PART C
CAMPUS DIVERSITY INITIATIVE
PROPOSAL NARRATIVE
I.
THE INSTITUTION
A. MISSION, HISTORY, GOAL, DIVERSITY PRINCIPLES, AND MULTICULTURALVISION
Mission of Scripps College
At Scripps College, the mission statement is much more than an official
pronouncement; it is an intensely felt statement of purpose. Seventy-five years
ago, in words that have become the institution’s touchstone, the College’s 89
year-old founder and namesake, Ellen Browning Scripps, bequeathed her
wisdom to the generations of young women who would benefit from her inspired
largesse.
The paramount obligation of a college is to develop in its
students the ability to think clearly and independently, and
the ability to live confidently, courageously and hopefully.
Ellen Browning Scripps, 1926
Having begun her professional life in the traditional role of a schoolteacher, Miss
Scripps became a path-breaking journalist and publisher, joining her brothers in
Detroit, where they founded the Detroit Evening News. A shrewd investor, she
helped her brothers develop the business into the Scripps-Howard newspaper
chain and United Press International. Miss Scripps celebrated her success with
philanthropy, enhancing the quality of life in her community and providing
educational opportunity for America’s young adults. Her financial generosity laid
the bricks and mortar for the first buildings of Scripps College and secured the
land on which the three newest of The Claremont Colleges would be built –
Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, and Pitzer.
When Miss Scripps addressed the educational needs and aspirations of women
in words that became the College’s mission statement, hers was the voice of
experience and accomplishment. Now, as then, we draw inspiration from her
example and her message.
In 1995, the College added a coda to Miss Scripps’ rousing declaration. The
founder spoke of the attributes that young women should acquire as a result of
their Scripps education; the coda addresses the desire for young women to apply
those qualities to their lives as students and alumnae through active engagement
in both the academic community and society.
The mission of Scripps College is to educate women to develop their intellect and
talents through active participation in a community of scholars, so that as
graduates, they may contribute to society through public and private lives of
leadership, service, integrity, and creativity.
Scripps College, 1995
The Evolution of the Goal of Scripps College
The goal of Scripps College has evolved over the seventy-five years of its
history, just as the accepted roles of women in society have expanded, and the
College has grown stronger academically and financially. The College’s original
leaders aspired for Scripps to become a regional alternative to the Seven Sisters,
and its leaders in the less distant past strove for the College to become among
the best women’s colleges in the nation. Scripps’ current leadership has
established a much more auspicious goal: Scripps is to become America’s
premier liberal arts college.
The transformation of Scripps from 1926 to 2000 attests to the empowerment of
women through education and the College’s maturation as an academic
institution. While Miss Scripps affirmed her desire that Scripps women be clear
and independent thinkers, she left the educational policy of the College to its
board of trustees. As historian Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz has observed in her
study of women’s colleges, Alma Mater, academic planning at Scripps focused
on “the educational needs of post-war [World
War I] women and the kind of environment for their proper development.” The
board intended that Scripps offer an education designed to “train her for the
fullest and richest life that she herself may have, as well as the chance to give to
society her greatest contribution.” Horowitz decoded this message for
contemporary readers: Women “might combine work (‘contribution’) with
marriage and children (‘fullest and richest life’).”
In subsequent years, the academic plan of the College was modified in
accordance with the more progressive thinking regarding the appropriate role of
women in society. Scripps graduated many women who went on to become
teachers, physicians, scientists, and leaders in other professions and the arts.
Yet, as late as 1983, the WASC Visiting Team observed:
The institution seems to be struggling most with the question of what is, or ought
to be, the distinctive identity of Scripps as a small humanities-oriented liberal arts
college for women who are preparing for an adult life that will include a career
outside the home. Scripps seems to have always struggled with an image of
being a finishing school where students might to outsiders at neighboring
colleges seem “refined, soft, demure; non-athletic, a little immature; but articulate
and bright” when within the College young women receive significant
encouragement to challenge, to question, to assert, and to lead in traditional as
well as in non-traditional ways.
It is the view of the students and of the
professionals interviewed that Scripps needs to do more to project the image of
being dynamic, vibrant, and powerful. There are women in the College who are
excellent models for this 1980’s image, including administrators, faculty, and
upperclasswomen who have made a conscious choice to remain and grow at
Scripps, and the institution needs to project a public image more consistent with
the one held by a majority of women currently at the institution.
The appointment of Nancy Y. Bekavac as Scripps’ first woman president in 1990,
testified to the College’s evolving sense of itself as an institution for women. Not
only would Scripps educate articulate, bright, and accomplished women who
projected the image of being dynamic, vibrant, and powerful, their president
would exemplify these very characteristics.
Remedying the lingering finishing school image was but one of the several
challenges that Scripps faced during the 1990s. When Nancy Bekavac became
President, Scripps was financially imperiled, in the process of modifying its
academic plan, struggling to recruit qualified students, and seeking to diversify its
student body, faculty, and curriculum.
By 1993, President Bekavac, among others, realized that in order to achieve the
College’s mission and to achieve its then current goal--to become the college of
choice for the most academically promising young women in the western United
States--Scripps would need to reimagine and reinvent itself while drawing upon
its historic strengths and unique character. A representative group of faculty,
staff, students, and trustees responded to the challenge in 1995 with A Plan for
Scripps College: More Distinguished and Distinctive Education for Women. The
planning document advanced an ambitious goal:
By the year 2001, Scripps College will be recognized as one of three premier
women’s colleges and, in academic excellence, one of the top 25 liberal arts
colleges in the United States.
Scripps College, 1995
From 1995-2000, the College grew stronger both academically and financially as
it pursued the strategies and tactics advanced in the Strategic Plan. While the
student population grew, the quality of the student body, as measured by
standardized test scores and grade point averages, substantially increased.
Enhanced student preparation and academic expectations, in turn, encouraged
faculty to adapt their courses to meet the needs of more intellectually demanding
students. The faculty also responded to the changing student population with
new intellectual constructs and pedagogical practices, most notably, the new
Core Curriculum in Interdisciplinary Studies. Introduced in 1996, the three-
sequence course has strengthened the sense and reality of community at
Scripps by providing a rigorous shared academic experience that includes indepth consideration of various cultures and perspectives. It is the intellectual
basis for all discussions of diversity at Scripps.
In 2000, Scripps’ leadership assessed the College’s progress in pursuing its
strategic objectives and closely assessed the caliber of its students and
academic program as well as its economic vitality. As a result of this robust
academic and financial health, the College was emboldened to elevate its goal:
Scripps seeks to become a women’s college that offers
the best liberal arts education in the United States.
Scripps College, 2000
Strong Student Body and Academic Program Advance Scripps towards its
Goal
An assessment of the student body and academic program indicates that the
College is steadily advancing toward this goal. While the academic program was
in need of greater definition and intellectual heft in the mid-1990s, it is now
coherent and academically rigorous. The Scripps curriculum is comprised of four
parts: the three-semester Core Curriculum in Interdisciplinary Humanities (see
attachment); the General Education requirements; and the Disciplines or Area
Studies in which students major; and the Elective courses that lend breadth to a
student’s education. Scripps requires in every major a senior thesis and/or
senior art performance, which demands a thorough professional knowledge of
some subject within the major.
In addition to the Core Curriculum in Interdisciplinary Humanities, Scripps’
signature programs include: the European Union Center of California, an
important regional resource that focuses on the study of contemporary Europe;
the outstanding studio art and art history program which is enhanced by the
8,000 art objects contained in the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery; and the
Joint Science program in which Scripps participates with Claremont McKenna
and Pitzer Colleges housed at the W.M. Keck Science Center. The College
provides students with a comprehensive range of services designed to enhance
their residential and academic experience as undergraduates and to prepare
them for personal and professional success.
During the 2000-2001 academic year, Scripps has 779 students (775.63 full-time
equivalent students). These included 231 (30%) of students who identify as
ethnic minorities (Asian or Asian American, 127; African American, 22;
Chicana/Latina, 41; Native American, 5; and Other, 36). The growth in the
number of endowed scholarships available has allowed us to increase
significantly the academic quality of the student body. The students who began
their undergraduate study at Scripps this fall comprise the most outstanding
entering class in the history of the College based upon statistical measures. The
class includes 13 National Merit Finalists -- more than double the 1999 first-year
class. In addition, the class has the highest median SAT scores of any first-year
class in the history of the College; the median verbal score is 650 and the
median math score is 630. These scores reflect an increase of 10 points on the
verbal test and 10 points on the math test over last year. In addition, the grade
point average of the first-year class and the preceding class is 3.6.
Graduates of the Class of 2000 went on to graduate programs at Yale Law
School and the Stanford University JD/PhD Program, UCLA, Amherst, Boston
University, University of Chicago, London School of Economics, Cornell
University, Georgetown University Law School, University of Michigan, and
Teachers College of Columbia University, among many others. Student awards
included: a Durfee Fellowship, a Fulbright Scholarship, a Freeman Scholarship,
two Watson Fellowship, a London School of Economics Fellowship, and a
Wesley Clark Internship for Peace Studies.
B. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SCRIPPS’ MISSION AND GOAL TO ITS ASPIRATION TO
BECOME A TRULY MULTICULTURAL ACADEMIC AND RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITY
As was noted in the historical narrative that Scripps submitted to the Irvine
Foundation, from 1990 to the present, the College has worked to transform itself
demographically, socially, and intellectually by respecting tradition and by acting
upon the mandate that this tradition commands. In public pronouncements,
planning documents, policy statements, student and faculty recruitment, and in
student life, Scripps has affirmed, and continues to affirm, that an understanding
and appreciation of diverse peoples, cultures, and perspectives informs the
intellectual framework on which our institutional mission is based and is essential
to the achievement of academic excellence. Yet, despite this commitment and
the many on-going initiatives that demonstrate this commitment, the task of
creating a truly multicultural academic and residential community at Scripps
College is not completed.
The Irvine Foundation has been a catalyst for advanced diversity planning at
Scripps. Once Scripps accepted the Foundation’s invitation to begin the multistage proposal submission process, the College began a period of intensive
assessment of the climate for diversity, identification of comprehensive needs,
and consideration of solutions. The time was right for Scripps to accept the Irvine
Foundation’s challenge. Each of the senior officers and the other individuals
who comprised the Diversity Steering Committee understood the importance of
making the project a chief priority among competing priorities. Moreover, faculty,
students, staff, alumnae, and the board welcomed the opportunity to
communicate their perspectives and recommendations regarding diversity at
Scripps to the College. As a result, each campus constituency was thoroughly
engaged in the planning process and participated in a sustained dialogue that
was intensive, thought provoking, sometimes painful, but always productive. The
Foundation’s rigorous pre-proposal process was the impetus that facilitated the
College’s collective development of an integrated, comprehensive diversity plan.
Among those individuals whose views the College particularly sought during the
planning process was an African American alumna who, though she remains
connected with Scripps, has been highly critical of its approach to diversity.
While she responded enthusiastically to the commencement of diversity
planning, she cautioned:
Scripps is putting itself on the line. A lot is at stake. If this is
simply an exercise in political correctness or a means of getting
funding for the College, I will know it and other alumnae of color
will know it. And the College will lose us again. This plan has to
come from the heart.
It has. The plan emanates from the fervent desire to make Scripps the very best
that it can be; to nurture in its students a genuine respect for and understanding
of difference, in all of its forms; and to provide the most academically promising
young women -- whatever their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, degree of
physical ableness, religion, belief system or point of view--with the benefit of a
Scripps education. Developing the diversity plan has been an institutional
imperative – a step that Scripps was compelled by its mission and goal to take;
and the College has taken this momentous step with full appreciation of the
magnitude of commitment required to realize the plan’s goals, objectives, and
guiding vision.
