo further explained that there had been no feedback from the
President’s office on how he perceived this Plan. He believed this could have come
about during the time Dr. Jones left. Ricardo suggested that we need to get the
President’s feel on this Plan and possibly the new Provost as well so as to determine who
will be ultimately responsible for the implementation and study of this Diversity Plan.
Dr. Turner proposed that prior to the new Provost coming to campus he would be willing
to make calls to see who would be around in May and June and suggested that if we
could get 4 people from the commission and 4 from campus to meet and implement a
plan, it could be presented to the new Provost as a plan for diversity issues on the
campus.
Motion: With these suggestions a motion was brought to the floor regarding ownership
of the Diversity Plan and the process for implementing it. Bessie Guerrant made a
motion to agree that the two groups would work together on the Diversity Plan and move
then toward the summer work groups. The motion was seconded by Harold Klienrt.
Prior to the motion being passed, Jim Wims questioned exactly what issues would be
worked on with regard to the Diversity Plan. Jaime advised that some of the issues
within the Plan had already been done. Bessie suggested that we needed to present to the
new Provost a proposal for him to take our Diversity Plan as presented and as a basis for
which he could carry out the plan and that he would hold people accountable with
consequences, if the Plan was not carried out as presented to him.
It was decided by the members that by mid-June a meeting with Dr. Todd would be
scheduled in an attempt to gain approval of the Diversity Plan prior to recommending the
Plan to the new Provost. Further, that it would be helpful to give the President strategies
of handling other areas of the Plan that the Provost would not be handling.
After the above discussion, the motion on the floor passed unanimously.
Meeting adjourned at 12:55p.m.