August 10, 1998

UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

To: Cheryl Joy Daly, John Ernest, Co-Chairs

President's Commission on the Status of People of Color

From: Joan R. Leitzel, President

cc: President's Staff, Deans, Ernie Gale, Mark Rubinstein

Subject: May 11, 1998, Annual Report from the UNH President's Commission on the Status of People of Color

I want to thank the Commission for its work over its inaugural year. I am pleased with the progress that was made and I am confident in the coming years that the Commission will maintain its focus on the development of strategies that bring lasting success to the University in the recruitment and retention of people of color. You have established a good direction and appropriate standards for the University.

The first report builds upon and reflects the goals established in the 1994 docurnent, "Building a New University Community: Minority Student and Faculty Recruitment and Retention at the University of New Hampshire." I appreciate that the Commission began its work by reflecting on "Building a New University Community" and the subsequent 1996 audit prepared by Elizabeth Lewis, former Special Assistant to the President for Affirmative Action. The four areas of the report­ recruitment; climate equity and welfare; academic programs; and community relations ­ and the related recommendations give a structure for later work. I would like to list those recommendations and provide a brief response to each. Then I took forward to meeting with the Commission early in the fall semester for further discussion.

RECRUITMENT

Recommended Actions:

1. The Recruitment Committee recommends the consolidation of undergraduate minority student recruitment functions within the undergraduate admissions office no later than the end of 1998­99 academic year. Further more, we suggest that responsibility for effecting this consolidation be given to the new Vice Provost for Enrollment Management as a priority item. While recommended changes will provide clarity regarding student intake responsibilities, is expected that each department will remain vital to the University's enrollment structure.

President's Response:

The new Vice Provost for Enrollment Management, who comes to us on August 10, 1998, has responsibility for "recruitment, retention, and graduation of UNH students. His is not the sole responsibility, needless to say, but he is the focus of these efforts. The consolidation of functions relating to these matters is in his jurisdiction. He will give minority student matters priority in his first year and will address both organization and strengthening of these efforts.

2. The Committee endorses the BSU's demand for a minority student recruitment and retention plan that will guide the University's efforts through the year 2005 check­point. Consistent with the intent of the final recommendation contained in the "Building a New University Community" report, the Committee recommends that the Provost andVice President for Student Affairs be charged jointly by the President to present a complete recruitment and retention plan for the President's endorsement no later than January 1999. The finalized plan should reflect the input of students, appropriate professional staff from the areas of undergraduate and graduate student recruitment and retention, and the Commission.

President's Response:

A consolidated plan for the recruitment and retention of minority students, based on previous efforts set out in Building a New University Community, will be developed during the coming academic year. The Provost and the Vice President for Student Affairs will work closely with the Vice Provost for Enrollment Management to create the plan, and will seek and utilize the input of concerned, responsible parties and offices, including students and faculty, especially those on the Commission. The plan will include strategies for recruitment; processes to accomplish the strategies plans for monitoring recruitment and retention; and a road map to the year 2005 "check point."

3. The Committee charges itself with developing a model for establishing meaningful linkages between "student advisory group" members and the University's evolving minority student recruitment team. Careful consideration needs to be given toward strengthening the role of Aid staff within the recruitment team concept. A draft report of these efforts should be included in the Commission's next interim progress report due in the winter of 1999.

President's Response:

This is a reasonable goal for the Commission and, specifically, the Recruitment Committee. Efforts should be made in consultation with the Vice Provost for Enrollment Management as he considers the organizational structure for the several units reporting to him. The new Director of Financial Aid (whose position is just now being advertised) will be a key player.

Faculty Recruitment

Recommended Actions:

1. First, it must become clear to all involved in the hiring process that UNH is committed to the recruitment of people of color. Deans, department chairs, and hiring committees must understand that it is not enough to advertise a position and hope that a person of color will apply. They must be educated about current strategies and resources well before the hiring process begins.

Approval of lines for hiring should be dependent on a department's completion of appropriate training through the coordinated efforts of the Affirmative Action Office and Personnel Services. Similarly, the President should reaffirm that the University's Affirmative Action Office will shut down any position search that does not meet reasonable expectations for minority candidate inclusion and the full consideration of qualified candidates at each stage of the hiring process.