Planning Process
On January 23, 2001, President Bekavac appointed the Diversity Steering
Committee, which was charged with the responsibility of developing the Blueprint
for Diversity, a comprehensive institutional plan to guide Scripps toward its goal
of becoming a truly multicultural academic and residential community. Members
of the committee included: Dean of Faculty Michael Lamkin (chair); Patricia
Goldsmith, vice president and dean of admission and financial aid; Professor
Julia Liss, chair, Faculty Executive Committee; Carolyn Wagner, director of
foundation and corporate relations; and Debra Wood, dean of students. In
March, the Chair of the Committee, Dean Lamkin, appointed an additional
member, Myeisha Peguero, as a student representative.
The Diversity Steering Committee drew upon the expertise and perspectives of
the Faculty Executive Committee as well as the twenty-one members of the
Scripps community who constituted the Diversity Advisory Committee. The
Committee selected these individuals based upon their participation in prior
diversity initiatives as well as the particular insights that they could provide as the
College moved forward with its diversity planning. Because the Committee
recognized that many additional members of the Scripps community had
important contributions to the planning process, Dean Lamkin urged these
individuals to contact him or any member of the Committee to communicate their
thoughts.
The Diversity Steering Committee conducted extensive research as part of the
planning process. In addition to drawing upon materials contained in the
Institutional Overview that was presented to the Irvine Foundation relative to
Scripps’ diversity experience from 1990 to 2000, the Committee drew upon the
following sources:
Confidential interviews with individual members of the Diversity Advisory
Committee
Discussions among members of the Faculty Executive Committee
Observations and recommendations presented to the Committee by the Student
Diversity Committee
OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS PRESENTED TO THE
COMMITTEE BY DR. BETTY SCHMITZ, DIVERSITY CONSULTANT AND
DIRECTOR OF THE CURRICULUM TRANSFORMATION PROJECT, AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, WHO MET WITH VARIOUS INDIVIDUALS AT
SCRIPPS FROM FEBRUARY 7 THROUGH FEBRUARY 9, 2001
Observations and recommendations presented to President Bekavac by Mr.
Robert Shireman in response to Scripps’ Institutional Overview and in
subsequent communications
The Diversity Steering Committee used the Scripps College Strategic Plan
(adopted in December, 1999) as the basis of the Blueprint for Diversity. The
Committee identified the tactics in the strategic plan that related specifically to
multiculturalism, and these tactics became the framework of the plan.
The Committee then devised a process by which various individuals drew upon
the aforementioned research and their own experience and expertise to develop
specific strategies to advance these diversity tactics (along with measures of
assessment and a timeline). In so doing, the authors of the plan were guided by
the College’s stated goal to become a women’s college that offered the best
liberal arts education in the nation. The Committee advised the authors to
develop strategies related to diversity that would advance Scripps toward its goal
of preeminence.
On March 19, 2001, Scripps College presented its preliminary Blueprint for
Diversity to the Foundation. Since that time, the plan has undergone its first
review. Scripps is committed to creating a climate for on-going planning and
assessment. Accordingly, the Blueprint for Diversity , like other planning
instruments, is regarded as a dynamic document that will be modified, as
appropriate, in accordance with institutional research and experience and
pursuant to the recommendations of individual Scripps constituencies. The
Diversity Steering Committee, and its soon-to-be-appointed successor, the
Diversity Coordinating Committee, will consult with the community at large
regarding modifications between and among all constituencies of the Scripps
community.
Principles of Diversity
As part of the diversity planning process, the Diversity Steering Committee
drafted the following statement of the Principles of Diversity on which our
multicultural initiatives are based:
An understanding and appreciation of diverse peoples, cultures, and
perspectives informs the intellectual framework on which our institutional mission
is based and is critical to Scripps’ realization of its goal to become the premier
liberal arts college in the country. The College is committed to demonstrating
that respect of differences among people is a prerequisite to achieving
institutional excellence.
Through its policies and its actions, Scripps strives to create an environment in
which acknowledging and engaging issues of race, ethnicity, religion, belief,
opinion, economic class, age, gender, sexuality, and physical ableness are
inextricably part of the experience of the campus community.
Scripps College Diversity Steering Committee, 2001
These Principles of Diversity, which serve as a prelude to the Blueprint for
Diversity, underscore and strengthen Scripps’ commitment of supporting
community among its various and diverse constituencies.
Principles of Community
As noted in the historical narrative, the College adopted the Principles of
Community in 1992 as part of its response to racially charged incidents that had
occurred at The Claremont Colleges. The Principles of Community, which are
printed in the Scripps College Catalog, and The Guide to Student Life. They
were provided to the Irvine Foundation as part of the Institutional Overview,
affirm the precepts that should govern relations among all campus populations.
Scripps College is a community of scholars: faculty, students, and staff
dedicated to the education of women and the advancement of learning.
To further this community, Scripps seeks to attract a
diverse student body and to build a diverse faculty and
staff. Our goal is to create a hospitable environment
without discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity,
religion, culture, color, beliefs, physical condition,
socioeconomic background, sexual orientation, or age.
Scripps believes that each member of the community
contributes to the learning and teaching of all and,
therefore, seeks to balance individual freedoms and
sensitivity to, and awareness of, the rights and human
dignity of others. Scripps recognizes the obligation to
respond to the acts and effects of discrimination and
bigotry by building an academic community in which
people learn to respect and value one another for their
differences.
Scripps believes that learning and teaching thrive in an environment conducive to
freedom of belief, inquiry, and speech, assuring expression of the broadest range
of opinions and beliefs. Scripps commits itself to maintaining that freedom,
subject only to regulation of time, place, and manner.
Recognizing that such expressions may offend, provoke,
and disturb, Scripps affirms its dedication to encourage
rather than limit expression. At the same time, Scripps
encourages community members to show mutual respect
and understanding and to employ reasoned civil
discourse.
Scripps seeks to secure, through its academic and community policies and
practices, through its actions and the services it provides to students, faculty, and
staff, the widest appreciation for all groups and individuals; to combat
discrimination and misunderstanding; and to forge a better and more just society.
Each member of the Scripps community affirms, by her or his continuing
participation in College life, acceptance of her or his personal responsibility and
obligation to the community in assuring that these principles are upheld in all
aspects of our lives together.
Scripps College, 1992
Vision Statement of Scripps as a Multicultural Community
As part of the diversity planning process, President Bekavac and Dean of Faculty
Michael Lamkin engaged in intensive discussions regarding their projected view
of Scripps as a multicultural academic and residential community. President
Bekavac captured their shared aspiration for the College in the following
statement:
Miss Ellen Browning Scripps’ vision for the College she founded was a stirring
one: “to develop in its students the ability to think clearly and independently, and
the ability to live confidently, courageously and hopefully.” For Scripps College
students in the 21st century, the education that fulfills this mission must include
establishing their own sense of values and guiding principles, as well as the
capacity to work with and learn from the variety of people, cultures and
viewpoints they will encounter in the United States and in emerging global
society. The interaction of each student’s own beliefs and values with those of
fellow students, faculty, staff and others encountered here at Scripps forms the
crucible in which her education will be tested. Offering a truly interactive and
multifaceted community of teachers and learners is the only way in which the
College can meet its goal of offering the best liberal arts education in America.
What will be different about a Scripps that is more diverse, more challenging,
more embracing? We know that it is not merely “adding” people of different
backgrounds to a homogenous society. It will mean that virtually every
conversation will have many more than two viewpoints; it will mean that the
underlying assumptions of every question will be probed. “Majority” members of
the community will need to change their assumptions. It will certainly mean that
the roles played by women of color, or gay students, or Muslim students, recent
immigrants or differently-abled students, will change. Each of us at Scripps will
understand that there are a variety of “markers” of identity for all students,
faculty and staff. There should be fewer occasions when a student feels she is
the “only” representative of a group on campus, or in her class, or in a social
club or sports team. By making sure there is a growing diversity not only drawn
from different groups, but including those representing differences within groups,
we will begin to break down the idea that one’s viewpoint is synonymous with
one’s race, ethnicity, neighborhood, religion, etc. We must have more of many
different kinds of students, faculty and staff, so that all of us concentrate more on
what emerges from a truly vigorous debate, one that includes points of view not
heard before.
Scripps began as a deliberate, planned college community to serve one
underserved part of society: women, who were not equally welcome at America’s
colleges and universities. Scripps College’s founder could not earn a degree
from the college she attended because she was a woman – and only men could
graduate from that college. Indeed, rooted as Scripps College is in the work of
liberating women’s minds through education, we should be even more committed
to the work of diversifying our community than most educational institutions. We
should begin to approach a time when the perceived stereotype of a “Scrippsie”
will be so complex, so layered, so invigorating, that it dissolves under even
cursory inspection. We should look forward to a time when the discussion of
stereotypes is more open, more common, and maybe even more fun.
This will require that we truly understand and commit to including at our table
members of every group, because every single person who shares our goals and
passion for women’s education can contribute to it, whatever their other
characteristics. The more different voices, the greater the music we can make.
We understand that including new people and new “kinds” of people may strain
some of our assumptions and customs. We understand it may be uncomfortable
and difficult. We understand that everyone who joins in the endeavor will need to
commit absolutely to the Principles of Community, particularly the section that
encourages “expression of the broadest range of opinions and beliefs,” while
recognizing that “such expressions may offend, provoke, and disturb.” We
welcome the necessary discomforts that will ensue, because we believe that part
of a great education is discomfort with all that we may think we know, from
whatever perspective we come. Students, faculty and staff will learn to share
their insights and ask others for help in new and different ways.
At the same time, we recognize that the young people who come to us for liberal
arts training, particularly those from the most challenging back grounds, should
not bear the burden of educating the adults who seek to serve them or the
students who seek to learn with them. We must learn to help them question,
evaluate and then assert what they hold most dear, while we attempt to truly
understand them and their experiences. All of our students should emerge with a
firm and confident “voice” of their own, even if that voice is used more to
question than to answer. All of the faculty and staff must educate ourselves, so
that we can help our students learn. Our goal is to have students think clearly
and independently, acknowledging and using a variety of perspectives. Our goal
is to have our graduates live confidently, courageously and hopefully, not
because they are certain of a particular set of truths, but because they have
learned to live with uncertainty, to balance their own strongest convictions with
the knowledge that others may not share those convictions.
Experience with Past Diversity Projects
Need for Greater Historicism
In considering how to present Scripps’ experience with past diversity projects to
the Irvine Foundation – and previously, during the course of preparing the
Institutional Overview -- it has become apparent that the College needs a greater
understanding of its historic experience in this area. Though we have
assembled extensive, albeit incomplete data related to multiculturalism at Scripps
from 1990 until the present, we have not systematically gathered documentation
and anecdotal information related to diversity at the College prior to 1990. The
College needs to create an archive of materials related to multiculturalism at
Scripps from its inception in 1926 until the present.
Work has already begun on the creation of a multicultural archive. As noted in
the Institutional Overview, students Caily Di Puma and Vivian Young completed a
study on the Integration of African Americans at Scripps College, under the
supervision of Professor Rita Roberts, and they are providing the Ella Strong
Denison Library with the research that they compiled preparatory to making their
documentary film. Ms. Young and Ms. Di Puma plan to expand their study to
include members of additional underrepresented groups. The Young/Di Puma
film has sparked tremendous interest among students, faculty, alumnae, board,
and staff that is likely to generate more historical studies at Scripps.
As part of the commemoration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of
Scripps, a history of the College is being written. The authors of this study are
Professor of Art History Bruce Coats and Judy Harvey Sahak, Denison Librarian,
Scripps historian, and Scripps alumna. They have conveyed to the Seventy-Fifth
Anniversary Committee and the Diversity Steering Committee their intent to
include Scripps’ experience with multiculturalism as part of their study,
recognizing that considerable research will remain
to be conducted after the publication of the history in 2002. It is the College’s
intent that subsequent editions of the history will be updated to incorporate new
research.
Scripps College Diversity Timeline - In Progress
1959
Adrian Jones becomes first known African American to enroll at Scripps
1966
Doris Uku of Nigeria first African to graduate from Scripps
1969
Intercollegiate Center of Black Studies established
1969
Chicano/Latino Student Association established
1970
Anne Reuter and Elvira Yvonne Moss are first African Americans to
graduate
from Scripps
1989
V. Barbara Bush, dean of students, named first African American dean
at Scripps College
1990
Nancy Y. Bekavac, named first woman president
1990
Margaret Raffin’68 named first Asian American trustee
1990
Daniel Garcia named first Latino trustee
1991
Multicultural requirement adopted
1992
Principles of Community approved
1992
Academic Plan approved
Policy on Discrimination and Harassment adopted
1993
Jacquelyn Mitchell named first African American Dean of Faculty
1993
Kevin Scott named first African American trustee
1993
Asian/Asian American Student Union established
Scripps Endorsed WASC Policy Statement on Diversity
Women’s Studies Requirement adopted
1996
Intercultural requirement adopted (replacing multicultural requirement)
New Core Curriculum in Interdisciplinary Humanities adopted
The Claremont Colleges approved Statement on Affirmative Action, 1966
1997
Barbara Arnwine’73 named first African American Distinguished Alumna
1997
Edith Serrano ’97 named first Latina to serve as Student Trustee
Board of Trustees’ Resolution on Diversity adopted
Faculty Statement on Diversifying the Faculty adopted
1998 Lynne Thompson ’72 named first African American President of the
Alumnae Association
1999
Multicultural Educators Program adopted
2000 Ofelia Velazquez named first Latina President of the Alumnae
Association
2001
Principles of Diversity adopted
2001
Vision of Scripps as a Multicultural Community adopted
2001
Blueprint for Diversity adopted
Past Projects
To date, initiatives relating to the promotion of multiculturalism at Scripps have
been funded primarily through the operating budget rather than through external
sources. Accordingly, the initiatives have been programmatic rather than
discrete projects. The College has been successful in offering students from
underrepresented groups financial assistance through scholarships established
by Scripps alumnae, other friends of the College, and corporations and
foundations. Currently Scripps provides ten scholarships designated for students
of underrepresented groups. Corporations offer five of these scholarships
through thee auspices of the Independent Colleges of Southern California;
Scripps alumnae of their family members established the remaining five
scholarships.
II.
CHALLENGES AND OVERALL INSTITUtIONAL PLANS
Scripps sets forth in detail its comprehensive diversity plan in the Blueprint for
Diversity. As is apparent from the first draft of the document that was provided to
the Irvine Foundation on March 19, 2001, the diversity plan is comprehensive
and detailed. The document sets forth initiatives that will further specific
objectives to promote multiculturalism throughout every aspect of the College
over the next several academic years. For the purposes of this proposal, Scripps
focuses on the several priorities that the College regards as the most critical: the
composition of the student body, the composition of the faculty and the nature
and quality of the courses that they offer, and Multicultural Programming and
Staffing. The focus on these specific priorities does not minimize the College’s
commitment to the many other initiatives that are outlined in the Blueprint.
A.
INCREASED NUMBER OF FACULTY WHO ARE AFRICAN AMERICAN, LATINO/A, AND
ASIAN AMERICAN
Background
In 2000, of a total faculty of 58, 11 are from underrepresented ethnic or racial
groups. These include 5 Latino/as, 2 African Americans and 4 Asian or Asian
Americans. While the College succeeded in diversifying the faculty in
accordance with previously reported ethnic and racial measures by six
individuals over a ten-year period, the gain fell below our aspirations.
1990-1991
Asian American
African American
Latino
Total faculty
1
2
3
1994-1995
1997-1998
4
2
59
2000
2
2
3
58
4
2
4
56
5
58
The preceding chart indicates that Scripps succeeded in diversifying the faculty
in accordance with previously reported ethnic and racial measures by six
individuals over a ten-year period. The data does not include the significant
number of faculty who self-identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. It is also
important to note that over the ten-year time period of this study, the
methodology for counting faculty and categorizing ethnic and racial background
has varied.
This year (2000-2001), Scripps hired a new faculty member in Economics and
made two (joint appointments) in Chemistry and Biology. All three are women;
one is Latina and another is Asian American. Because Scripps’ faculty is
relatively small in size and 70% tenured, vacancies are few. When vacancies do
occur, academic departments make rigorous efforts to design positions that
would attract candidates from underrepresented groups. Further, the College
actively recruits qualified minority candidates in accordance with faculty
recruitment policy and procedures. Nonetheless, these initiatives are no
guarantee that the search will yield a successful candidate who is a member of a
minority group.
Scripps plans to increase the number of faculty from underrepresented groups by
continuing and implementing the following initiatives.
Current Initiatives
Faculty Recruitment Policies and Procedures
The faculty will continue the implementation of several policies and procedures
that relate to the recruitment of faculty from underrepresented groups guided by
the strong conviction advanced in its Statement of Diversity (1998):
The Faculty believes that the future quality of our institution depends on our
ability to achieve greater diversity. The presence on campus of a greater
number of faculty from underrepresented groups would enhance the intellectual
life of the College, promote intercultural understanding, and provide new kinds of
role models and mentors to all our students. Diversification, moreover, would
help Scripps in keeping up with the changing emphases of contemporary U.S.
scholar- ship as well as with the current and predicted demographics of this
state. Although the College has already stated its intention in this regard, this
goal will not be met without active, creative, and renewed commitment on the
part of all of us.
Scripps will conduct faculty searches in accordance with procedures set forth in
the Statement of Diversity and by following the recommendations that Professors
Sheila Walker and Amy Marcus Newhall advanced in Resources for Recruiting
Minority Faculty (1999). Scripps will also continue to consider faculty position
descriptions in light of the College’ s desire to create a more intercultural
curriculum and a more diverse faculty. The projected outcome of the continued
implementation of these policies and procedures is the successful recruitment of
an increased number of faculty from underrpresented populations and the
retention of these faculty.
Initiatives planned for 2001-2002
Cluster Hires/Hiring Incentives Fund
Multi-faculty hires that occur outside of the typical hiring schedule in order for the
College to pursue specific institutional objectives are commonly referred to as
“cluster hires.” In 2001-2002, Scripps will begin the two-year process of
planning, implementing, and completing six faculty searches for assistant
professors, with the Irvine Foundation “forward-funding” four of them. The
Foundation’s forward-funding of four of the six cluster hires will enable Scripps to
employ four new professors from underrepresented groups earlier than would
otherwise be possible and in a more concentrated period of time. The College
will scrupulously apply faculty search policies and procedures to increase the
possibility that the successful candidates for new positions will be qualified
individuals from underrepresented groups.
The Faculty Executive Committee will consider and approve position descriptions
for the two new positions for which Scripps seeks the Foundation ’s funding in
fall, 2001, and searches for these positions will ensue throughout the 2001-2002
academic year. It is hoped that the initial two faculty will be successfully
recruited by spring 2002 and that they will begin their service at Scripps by the
beginning of the 2002-2003 academic year.
The College will, pending external funding from the Irvine Foundation, establish a
hiring incentives fund that will enable Scripps to recruit more aggressively the
candidates from underrepresented groups to fill the aforementioned positions.
These monies will be used for program start-up costs and/or research and fully
paid fourth-year sabbaticals.
The projected outcome of the cluster hires and the hiring incentive fund is the
long-term diversification of the Scripps faculty and curriculum and the resultant
enrichment of the College community.
Faculty Exchange Program with Historically Black College
During 2001-2002, Scripps will also investigate the possibility of implementing a
faculty exchange program with an historically Black college in order to increase
the diversity of its faculty and curriculum on a short-term basis.
Initiatives planned for 2002-2003
Cluster Hires/Hiring Incentive Fund
During fall 2002, pending the support of the Irvine Foundation, the first of two
sets of new faculty members will begin their professorial responsibilities. The
Faculty Executive Committee will consider and approve position descriptions for
the two remaining new positions at the assistant professor level that will be made
possible through faculty retirements. Once having secured the Faculty
Executive Committee’s approval of the position descriptions, the searches will
begin. Once again, the College will carefully apply faculty search policies and
procedures to maximize the possibility that the successful candidate for each
new position will be an individual from an underrepresented group. Further, the
search committees will have the ability to offer the aforementioned recruiting
incentives to favored candidates to increase Scripps’ competitive position in the
marketplace.
Initiatives planned for 2003-2004
Cluster Hires/Hiring Incentive Fund
During fall 2003, the second cluster of two new faculty members will begin their
professorial responsibilities. As with the first two new faculty to join the Scripps
community, these latest hires will have been recruited on the basis of the
previously mentioned hiring incentives.
B.
INCREASED DIVERSITY IN COURSE OFFERINGS
Background
Scripps requires that each student complete an intercultural requirement in order
to earn her degree. The requirement consists of one course that specifically
examines intercultural issues, focusing on underrepresented groups in the
context of the United States. Intercultural courses examine the relation of
underrepresented groups relative to the dominant group or other
underrepresented groups through the focused, in-depth study of a particular
topic. The goal of these courses is to provide students with an awareness of
others’ cultural experiences.
Courses that the faculty have approved to fulfill this requirement are identified in
each semester's registration handbook. At present, Scripps offers 19 courses
that are formally regarded as intercultural. To add a course to the pre-approved
list of intercultural courses, students must submit courses (including a syllabus)
by petition to the Committee on Academic Review. On average, eight to twelve
students an academic year petition to take courses to meet the intercultural
requirement off campus. Accordingly, Scripps has identified a need for its faculty
to develop additional intercultural courses.
It is important to note that Scripps seeks to provide its students with an in-depth
understanding of a multitude of cultures both through intercultural courses and
other courses that do not formally bear the intercultural course distinction. The
College offers many courses that include the relative comparison of groups
though this analysis may not be their primary focus. In addition, various classes
consider multiple populations, while intercultural courses most frequently
compare two specific groups. Moreover, intercultural issues are integrated
throughout Scripps’ mandatory Core Curriculum in Interdisciplinary Studies.
Though a student must complete just one intercultural course and one women’s
studies course – and many more than satisfy this mandate -- by the time she has
completed the three semester Core, the student has, in essence, satisfied a
second intercultural requirement and a second women’s studies requirement. In
short, it is the College’s intent that intercultural perspectives and subjects
pervade its curriculum; despite the accomplishments Scripps has made in this
area, as set forth in the historical narrative, the academic program requires even
an even greater suffusion of intercultural content.
Current Initiatives
Intercultural Requirement, Humanities Institute, Asian American Speakers
Series, and
Core Curriculum in Interdisciplinary Studies
Under the direction of Dean of Faculty Lamkin, the College will continue
implementation of the intercultural requirement in order to increase diversity in
curriculum and multicultural understanding among students, continue
multicultural programming through the Humanities Institute in order to promote
diversity in the curriculum and multicultural understanding. In addition, the
faculty will re-consider the Core Curriculum in Interdisciplinary Studies in light of
the observation of some underrepresented students that they are presented as
“the other” in Core courses.
Initiatives planned for 2001-2002 and 2002-2003
Workshops in Intercultural Course Development
Pending funding from the Irvine Foundation, Dean Lamkin will coordinate the
implementation of a workshop presented by an external expert during the 20012002 academic year that will assist Scripps faculty in developing new courses
with intercultural content and modifying existing courses to incorporate
intercultural foci and perspectives. The College will either allocate funds from its
operating budget or secure external funds for another workshop convener to
come to campus in 2002-2003. Scripps will award five grants during 2001-2002
and five grants in 2002-2003 to:
Professors who attend the workshops and commit to designing and offering new
courses within two years of completing the workshop that meet Scripps’
intercultural requirement as well as
Professors who commit to modifying existing courses to enhance intercultural
content within the first year of completing the workshop.
Further, under the direction of the Dean of Faculty, the ten faculty who have
received grants will convene an intensive session during the 2002-2003
academic year to share with Scripps faculty the information that they learned as
a result of their participation in the workshop that the external convener
presented.
The projected outcome of this initiative is a more diverse curriculum and greater
intercultural understanding. While it is difficult to project the number of
intercultural courses that the faculty will develop as a result of this initiative, the
College anticipates that five of the ten workshop participants will develop courses
that will be designated as intercultural courses while the other five participants
will demonstrably modify their courses as a result of their workshop experience.
Further, the College anticipates that an additional fifteen faculty who participate
in the internal workshop convened by the ten recipients of faculty grants, will
modify their courses to include more intercultural content as a result of their
involvement in the session.
There is no evidence to suggest that white students and students of color are
selecting different courses. Indeed, it appears that students are taking the same
courses and discussing the issues addressed therein from different perspectives.
For example, students from all ethnicities enroll in the African American
Psychology course and bring to the discussion widely varying experiences and
perspectives.
C.
INCREASED NUMBER OF STUDENTS WHO ARE AFRICAN AMERICAN AND LATINA
Background
Although Scripps was recognized by US News & World Report as one of the
nation’s 10 most diverse liberal arts colleges in fall 2000, the College knows that
it must do more to fulfill this goal. In 1990-1991, as indicated by the following
chart, 25% of the Scripps student population was from underrepresented groups.
The figure rose to 36% in 1994-1995 and 37% in 1997-1998 before dropping in
fall 2000 to 29%. During the past decade, Asian and Asian American
enrollments increased from 15% to 36%. Evidence suggests that the apparent
decrease in Latina students may be due to the phenomenon of more women
indicating that they were biracial or declining to be labeled.
A cursory comparison of records maintained by the Admissions office and by the
Registrar’s office indicates that the information that Latina students provide
regarding their ethnic affiliation sometimes does not conform with the
classification that they have been afforded by the federal government. The
Registrar is able to ascertain the federal government’s classification of students
through their social security numbers. This discrepancy between information
provided by students and the government may extend beyond Latinas. The
College plans to conduct a systematic study of this phenomenon during the
2001-2002 academic year.
1990-1991
1994-1995
Asian American
127
African American
22
Latina
Native American
Other
Total
% of Enrollment
1997-1998
2000
71
110
141
17
25
24
49
3
15
155
25%
46
0
35
216
36%
52
4
43
264
37%
41
5
36
231
29%
In 2000-2001, 199 students comprised the first year class. Of these students, 5
were American; 28, Asian American; 117, Caucasian; 7, Latina; 3, Native
American; 7, Other; and 32, Undeclared. While admitted students have until May
1 to register their intent to enroll at Scripps for the 2001-2002 academic year, as
of April 23, 2001, the College is able to report that of the 762 admitted first-year
students, the following applies:
Fifty-nine Latinas have been admitted. To date, eight of these women have
committed to enrolling in fall, 2001.
Twenty-eight African Americans have been admitted. To date, two of these
women have committed to enrolling. (Four African American students came to
campus on April 19 and 20 for events designed to increase Scripps’ yield of
admitted students. On campus activities included an extremely well-attended
dinner for current and prospective students from underrepresented groups as
well as alumnae from these populations. In addition to the four African American
students who attended the recent on-campus events, an additional four other
students have indicated their intent to visit the College within the next week.)
Six Native Americans have been admitted. Though Scripps has not received any
commitments to enroll to date, the College is hopeful that at least two of these
students will respond affirmatively.
One of Scripps’ short and long-term goals is to attract the most highly qualified
students from underrepresented groups to Scripps. The College plans to
accomplish this goal by continuing effective initiatives that are currently in place
as well as introducing new initiatives over the course of the next three years.
Ongoing Initiatives
The Office of Admission has numerous programs in place to increase the
application and enrollment of students from underrepresented groups. In
September 1999, Scripps hired Mariaestella Cuara, a Scripps alumna, to head
minority outreach programs. Ms. Cuara, who comes from a traditional Mexican
family, is strengthening and augmenting the minority recruitment program that
has been in place for many years. While Ms. Cuara is responsible for minority
outreach programs, all admission officers share responsibility for both general
and multicultural recruitment.
The targeted recruitment plan both identifies and cultivates underrepresented
prospects through a range of sources and with a variety of inducements.
Throughout the course of the year, admission officers visit high schools in areas
with high populations of underrepresented students to encourage qualified
students to apply to Scripps. They also target high-achieving students based
upon their performance on standardized tests. The College Board provides the
admission staff with the names and addresses of students who score within a
specified range on PSAT examinations. In addition, organizations such as ABC
and Black Scholars help to identify promising students. The admission staff
corresponds with these young women and encourages them to consider applying
to Scripps. The staff then follows up with interested students and invites them to
campus. They also urge these young women to attend “Preview Day,” which is
actually a weekend sampling of the residential and academic experience that
Scripps provides. Admitted students return for another weekend orientation,
“Spend a Day in Our Shoes.” The staff assures that both weekend experiences
provide opportunities for Latina prospects and admitted students to become
acquainted with Scripps students who share their ethnicity. The College provides
transportation for Latina, African American and Native American students to
these weekend orientations in addition to their housing and meals.
In addition to the aforementioned initiatives, Scripps participates in the Claremont
Colleges Scholars Program cooperatively with the other members of the
Claremont consortium. This program provides the opportunity for high school
teachers of advanced placement courses to identify and refer outstanding
minority students to the Claremont Colleges. Scripps also participates in both
the Fulfillment Fund and the Cal Soap Consortium, long-standing initiatives
designed to inform minority students about higher education opportunities.
Scripps has also recently established an institutional affiliation with the Youth
Empowerment Motivation Program that encourages junior high school minority
students to plan for college as well as the Chicano/Latino Youth Leadership
Project, a program for teens who have exhibited particular promise.
Initiatives planned for 2001-2002
Alumnae Admission Officer
Scripps has committed to funding, through the operating budget, an Alumnae
Admissions Officer who will identify, train and recruit alumnae volunteers to
assist with recruitment of students, particularly those from underrepresented
groups. In establishing this position, the College is responding to the
recommendation of consultant James Rogers
as well as the requests of alumnae who want to serve as the recruiters of new
Scripps students. The projected result of hiring an Alumnae Admission Officer is
increased applications generally as well as increased applications from minority
students.
Reevaluate Recruiting Responsibility
As previously noted, the College is currently engaged in extensive recruitment of
students from multicultural populations. However, heretofore, all of the five
admission representatives have shared responsible for multicultural recruitment.
In the forthcoming year, Dean Goldsmith will consider assigning one admission
officer sole responsibility for multicultural recruitment while recognizing that all
admission officers must continue to be trained in the recruitment of
underrepresented groups and actively engaged in recruiting from these
populations. The projected outcome of a realignment of responsibility is
intensified focus on multicultural recruitment and an increased number of
enrolled students from underrepresented groups.
Summer Program for Ninth and Tenth Grade Girls
Scripps will continue planning for an intensive academic summer program to be
held on Scripps’ campus for ninth and tenth grade students, targeting girls from
underrepresented groups. The College anticipates that planning will continue
through 2001-2002, marketing the program will ensue during 2002-2003, and the
summer program will greet its first students in 2003-2004. The College is seeking
the Irvine Foundation’s partial funding of the summer program, which is
described at length later in this document. The program will encourage first
generation college students and minorities to consider applying to a liberal arts
college, preferably Scripps. Moreover, the program will increase Scripps’ link to
the greater Los Angeles community and provide income to faculty and students
during the summer.
Initiatives planned for 2002-2003
Outreach
The admission staff will work with girls’ organizations to develop a program to
bring girls in existing organizations to campus (Girl Scouts, Big Sisters), establish
links and develop a pipeline with African American churches, and strengthen the
existing transfer program with two year colleges. The projected outcome of
these initiatives is increased visibility of Scripps among underrepresented
populations, increased applications by underrepresented students, and a rise in
applications from transfer students, many of whom are from underrepresented
populations.
Initiatives planned for 2003-2004 or thereafter
Bridge Program
The Office of Admission, in conjunction with the Dean of Faculty and Associate
Dean of Faculty, will consider the establishment of a bridge program designed for
but not limited to underrepresented students who are admitted to Scripps. The
focus of the program would be high academic achievement and accelerated
acclimatization to the Scripps environment. Should the College proceed with
this initiative, it would exercise caution to ensure that student participants are not
negatively labeled as a result of their involvement in the program. The projected
outcome of this program would be the enhanced academic success of the
participants as well as increased retention.
OPTIMIZE THE COLLEGE’S USE OF FINANCIAL AID TO INCREASE SELECTIVITY,
DIVERSITY, AND MAINTAIN ENROLLMENT (INCREASE MERIT AND NEED-BASED AID,
INTEREST-FREE LOAN FUND, DEVELOP NEW INITIATIVES; AUGMENT RESOURCES
AVAILABLE FOR FINANCIAL AID)
D.
Background
The Office of Financial Aid at Scripps College operates on the premise that its
primary responsibility is to assist in providing access to a Scripps education, by
removing the financial obstacles associated with seeking a private college
degree, while ensuring that principles of fairness and equity are upheld. The
College is committed to providing sufficient financial assistance to qualifying
students. Today, however, less than one quarter of need-based financial aid is
met through endowment funds, leaving the rest to be addressed through the
budgeting process and renewable charitable gifts. Scripps reaffirmed its
commitment to increasing the amount of permanently endowed financial aid
funds by identifying this area as a priority in the College's $85 million capital
campaign, which commenced in 1999. Our goal of raising $7 million in new
endowed funds and $2 million in loan funds will augment substantially our
existing resources.
On-going initiatives:
Dorothy Drake Scholarship/Cap on Loan Indebtedness
Scripps will continue to award Dorothy Drake Scholarships to reduce students’
loan commitment in order to create more competitive admission offers.
Moreover, the College is now implementing the approved policy to cap student
loans at $4,000 per year in order to reduce the average total indebtedness per
student over four years from $19,225 to $15,625. The estimated cost of this
initiative, $225,000, will be covered by the operating budget. The College will
also enhance the financial aid website presence in order to increase
communication and understanding of policies and procedures.
Samella Lewis Scholarship
Scripps will continue to assist the group of African American alumnae who are
soliciting funds in order to establish a scholarship in honor of Scripps Professor
Emerita Samella Lewis, with the goal of increasing financial aid available for
African American students. Director of Major Gifts Nancy Ambrose is leading this
initiative to raise $500,000 in endowed funds. The College anticipates that the
first Samella Lewis Scholarship will be awarded in 2002-2003, after the first
$50,000 has been raised.
Designation of Gifts
The College will make clear to alumnae and other friends of the College who are
solicited for Annual Fund gifts that they have the opportunity to direct their
donations to multicultural programming or scholarships for underrepresented
students. The desired outcome is increased gifts to these specific areas.
Initiatives planned for 2001-2002
Scripps will continue the aforementioned initiatives and institute two new
initiatives: the creation of high level work study positions that students will find
personally rewarding as well as the creation of additional scholarships.
Work-Study Positions
Specifically, the Office of Admission and Financial Aid and the Office of
Development and College Relations will create work-study positions to assist
with implementation of Blueprint for Diversity that will be financed through the
operating budget. These initiatives include updating and enhancing the financial
aid website so that it communicates information in a manner that is student and
family friendly; creating web pages that highlight Scripps as a multicultural
community; strengthening relationships with two-year colleges, organizations for
girls such as the Girl Scouts, and African American churches; planning the
summer program for ninth and tenth grade students; and assisting development
staff in their efforts to raise funds in support of scholarships for underrepresented
students. The projected outcome of this initiative is enhanced implementation of
the admission, financial aid, development, and communication components of
the Blueprint as well as more high-level work-study positions for students from
underrepresented groups.
Additional Scholarships
In addition, the Budget and Planning Committee, in consultation with the Vice
President and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, will consider the
establishment of a full tuition scholarship for an underrepresented student to be
accompanied by a national recruitment campaign in order to increase Scripps’
exposure to targeted groups and increase applications and enrollments from
these groups. Finally, the Office of Development will submit proposals to
foundations, corporations, and alumnae in support of merit and needs based
scholarships (including full cost scholarships based upon the Gabrielle JungelsWinkler Scholarship model) for students from underrepresented groups. The
projected outcome of this initiative is additional resources designated or available
to underrepresented students and a greater ability to offer compelling financial
aid packages to these students.
E.
INCREASED STAFF AND PROGRAMMATIC SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS FROM
UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS
Background
In 1999, Scripps established a Multicultural Resource Center that was intended
to educate the Scripps community as its members explored “ issues of
diversity/multiculturalism
including ability, age, citizenship status, creed, ethnicity, gender, language, race,
religion, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status.” In establishing the
Center, the College affirmed the importance of unifying the campus by validating
and celebrating difference.
Currently, Scripps is seeking to address the concerns of some underrepresented
students who are critical of the establishment of the Multicultural Resource
Center. In order to understand their concerns it is important to be familiar with
the relevant historical background. In February 1993, a coalition of students
from The Claremont Colleges occupied Alexander Hall at Pomona College to
protest a perceived lack of commitment from the schools’ administrations toward
the promotion of diversity. Scripps agreed at that time to support the formation of
a five-college Asian American Resource Center and agreed to help fund the
wages of the Center’s part-time coordinator.
After seven years of funding the position, Scripps reassessed the philosophical
basis of this support. The College concluded that it was providing financial
support to one organization comprised of students of Asian heritage when it
endeavored to support all underrepresented populations. Consequently, the
College established the Multicultural Resource Center staffed by three full-time,
trained professionals.
Despite the efforts of the College to explain the philosophical basis of the Center
and to embrace diversity through its hiring of a heterogeneous staff, some Asian
and Asian American students have, as reported in the student newspaper, The
Voice, interpreted the establishing of the Center as a “blatant disregard for the
organization and as an attempt to assimilate the Asian American population by
denying their needs as a racial minority.”
Moreover, the national publication “ A,” which is geared to Asian American
college students and young, professional Asian Americans, was similarly critical
of Scripps’ alleged failure to provide adequate resources for that constituency.
Indeed, some members of other ethnic and racial groups on campus have
expressed the view that the College should allocate funds to individual
racial/ethnic/gender-specific organizations rather than to the
Multicultural Resource Center. The Student Diversity Committee has
recommended that the existing half-time directorship of the
Multicultural Resource Center be expanded to a full-time position.
Moreover, the student committee has recommended that five new
staff positions be created in order to provide support for students from
specific underrepresented populations. Specifically, the Committee
strongly suggested that Scripps create positions to fulfill the following
functions: Asian/Asian American Coordinator; African American
Coordinator; Latina Coordinator, Bi-Racial Coordinator; and Queer
Student Coordinator. The recent protest at Wellesley College during
which students agitated for the creation of such group-specific staff
indicates that other women’s colleges are dealing with this particular
challenge.
On-going Initiatives
Range of Multicultural Programming and Resources
Scripps will strengthen existing multicultural activities and programming that are
offered under the auspices of the Dean of Studies (Hall Directors, Peer Mentors,
Multicultural Educators, and the Multicultural Resource Center). In addition, the
College will continue its support of the Organization of Black Students
(OBSA)and the Chicano/Latino Student Association. The projected outcome is
enhanced academic performance as well as increased student satisfaction,
multicultural understanding, and retention.
Initiatives Planned for 2001-2002
Scripps will, pending funding from the Irvine Foundation, augment staff
provided to the Multicultural Resource Center in order to better serve
the needs of Scripps students. Further, the College will endeavor to
increase the physical space that is designated for use by
underrepresented groups.
Staff and Volunteers
Scripps has carefully reviewed the Student Diversity Committee’s staffing
recommendations and acknowledges the sentiments that spawned its
suggestions. However, due to budgetary considerations and
concerns regarding sustainability of the Committee’s staffing
recommendations -- presuming that a grant were secured to fund the
positions -- the College cannot authorize the creation of the positions
that the student committee requested. In order to address the very
real concerns that the Student Diversity Committee advanced, Scripps
proposes to retain a half-time graduate student who has
demonstrated appropriate expertise to augment the Multicultural
Resource Center’s staff. Moreover, in order to respond, at least in
part, to the desire of students from underrepresented populations to
have additional mentoring and support from a staff member with
whom they can identify by virtue of race, ethnicity, or sexual
orientation, the College will recruit, train, and mobilize an Alumnae
Multicultural Advisory Committee comprised of alumnae from
underrepresented groups who have expressed their desire to serve in
this capacity.
The projected outcome of the hiring of the half-time position of graduate
student Multicultural Resource Center Assistant and the creation and
implementation of an Alumnae Multicultural Advisory Committee is
greater student satisfaction with multicultural resources and
programming. A secondary outcome of the creation of the Committee
is the anticipated re-engagement of alumnae -- particularly African
American and lesbian graduates -- who have been critical of the
College’s approach to diversity. Participation on the committee will
provide these alumnae with an opportunity to interact with students as
friends and role models.
Space
The Multicultural Resource Center is currently located adjacent to the foyer of
Scripps’ newest residence hall. The space offers a library with books,
magazines, and videos covering a wide array of subjects related to multicultural
topics as well as meeting space. In addition, the Asian/Asian American Student
Union has been provided two small rooms in a residence hall. The Student
Diversity Committee has requested that the space allocated to the Multicultural
Research Center be increased in response to the increased request for and need
for services (meetings, projects, work, etc.) that are available 7 days a week, 24
hours a day. The College will carefully evaluate the possibility of allocating
additional space to the Multicultural Resource Center, recognizing that the
Committee’s preferred location is the former dining room of Browning Hall. The
general operating budget will cover costs associated with the provision of
additional space and attendant resources. The projected outcome is increased
student satisfaction with multicultural programming and increased retention.
Initiatives Planned for 2002-2003:
Student Multicultural Project Fund
Dr. Betty Schmitz, the consultant from the University of Washington who visited
Scripps at the invitation of the Irvine Foundation, suggested that the College
make funding available to students on a competitive basis to develop projects
that will improve the climate for diversity at Scripps and promote multicultural
understanding. The College concurs that student-generated projects related to
diversity would further student engagement in multicultural initiatives, provide
students with valuable project management experience, and advance Scripps’
efforts to promote multicultural understanding. Scripps seeks to establish a
Student Multicultural Project Fund, pending funding for this initiative from the
Irvine Foundation.
Faculty/Staff Mentoring Program
The Dean of Students in conjunction with the Dean of Faculty will also plan and
implement a Faculty/Staff Mentor Program for students from underrepresented
groups offering opportunities to dine together off campus and participate in
cultural activities in the Los Angeles area. The desired outcome of this initiative
is enhanced student satisfaction and retention. Funding for this initiative will be
provided through the operating budget or external sources.
Academic Resources
In addition, the Dean of Students will collaborate with the Dean of Faculty to
provide special academic resources for underrepresented and/or disadvantaged
students, including tutorials, funding for study, writing, skill testing programs, and
instructors. The projected outcome of this initiative, to be funded from the
operating budget, is enhanced academic performance by students from
underrepresented groups and increased retention. Funding for this initiative will
be provided through the operating budget or external sources.
iii.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECTs PROPOSED FOR IRVINE
FUNDING
A.
CLUSTER HIRES/HIRING INCENTIVES FUND/INTERCULTURAL COURSE
DEVELOPMENT
Project description including measurable objectives, activities, and
timeline
Cluster Hires refer to a process that enables a college or university to hire
several faculty in a relatively short time period. As a small institution, Scripps
College has 58 tenured and tenure-track faculty, with a few additional part-time
appointments. In the course of natural retirements and normal faculty attrition,
replacement faculty are hired about one or two per year. Recently, with a small
growth in the student body, the faculty has grown slightly, and that growth,
coupled with open faculty positions, has occasionally resulted in two or three
tenure-track searches per year. However, Scripps has recently entered into
discussions with several senior professors concerning retirement planning, and
the College currently has five senior professors who have made agreements to
retire over the next four years, and one additional professor who is also likely to
retire during that time period. The normal procedure would be to hire at the time
the professor would step down, although several of the professors have arranged
for some partial work during their final two or three semesters. This would mean
hiring one professor approximately each year over the next six years.
With the support of the Irvine Foundation, Scripps proposes to replace four of
these professors over a two-year period, hiring two professors the second year of
the grant, and two professors the third year of the grant. In view of the College’s
focus on minority hiring, this would give it the immense benefit of bringing in
several minority professors in the rather short time of a two-year period. Pending
the Foundation’s support, the College will, through its Faculty Executive
Committee, approve the job descriptions and undertake extensive searches.
The approval and search process will begin in 2001-2002. The first two
appointments will occur in 2002-2003 along with the commencement of two
additional searches. The second two appointments will take place in 2003-2004.
The College proposes this model for two primary reasons: One, Scripps would
not want all of the new hires to go through sabbaticals and reviews at the same
time and two, the College cannot adequately staff all of the searches in one year.
Scripps has already has approved a position in Asian-American Literature for the
English Department, which will have a search in 2001-2002. This is a realignment and re-definition of an earlier American Literature position that became
vacant. An additional searches in the same year would allow an excellent
possibility of bringing in two minority faculty members at the same time. The
following year, 2002-2003, would bring two additional searches, with those new
faculty beginning in the fall of 2003.
The establishment of a recruitment process fund will assist Scripps in bearing the
expenses of the faculty searches and providing candidates with a hospitable visit
to campus and the Claremont community. Further, the creation of a hiring
incentives fund will allow Scripps to offer competitive compensation packages to
candidates. This fund will enable the College to offer fourth year fully funded pretenure sabbaticals as well as start-up funds to the new faculty hired under the
auspices of the Irvine grant.
In the meanwhile, during the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 academic years, the
College intends, with the Irvine Foundation’s partial funding, to offer two
workshops that will assist Scripps faculty in developing new courses with
intercultural content or from a multicultural perspective. Ten faculty grants will
be awarded to professors who attend the workshops and design and offer new
courses that meet Scripps’ intercultural requirement within two years of
completing the workshop or substantively and demonstrably incorporate
intercultural content in existing courses. The College anticipates that a minimum
of five new courses meeting the Scripps intercultural requirement will be
developed and offered as a result of this initiative and that fewer Scripps students
will be required to take courses off campus. Further, the College anticipates that
faculty will modify fifteen existing courses to include intercultural content.
Measurable objectives: Four or more underrepresented faculty hired, a minimum
of five courses developed that are designated as “intercultural” and a minimum
of
fifteen courses redesigned to incorporate greater intercultural content.
Reasons for the anticipated success of the project with reference to
relevant research, evaluation, and experience at Scripps and at other
institutions
Each of the past several years has seen improved progress in diverse hiring of
faculty. Since 1998 five women have been hired in science out of seven hires,
joining only two women in a department of 22 faculty. Two Asian-American
faculty, one man and one woman, have been hired in science, the first ethnic
minority tenure-track hires in this department. Since 1994, three Latino/Latina
professors have joined the faculty, with one tenured in 1999 – 2000, and a
second tenured in 2000 – 2001. The third joins Scripps’ economics department in
the fall of 2001. For the College’s first and only professor in politics, hired to
begin in fall 2000, the faculty search committee recommended an outstanding
Asian-American scholar who specializes in race in American politics. The
faculty, the search committees, the APT Committee, and the Dean of the Faculty
are committed to making the best effort possible to continue and improve on this
progress in minority faculty hiring.
Project’s relationship to the institution’s overall plan and intended
outcomes
Hiring clusters of faculty over a short period of time advances the College’s
strategic objective to diversify the faculty further as rapidly as possible. Hiring
four faculty over two years accelerates the pace at which tenured professors are
typically replaced.
Barriers that may exist to full project implementation
The only possible barrier to full project implementation is the successful
solicitation of a sufficiently large number of qualified underrepresented
candidates to ensure a rigorous consideration of applicants. The Dean of Faculty
and the Associate Dean of Faculty are committed to the scrupulous
implementation of existing processes, as well as the utilization of additional
search processes in order to recruit successful candidates from
underrepresented groups to fill the new positions.
Post-grant project sustainability
Faculty hired during this “overlapping” period would become funded through the
regular faculty positions as the older faculty made their transition into retirement.
There are two positions that would overlap into the following year, and the
College would underwrite that additional cost.
Project and management structure
The Dean of Faculty appoints faculty search committees upon the
recommendation of the Appointments, Promotion, and Tenure (APT) Committee.
The Chair of the APT Committee, the Associate Dean of Faculty, and the Dean
of Faculty are responsible for ensuring the best possible search for the desired
outcome. Search procedures include multiple contacts with minority listing
services, individual contacts, as well as national advertisements in both general
academic and discipline specific publications.
B.
SUMMER PROGRAM FOR NINTH AND TENTH GRADE GIRLS
Project description including measurable objectives, activities, and
timeline
Scripps intends to develop and implement a summer program designed to
introduce students to the richness of academic and extracurricular offerings at
Scripps and enhance their expectations for scholastic success. The program will
be directed to academically ambitious high school girls who have completed the
ninth and or tenth grade, specifically underrepresented minorities and first
generation college students.
While the College acknowledges that a two-week summer program, however
intensive, is limited in its ability to sustain high academic achievement among its
participants, the program planners believe that the on-campus experience can be
life changing for many of its participants. As a result of their time at Scripps, the
young women who participate in the program may begin to consider educational
and professional options that they previously believed were beyond their
economic, societal, and academic reach.
The program will offer Scripps a vehicle for increasing applications and
admission to the College, especially those of underrepresented minorities and
first generation college students. At the same time, the program will offer Scripps
the opportunity to encourage and nurture the academic accomplishment of
promising young women, wherever they chose to pursue their higher educations.
Accordingly, Scripps will track the students who participate in the program
through high school and their college or university educations. Professor Marcus
Newhall will develop and implement the tracking instrument and system.
The summer program will be comprised of one two-week long residential
programs in which participants choose two to three intensive classes. Classes
will provide participants with exposure to a learning community rich in mentors,
role models, academic challenges, and hands-on investigation. The program will
run from June 15-July 1 (after public school is out for summer). The College
anticipates that 25 to 30 girls will participate in each session with seven to ten
girls per class. Scripps will consider the possibility of expanding the program
after the second year of operations.
A selection of courses will be offered that take an interdisciplinary approach to a
common theme (e.g., women in media), emphasizing Scripps’ academic
strengths. Specific offerings would change from year to year based on the
availability of instructors and expertise related to selected theme.
Tentative Program Schedule
Weekdays
9 a.m.-4 p.m. Courses
Weekends
Field Trips
4 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Afternoon activities:
Group Presentations
fitness, organized sports, recreation, free
time
7-10 p.m. Evening activities: studying, Participant/faculty/family luncheon to
workshops, discussions, movies, crafts, close program
free time
The College anticipates that planning will continue through 2001-2002, marketing
the program will ensue during 2002-2003, and the summer program will greet its
first students in 2003-2004.
Measurable Objectives: number of alumnae of the program who apply to Scripps;
student satisfaction with the program based upon survey; post-summer program
tracking of students.
Reasons for the anticipated success of the project with reference to
relevant research, evaluation, and experience at Scripps and at other
institutions
Several years ago, President Bekavac, then Vice President for Planning and
Research Brenda Barham Hill and Vice President and Dean of Admission and
Financial Aid Patricia Goldsmith discussed Scripps’ offering a “signature”
summer program on campus as a way of encouraging high school girls to
consider admission to Scripps. Jim Rogers, an admissions consultant, also
suggested a summer program in his recent report as a tool Scripps could employ
to increase the number and caliber of women that apply. More recently, the
faculty has discussed a summer program as a means of increasing minority
recruitment and representation on campus.
In late fall 1999, Ms. Hill assigned Laura Palucki Blake, her research assistant,
the task of exploring the summer program concept. Ms. Palucki Blake
researched existing summer camps for high school-aged girls both locally and
nationally, focusing specifically on academic summer programs. She determined
that there are currently over 1,500 different summer programs for high-school
students at various colleges and universities nationally. These programs typically
take one of three forms. Sports clinics offer the chance for students to hone their
skills at the sport of their choice. College prep opportunities allow participants to
tackle college-level course work (usually one course) and earn college or high
school credit. Frequently participants are in class with college students and
“after hours” with other camp participants learning skills that will help them
transition to college life. Additionally, college prep opportunities often provide
guidance with the college admissions process, including standardized test taking
skills and writing admissions essays. Lastly, “summer on campus” opportunities
focus on small courses with other high school-aged students. Their goal is
usually providing individual attention and a broader “hands-on” definition of
learning that participants may not receive in a high school classroom.
Ms. Palucki Blake’s research indicated that of the three major types of programs
that occur on college campuses, very few are administered by the college itself
(many sports and college prep camps are administered by outside agencies with
their own staff and instructors). However, on-campus programs, with their focus
on the experience of the participant, are usually administered by the individual
college 1. The advantage of having a college administer the program is clear:
1 Many of these programs are run by small, private liberal arts schools, including:
Barnard’s Summer in New York Program, Hobart and Williams Smith’s
the college can control all aspects of the program, from curriculum development
to teaching and housing, in order to showcase its community in the best possible
light.
In addition, very few summer programs target only girls, and even fewer offer
girls an enriching educational or academic experience. In fact, after traditional
camping programs, most summer programs for high school-aged girls only are
geared around weight loss.
In the Southern California area, there are 164 summer opportunities for high
school students, 108 of which are academically oriented 2. Twenty-five
academic programs are available in the Los Angeles area (many concentrated at
USC and UCLA) for high school students. Currently, five summer programs exist
at Claremont--three of them are soccer camps, one a college prep course, and
one is a computer camp. There are no independent academic summer programs
for high school aged students, let alone girls, listed at Occidental College,
Pepperdine University, Loyola Marymount University, or at any of the Claremont
Colleges. Clearly, there is a market for a carefully planned and well-executed
academic summer program aimed at high school-aged girls in the Los Angeles
area.
Smith Summer Science Program
Early in 2000, Ms. Palucki Blake contacted Dr. Gail Scordilis, director of the
Smith College Summer Science Program (SSSP), both to assess the level of
demand for single sex summer programs and to assess an academic summer
program. The SSSP is in its twelfth year of operation and has been successful in
two areas that are relevant to Scripps’ Blueprint for Diversity.
First, over one-half of Smith’s program participants describe themselves as
“students of color.” Since a commitment to reaching a diverse student body is a
stated goal of Scripps, a summer program has the potential to increase
representation of minority and first-generation students who apply and enroll at
Scripps.
Second, approximately 50% of program participants apply to Smith, and 15-20%
chose to enroll. Their summer program has increased applications and
enrollment at Smith. A successful summer program should have a similar
positive impact on the enrollments at Scripps.
Environmental studies Program, Mount Holyoke’s Summer Math Program,
Smith’s Summer Science Program.
2 Source Peterson’s guide to Summer camps and activities
Both Ms. Palucki Blake and Professor Marcus Newhall attended Smith’s program
during the summer of 2000. Based upon their positive assessment, they have
concluded that a venture similar to the Smith program could be remarkably
important and productive for Scripps College.
Relationship of the project to the institution’s overall plan and intended
outcomes
The potential benefits to Scripps from a summer program for high school-aged
girls can be summarized as follows:
Attracting academically ambitious students to the Scripps campus
Encouraging first generation college students and minorities to consider applying
to Scripps
Providing an opportunity for a hands-on experience of college life at in a liberal
arts setting to students who cannot or would not consider attending a private
liberal arts college
Fostering healthy and successful development of high school aged girls
Increasing Scripps’ link to the greater Los Angeles community
Making use of the Scripps facilities during the summer months
Providing income to faculty and students during the summer, and secondarily to
the College in the form of tuition
Barriers that may exist to full project implementation
Scripps anticipates no barriers to the full implementation of the summer program
for girls. While the College is seeking one-quarter or $33,098 of the full cost of
the program over the three-years of the Irvine grant, Scripps is committed to
raising the balance of the budget through external sources.
Project Sustainability
In the year prior to the conclusion of the grant, Scripps will actively seek funding
to sustain the summer program from foundations and corporations that have
indicated an interest in the educational accomplishment of high school girls,
particularly those from underrepresented groups. The College has already
begun to identify prospective donors to this initiative. In addition, the Scripps will
acquaint alumnae and other friends of the College of this funding opportunity
through its publications and targeted solicitations.
Project staffing and management structure
The summer program will be developed and implemented under the direction of
Professor Marcus Newhall. She will have primary responsibility for course
development and the selection of participating faculty.
A half-time summer program coordinator, to be hired, will have immediate
responsibility for program coordination and implementation, marketing, staffing,
and logistics. She will work closely with Professor Marcus Newhall, Patricia
Goldsmith, the vice president and dean of admission and financial aid; Mary
Bartlett, director of public relations and communications; and Susanna Branch,
director of summer programs. The summer program coordinator will also
supervise the Scripps students who will work as tutors, student life residents, and
extracurricular activity assistants.
Relationships with other organizations involved in the project and
resources in the communities or fields that Scripps will utilize during
project implementation
Professor Marcus Newhall anticipates that she will occasionally consult with Dr.
Scordilis, director of the Smith College Summer Science Program, regarding
various aspects of Scripps’ program.
C. MULTICULTURAL PROGRAMMING
Project description including measurable objectives, activities, and related
timeline.
Scripps intends to enhance its multicultural programming by augmenting the
staffing of the Multicultural Resource Center by employing paid student
assistants and creating a Multicultural Speaker, Activity and Resource Account
that will include an allocation to establish a Student Multicultural Project Fund.
Staffing
During the research phase of the planning process, it became apparent that the
current staffing of the Center is inadequate. At present, the Center is staffed by a
half-time director who also serves as a residence hall director. She is responsible
for coordinating the Multicultural Educators Program and working with such clubs
and organizations as
the Asian/Asian American Student Union; FAMILY (Scripps Queer/Straight
Alliance); Wanawake Weusi (African American women’s organization); and the
CLSA (Chicano/a Latino/a Student Association) among others. As students have
become increasingly passionate about issues related to difference and identity,
their demands for professional staff report have risen.
Scripps will respond to the very real need for increased staffing at the
Multicultural Resource Center by retaining one half-time graduate student
assistant to aid the College in responding programmatically to the needs and
interests of various underrepresented populations on campus. The Dean of
Students and the Associate Dean of Faculty will collaborate on the preparation of
position specification and qualification for the assistantship and coordinate the
selection process. The successful candidate will undergo intensive diversity
training after her selection.
In addition, in lieu of the establishment of staff positions for each
underrepresented group, the College will create an Alumnae Multicultural
Committee. Though the members of the Committee will not be available to
students as readily as would be employees, they will be committed volunteers
who fully understand the responsibilities of their service. The impetus for the
creation of an Alumnae Multicultural Committee was the research in which Caily
Di Puma and Vivian Young engaged as preparation for their film. Both young
women were exceedingly impressed with the intelligence and accomplishment of
the African American alumnae they interviewed and expressed regret that current
students did not have an opportunity to learn from “those who had come before
them. ” Once it became fully apparent that financial exigencies precluded the
College from acceding to student requests to augment the Multicultural Resource
Center’s staff with numerous full-time positions, Myeisha Peguero, the student
member of the Diversity Steering Committee, spoke informally with a number of
students to ascertain their reaction to the prospect of the creation of a
Multicultural Advisory Committee. Ms. Peguero reports that while many students
continue to assert the need for more staffing, they responded enthusiastically to
the establishment of a committee of alumnae from underrepresented groups
whose members will serve as resources and mentors.
Multicultural Speaker, Activities, and Resources Account (SARA)
Currently, Scripps allocates $3,000 in funding in support of programming through
the Multicultural Resource Center. While other College entities, the Humanities
Institute, for example, receive funds that are used to bring speakers from
underrepresented groups to campus, the fact remains that the low level of
funding for programming that emanates through the Multicultural Resource
Center has deterred its staff from responding optimally to students needs and
desires. The establishment of the SARA in support of the Multicultural Resource
Center would enable its staff to work with students to prioritize their budgetary
requests on an annual basis and respond accordingly.
Student Multicultural Project Fund
During the research phase of the planning process, students reiterated their
desire to have a greater voice in diversity programming. While many
opportunities for involvement now exist, students expressed a desire to take the
lead in creating programs and projects. As previously noted, the Di Puma/Young
film on the African American integration at Scripps has been extremely
successful in stimulating discussion regarding the experience of students from
underrepresented groups at Scripps. The film has been presented on campus
on several occasions to audiences comprised of students, faculty, and staff as
well as to the board of trustees at a recent retreat. (It will be presented once
again on April 27, 2001 at a Diversity Symposium that will take place as part of
the College’s Reunion Weekend.)
On each of these occasions, and in discussions thereafter, audience members
have reflected, often with passion, on the history of African American integration
at Scripps as presented in the film. Through interviews with African American
alumnae and a current African American student and the presentation of
enrollment data, the film posits that despite the enrollment of the first African
American student at Scripps College in 1959, integration has been a slow and
incomplete process. Indeed, the film’s interview subjects question that
substantial progress has been made at Scripps over the past four decades in
creating a climate that is hospitable to African Americans and question the
College’s commitment to becoming a multicultural community. It is, one
interviewee stated, “a sin and a shame,” that Scripps has not been more
proactive in moving forward with diversity initiatives. That this particular
interviewee is a former President of the Alumnae Association and member of the
board of trustees lends particularly poignancy and power to her perceptions.
Yet some who viewed the film observed that the interviewees were unaware of
initiatives that the College had, in fact, undertaken over the years to increase
African American enrollment and enhance student life and that data cited in the
film was inaccurate. For instance, the filmmakers observed that only five African
American students were admitted to Scripps for the 2000-2001 academic year
when, in fact, 26 African American students were admitted but only five enrolled.
This misstatement of fact -- and the attendant misunderstanding that it produced
-- underscored that Scripps must communicate information regarding diversity
initiatives, and its incremental successes, more effectively to its various
constituencies.
Most fundamentally, the film has taught its viewers that Scripps must reaffirm the
College’s strong commitment to becoming a truly multicultural community,
respond sensitively to current perceptions regarding demographics and
programming, and vigorously implement the strategies advanced in the Blueprint
for Diversity. Further, the film has underscored for viewers that, in accordance
with the Blueprint, Scripps must open up the College’s decision processes at all
levels to include members from underrepresented groups. Finally, the film has
instructed some and reminded others that the College, as one trustee noted,
“must build bridges around issues of diversity with alumnae and current
students” so that it is better able to recruit future students from underrepresented
groups.
The establishment of a Student Multicultural Project Fund will provide financing
that will enable students to follow the lead of Ms. Di Puma and Ms. Young in
exploring the College’s experience with multiculturalism over its seventy-five year
history and raising issues related to diversity at Scripps and beyond. As a result
of these explorations, the students will promote understanding of difference by
provoking conversation and advancing understanding.
Measurable Objectives: Scripps will measure the success of the new staffing
arrangement and the institution of the Speakers, Activities, and Resource
Account in support of the Multicultural Resource Center through campus climate
surveys that will be administered annually; student, alumnae, and staff
assessment of the Alumnae Multicultural Resource Committee; as well as
student/faculty/and staff evaluations of the individual projects that are funded
through the Student Multicultural Project Fund.
Reasons the College anticipates success of the project with reference to
relevant research, evaluation, and experience at Scripps and at other
institutions
The College anticipates that together the appointment of the half-time graduate
assistant at the Multicultural Resource Center, the creation of the Alumnae
Multicultural Committee, and the establishment of SARA to augment financial
resources designated to multicultural speakers, activities, and resources will
substantially address students’ desire for more diversity programming and
staffing.
Relationship of the project to the institution’s overall plan and intended
outcomes
Enhanced programming that explores “difference” in all of its aspects is a
prerequisite to Scripps’ realization of its multicultural vision, as President
Bekavac advanced. The staffing configuration that is recommended herein and
the creation of the SARA in support of the Multicultural Resource Center all
advance the following specific tactic identified in both the Scripps College
Strategic Plan and the Blueprint for Diversity: In order to “build a stronger
campus climate for a diverse population,” Scripps will “create comprehensive
educational and co-curricular multicultural programming to help prepare students
for a multicultural world.”
Barriers that may exist to full project implementation
Scripps does not anticipate a barrier to full project implementation. However, the
College may encounter continued agitation from students to create additional
staff positions. It will be the responsibility of the College to explain to students
the reasons that it cannot accommodate their wishes while acknowledging the
legitimacy of their concerns.
In presenting this programmatic and staffing solution to students, it will be
important to describe to them the various issues that the Diversity Steering
Committee considered prior to making this decision. Because many top
residential liberal arts colleges have full multicultural staffs that include
coordinators for each underrepresented group, some students view Scripps’
refusal to provide comparable staffs as a lack of commitment to diversity rather
than a prudent response to financial constraints. Because these students
observe the College engaging in costly capital projects -- a new residence hall
and a campus commons, for instance – they question the College’s priorities. It
is important for Scripps’ leadership to acquaint students with the factors that lead
and have led the College to undertake such capital projects so that they better
understand the context in which the institution has made the decision regarding
the staffing of the Multicultural Resource Center. Paramount among these
factors is Scripps’ success in securing the commitment of a particular donor to
fund a project that the College has identified through the strategic planning
process as an institutional priority.
Project sustainability
Scripps is committed to sustaining the half-time graduate student position
through its operating budget. The College will seek external funding for the SARA
component of the Irvine grant.
Project staffing and management structure
The Dean of Students, Debra Wood, who will serve on the Diversity Coordinating
Committee, bears responsibility for all student life functions, including the
Multicultural Educator Program. Assistant Dean Michelle Rasich has immediate
supervisory responsibility of the program and its director, Yoshiko Matsui. Ms.
Matsui, in turn, will supervise the graduate student assistant.
The Alumnae Multicultural Advisory Committee will be organized under the
auspices of the Office of Alumnae Relations and in conjunction with the Alumnae
Council. The College is currently interviewing finalists for the now vacant
position of Director of Alumnae Relations and anticipates that the new Director
will begin her service during summer, 2001. The Director will work closely with
Ofelia Velasquez, the president of the Alumnae Association, in developing the
Alumnae Multicultural Committee. They will develop and implement a training
program for committee members in conjunction with Dean Wood and her staff
during early fall, 2001 and the program will be fully implemented in late fall, 2001.
The College will cover the costs of training members of the Alumnae Multicultural
Committee through the operating budget.
Relationships with other organizations involved in the project and
resources in the communities that Scripps will utilize during project
implementation
The Multicultural Resource Center staff and the Alumnae Multicultural Committee
will interact with such Claremont College ethnic centers as OBSA and the
Chicano/ Latino Student Association as well as other consortial clubs and
organizations.
Iv.
LEADERSHIP AND COORDINATION
Process for the ongoing involvement of the leadership, project personnel,
and campus constituencies in the implementation of Scripps’ diversity
plans
Background
Scripps’ strategic plan calls upon the College to prepare for the future by creating
a “climate of continuous planning and creativity.” Accordingly, planning is
viewed as an on-going function of offices, departments, and committees that
should be integrated into the routine operations of the College. The design and
implementation plan of the Blueprint for Diversity is consistent with this view of
planning.
During the research phase of the planning process, the Diversity Steering
Committee considered the optimal means of implementing the Blueprint for
Diversity. As noted in the Historical Narrative, the College has heretofore
adopted a decentralized approach to the implementation of diversity initiatives.
In view of the small scale of the College and its unique culture, Scripps had
eschewed “the imposition of a comprehensive diversification plan that a single
individual oversaw as a director of diversity” because:
At a small college like Scripps, such an individual could be used either as an
excuse for inaction or as a scapegoat for problems. Rather, Scripps has sought
to normalize diversity by promoting the parallel plans of senior officers and key
volunteers who were responsible for initiatives pertaining to students, faculty,
curriculum, staff, alumnae, and the Board of Trustees. Through its actions, not
merely its pronouncements, Scripps has recognized that each sector had its own
challenges and priorities, and that as a result, each area demanded its own plan,
strategy, and timeline. This parallel planning process was not always evident
and integrated, and it was not without occasional discord and frustration.
The planning process afforded the College the opportunity to address whether
parallel planning and decentralization wer e the optimal means of implementing
and monitoring diversity initiatives. During extensive confidential interviews that
averaged one hour in length, individual members of the Diversity Steering
Committee were asked a set of questions related to Scripps’ experience with
diversity to date and recommendations for the future. (The interview questions
are included as an attachment.)
“Currently, Scripps diversity initiatives are decentralized; has this decentralized
approach to diversity served the College well?”
“How should Scripps think about implementing and monitoring diversity
initiatives?”
On the basis of those responses, the Diversity Steering Committee concluded
that the decentralized approach to diversity that Scripps has employed to date
has not been optimal. Because no one person or committee has been
responsible for implementing, monitoring, and evaluating planning tactics related
to the promotion of multiculturalism at Scripps, the institutional effort, while
meritorious, lacked adequate focus, cohesion, accountability and intentionality.
Moreover, the current decentralized approach has not facilitated communication
to College constituencies regarding diversity initiatives underway.
The Solution
The Diversity Steering Committee ascertained during the course of its planning
research that the preferred method of implementing and monitoring the Blueprint
is the establishment of a small, representative coordinating committee. This
Diversity Coordinating Committee will periodically consult with the members of
the Diversity Advisory Committee, which will offer recommendations and insights
and periodically review planning documents.
List the primary contacts and members of any relevant committees and
task forces
Diversity Coordinating Committee – 2001-2002 (charged with implementing,
monitoring and assessing Blueprint for Diversity)
Michael Deane Lamkin, Vice President and Dean of Faculty
Patricia Goldsmith, Vice President and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid
Amy Marcus Newhall, Associate Dean
James Pacino, Director of Human Resources
Linda Scott, Assistant to the President and Secretary to the Board of Trustees
Carolyn Wagner, Director of Foundation and Corporate Relations
Deb Wood, Vice President and Dean of Students
Student to be appointed by the chairman
Faculty Executive Committee Chair
College Council Diversity Chair
Vice President of Planning and Research (anticipated to be hired fall, 2001)
Note: The Vice President of Planning and Research will be responsible
for
overseeing and monitoring the implementation of Scripps’ strategic
plan in conjunction with the other members of the senior staff and furthering a
continuous climate of planning at the College. In so doing, the Vice President
will propose modifications to the strategic plan on the basis of empirical research
that will assist Scripps in achieving its goal of becoming America’s premier liberal
arts college. The Vice President will also ensure the vigorous implementation
and monitoring of the Blueprint for Diversity as a member of the Diversity
Coordinating Committee. After conducting an audit of current institutional
research, the Vice President of Planning and Research and her assistant will
modify existing studies to serve optimally the needs of the College and devise
processes to ensure that Scripps responds programmatically in a timely manner
to information that such studies yield.
Diversity Advisory Committee – 2001; to be reconstituted (charged with
providing counsel to the Diversity Coordinating Committee)
The individuals who have comprised the Diversity Advisory Committee from its
inception in late January until the present are listed below. It is likely that the
membership of the Diversity Advisory Committee will change slightly to
accommodate the professional and academic schedules of the members.
Betzy Barron, student
Bridget Anderson (Latka) ‘80
Dorienne Brewster, Technical Support/Training Specialist
Claire Bridge’82, Assistant to Director, Humanities Institute
Mariaestella Cuara ’89, Assistant Director of Admission
Kirk Delman, Registrar/Preparator, Williamson Gallery
Diana Ho ’71, Alumna Trustee
Professor Thomas Kim
Professor David Lloyd
Professor Nancy Macko
Yoshiko Matsui, Multicultural Coordinator/Hall Director
Denise Nelson Nash ‘76
Myeisha Peguero, student
Normelena Rios, student
Sylvia Racca, Director of Development
Professor Rita Roberts
Professor David Sadava
Jean Bixby Smith ’59, Chairman, Board of Trustees
Ofelia Velasquez ’84, Alumnae Association President
Professor Sheila Walker
Irvine Grant Work Team (charged with implementing grant initiatives)
Cluster Hires/Faculty Incentives Fund/Intercultural Course Development Fund
Dean of Faculty Michael Lamkin in conjunction with the Faculty Executive
Committee
Summer Program for Ninth and Tenth Grade Girls
Associate Dean Amy Marcus Newhall in conjunction with Vice President and
Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Patricia Goldsmith
Enhancement of Multicultural Programming
Dean of Students Debra Wood (Multicultural Resource Staff) in conjunction with
Assistant Dean Michelle Rasich; Associate Dean Amy Marcus Newhall in
conjunction with Dean Wood (Student Multicultural Project Fund); Director of
Alumnae Relations in conjunction with Dean Wood (Alumnae Multicultural
Advisory Committee)
Grant Manager
Carolyn Wagner, Director of Foundation and Corporate Relations
V. Evaluation
Does proposal reflect input from Irvine’s Evaluation Resource Team?
The proposal does not reflect input from Irvine’s Evaluation Resource Team.
Scripps looks forward to sending four representatives to the Team’s seminar on
June 7, 2001.
Internal process and staffing for monitoring project activities and
institutional progress toward the intended outcomes, including feedback
loops for strategy refinement
The Scripps College Strategic Plan includes as a high priority “tactics to create a
climate of continuous planning and creativity.” Accordingly, the Diversity
Steering Committee was guided by this directive in devising the implementation
and evaluation plan for the Blueprint for Diversity.
The Diversity Coordinating Committee, the successor to the Diversity Steering
Committee, is responsible for implementing, monitoring, assessing, and
modifying, as necessary, the Blueprint. The Irvine Grant Work Team, a subset of
the Diversity Coordinating Committee, will be charged with implementation of the
grant’s components. Because each of these initiatives is included as a tactic in
the Blueprint, the Diversity Coordinating Committee will be responsible for
overseeing and evaluating the programmatic elements of the grant. Each
monthly meeting of the Diversity Coordinating Committee will include
presentations by each member of the Irvine Grant Work Team. Minutes will be
taken at each meeting and circulated to members of the Diversity Coordinating
Committee, the Diversity Advisory Committee, and the Senior Staff.
Implementation highlights will serve as the basis of diversity updates that will be
posted on the Scripps College website.
The Diversity Advisory Committee will serve as an important sounding board and
resource to the College as it implements the Blueprint and the Irvine
Foundation’s grant. Because the Committee’s members represent both on and
off campus constituencies, come from a range of backgrounds, and possess
varied expertise, they will bring a multitude of perspectives and insights to
discussions of diversity on campus. Each member of the Diversity Advisory
Committee will be involved in the implementation of the Blueprint either a
student, faculty member, alumnae, or trustee. The Diversity Coordinating will
periodically confer with individual advisors to ascertain their views of specific
initiatives, particularly those that relate to the particular constituency that they
represent.
Because Scripps is currently undergoing a WASC review that includes an
assessment of diversity initiatives at the College, the Diversity Coordinating
Committee will exchange relevant documentation with the WASC Self-Study
Committee and modify the Blueprint, as needed, in accordance with the WASC
Visiting Team’s recommendations.
The following action steps demonstrate the process by which the College intends
to implement and monitor both the Blueprint and the projected grant from the
Irvine Foundation:
Circulate March 19, 2001 version of the Blueprint to Senior Staff, the Faculty
Executive Committee, and the Diversity Steering Committee and invite feedback
(Dean Lamkin).
Modify the Blueprint, as appropriate by March 30, 2001 (Diversity Steering
Committee).
Submit draft grant proposal to the Irvine Foundation by April 9, 2001 (Carolyn
Wagner).
Circulate modifications to Diversity Steering Committee by April 15, 2001, and
invite feedback by April 30, 2001 (Diversity Steering Committee).
Appoint Diversity Coordinating Committee, the successor of the Diversity
Steering Committee, by April 12; Comm ittee to oversee the implementation,
monitoring and implementation of the Blueprint (Dean Lamkin in consultation with
President Bekavac).
Submit final grant proposal to the Irvine Foundation by April 23, 2001 (Carolyn
Wagner).
Appoint Diversity Advisory Committee to provide the Diversity Coordinating
Committee with input and counsel by April 30, 2001 (Dean Lamkin in consultation
with Diversity Coordinating Committee).
Begin implementation of Blueprint by April 15, 2001 (Diversity Coordinating
Committee).
Diversity Coordinating Committee to meet monthly to review implementation
beginning April, 2001 (including summer months despite absence of some
members); Diversity Advisory Committee to meet as a group as necessary.
Ensure that WASC Self-Study Team incorporates relevant information from
Blueprint in Scripps’ submission to the accreditation agency (Diversity
Coordinating Committee).
WASC Self-Study due in June, 2002 (WASC Self-Study Committee).
Irvine Foundation board of trustees considers Scripps’ proposal in June, 2001.
Scripps representatives attend seminar offered by the Irvine Resource Evaluation
Team on June 7, 2001.
Pending positive assessment by Irvine Foundation’s board of trustees, grant to
be awarded by July 1, 2001.
Begin grant implementation in July, 2001 (Irvine Grant Work Team).
Monitor the implementation of grant initiatives on monthly basis including
compliance with timeline, budget, institutional policies and procedures, and the
programmatic description that was presented to the Irvine Foundation in the
proposal (Diversity Coordinating Committee).
Circulate WASC Self-Study (section pertaining to diversity) to Diversity
Coordinating Committee and Diversity Steering Committee by July, 2001 (Dean
Lamkin).
Hire Vice President for Research and Planning by fall, 2001 (President Bekavac).
Appoint Vice President for Research and Planning to Diversity Coordinating
Committee by fall, 2001 (Dean Lamkin).
Conduct an audit/analysis of institutional research that is currently conducted to
ascertain whether the data that such studies yield is sufficient and useful (Vice
President for Research and Planning).
Modify the scope, nature, and format of institutional research, as required, in fall,
2001 (Vice President for Research and Planning).
WASC Visiting Team on campus in October, 2001 and meets with the Diversity
Coordinating Committee.
Develop processes to ensure that the College responds to institutional research
programmatically in December, 2001 (Vice President for Research and
Planning).
Enhance programmatic response to institutional research beginning December,
2001. (Diversity Coordinating Committee).
Submit interim report on grant to the Irvine Foundation; estimated date,
December 1, 2001 (Carolyn Wagner)
WASC Visiting Team submits recommendations to Scripps in January, 2001.
Scripps to develop detailed evaluation plan in conjunction with the Irvine
Resource Evaluation Team by January 8, 2002.
Evaluate WASC Visiting Team’s recommendations in February, 2002 (Diversity
Coordinating Committee and Diversity Advisory Committee).
Modify Blueprint, if needed, on basis of WASC recommendations by February
28, 2002 (Diversity Coordinating Committee.)
Submit interim report on grant to the Irvine Foundation; estimated date, June 1,
2002 (Carolyn Wagner)
Admission Initiative: Summer Program for Ninth and Tenth Grade Girls
Benchmarks
Half-time coordinator hired, summer 2001
Program planning completed, June 2002
First-year marketing campaign completed, May 2003
First summer program in session, June 2003
Indicators
Number of applicants
Student satisfaction with the program based upon survey
Post-summer program tracking of academic progress of students
Number of students who apply to and enroll at Scripps
Number of students who apply to and enroll at other colleges or universities
Student Initiative: Multicultural Staffing and Programming
Multicultural Staffing
Benchmarks
Half-time student assistant selected, July 2001
Indicators
Enhanced multicultural programming and responsiveness to
student concerns
Greater student satisfaction with multicultural program
Increased retention, including higher academic achievement
Alumnae Multicultural Advisory Committee
Benchmarks
Alumnae recruited and trained, early fall 2001
Alumnae begin interaction with students, late fall 2001
Indicators
Enhanced multicultural programming and responsiveness to
student concerns
Greater student satisfaction with multicultural program and
increased retention, including higher academic achievement
Student Multicultural Project Fund
Benchmarks
Four student projects completed in 2001-2002
Four student projects completed in 2002-2003
Four student projects completed in 2003-2004
Indicators
Increased student satisfaction
Increased retention, including higher academic achievement
Additional contributions to Scripps’ multicultural archive
Blueprint for Diversity Benchmarks and Indicators for Major Goals and
Outcomes
Increase diversity of faculty
Benchmarks
Two faculty searches approved, 2001-2002, and completed, 2002-2003
Two new faculty begin employment, July 2003
Two searches approved, and completed, 2002-2003
Two new faculty begin employment, July 2004
Indicators
Increased diversity of faculty and curriculum
Increased student satisfaction and retention, including higher academic
achievement
Increased applications and enrollments from underrepresented students
Increase diversity of curriculum
Benchmarks
Ten faculty develop and offer five new intercultural courses (by 2003-2004);
additional faculty, both participants in workshops and others who have benefited
through reports of the workshops, enhance the intercultural content of fifteen
courses.
Program reviews conducted
Indicators
Increased student satisfaction and retention, including higher academic
achievement
Increased applications and enrollments from students from underrepresented
groups
Increase diversity of student body
Benchmarks
Alumnae Admission Officer hired, summer 2001
Outreach program to established girls’ organizations, African American
churches, and two-year colleges implemented, 2002-2003
Summer program for ninth and tenth grade students implemented, June 2003
Indicators
Increased number of applicants from underrepresented groups
Increased number of enrolled students from underrepresented groups
Optimize financial aid
Benchmarks
Loan indebtedness reduced by $4,000 cap
Creative initiatives implemented to create attractive packages
Indicators
Increased admission and retention, including higher academic achievement
Increased student satisfaction
Improved retention
Increase financial aid resources
Benchmarks
First Samella Lewis Scholarship awarded to African American student
Full tuition scholarship established for underrepresented students
Additional scholarships established for underrepresented students
Total of $7,000,000 raised to meet Campaign goal for endowed scholarships
Indicators
More compelling financial aid packages that help Scripps to compete
successfully for outstanding students from underrepresented groups
Improved retention
Enhance multicultural programming
Benchmarks
Half-time graduate student assistant hired; July 2001
Alumnae recruited, trained and begin interaction with students; fall 2001
Speakers, Activities, and Resource Account (SARA) established in support of the
Multicultural Resource Center; July 2001
Students and staff allocate the annual SARA budget based upon the priorities
that they establish; September, 2001
Student Multicultural Project Fund established (four grants awarded for each of
three years); September, 2001
Orientation program strengthened; on-going
First and second year student life programs strengthened; on-going
Indicators
Enhanced multicultural programming and responsiveness to
student concerns
Greater student satisfaction with multicultural program
Increased retention, including higher academic achievement
Additional contributions to Scripps’ multicultural archive
Promote diversity initiatives externally
Benchmarks
Diversity presence on website established, summer 2001
Bulletin story on Blueprint and Irvine grant published, fall 2001
Indicators
Increased understanding of Scripps as a multicultural community
Increased applications and enrollments from underrepresented students
Promote diversity initiatives internally
Benchmarks
Internal communications advisory board created, September 2001
Web newsletter developed, June 2001
Indicators
Enhanced internal communication
Promote multicultural understanding to internal constituencies
Benchmarks
Diversity training provided to all constituencies annually
Indicators
Increased job satisfaction
Improve campus climate for diversity
Increase diversity of board of trustees
Benchmarks
Nominations and Governance Committee develops and implements trustee
recruitment plan
Indicators
Increased number of trustees from underrepresented groups on board of trustees
Increased number of trustees from underrepresented groups in leadership
positions on board of trustees