President's Response:

The Special Assistant to the President for Affirmative Action is responsible for providing or overseeing affirmative action training at all levels involved in faculty hiring. She is working closely with the Office of Human Resources to develop processes through which the two offices are able to monitor closely all steps in the faculty hiring process to ensure that affirmative action and equal employment opportunity requirements are met. She is currently working with the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs to discuss these issues at a meeting of the Deans, Directors, and Chairs, and to present the video "Shattering the Silences," a powerful exposition of the issues involved in hiring faculty of color. With the cooperation of the Deans and department chairs, all faculty search committees will be briefed on these issues and assisted in formulating affirmative action search strategies before each search process begins. In each case, the intent is to create a diverse pool of candidates from which a candidate is selected.

2. To strengthen and focus the University's training effort, the Commission recommends that the President appoint a University-wide committee whose charge is to create a faculty of color hiring and retention handbook. In addition to providing general instruction concerning approved hiring procedures, this handbook would provide direction specific to the issues surrounding the recruitment and selection of faculty of color.

President's Response:

The Special Assistant to the President for Affirmative Action is currently revising the existing guidelines for faculty hiring, in order to have them in place by the beginning of the FY '99 hiring season. She is consulting with staff, faculty, students, and administrators, including members of the Commission. These interim revisions will be evaluated during the coming academic year, and updated or replaced as appropriate. She will organize a formal, ad hoc committee to assist her in this further process, which will include the consideration of specific hiring issues set out in the Committee recommendations. It is expected that the final product will be available on line, and that successful information and strategies that can be used to hire staff and administrators will be utilized in similar publications aimed at the search processes.

3. At the request of the President, academic departments should submit reports on the status of their 5­year Affirmative Action Plans that were written in 1993.

President's Response:

The Special Assistant to the President for Affirmative Action is reviewing the Five­Year Plans, preparatory to working with departments in conducting an audit of the plans and subsequent hiring and retention activity. Data from USNH, including relevant material from the System Affirmative Actions Plans and the Affirmative Action Reports, will be utilized.

4. The President is encouraged to develop a mechanism for providing "window of opportunity" money in support of hiring possibilities that occur beyond the normal calendar cycle. These monies might also be made available throughout the year to expand campus visit opportunities for candidates and/or spouses by offsetting their travel expenses.

President's Response:

Funds from the President's Office have been made available, and will continue to be available, to enhance the University's efforts to hire faculty of color (see attached letter from the President). UNH is committed to this very important process.

Staff Recruitment

Recommended Actions:

1. Since the University's potential for attracting people of color to staff positions is linked with the public perception of advancement opportunity, it is essential for the University to acquire a proactive attitude in the areas of recruitment (hiring) and promotion (retention). To assist the Commission's efforts in determining the University's current circumstances in this regard, the President is asked to assign a ten­year study of staff promotion rates among people of color as compared with promotion rates for the general UNH staff. Should this effort reveal that required data is sparse or infrequently kept, the Commission strongly recommends that the President take appropriate steps to guarantee ongoing data gathering and reporting on a cycle not to exceed three years.

President's Response:

Data is incomplete and does not pennit us to fully recover the historic picture. Vice President Corvey will work with Personnel and others, as appropriate, to determine ways in which to establish and maintain the appropriate tracking and records for the future. Exit interviews should be one source of future information. [See #2 in next section].

Climate, Equity, and Welfare

Recommended Action:

1. The Committee charges itself with researching the most appropriate and effective evaluation methods to measure quality of life. The committee will then make recommendations to the offices in the best position to collect information. Climate surveys should be distributed to students, faculty, staff, and selected alumni groups on an ongoing basis. Focus groups would be a corollary to any surveys. This would be not only a monitoring mechanism, but it would begin to provide a data base for ongoing measures of progress or lack thereof.

President's Response:

The Vice President for Student Affairs and the Special Assistant to the President for Affirmative Action are working to create climate surveys for, and use focus groups from, the student body in the coming academic year to measure quality of life issues. They will be working with the Vice Provost for Enrollment Management, who is concerned with retention as well as recruitment issues, and with the Executive Director of Alumni Affairs, who will assist in reaching recent graduates for survey data to correlate to student information. They will be pleased to consult with the Committee.

2. The Climate, Equity, and Welfare Committee will study differentmethods for conducting exit interviews to measure retention issues forpeople of color and will make recommendations to those offices (Personnel, Student Affairs, Academic Affairs) in the position of collecting exit data.

President's Response:

It will be helpful for the Commission to work closely with the responsible adxr¦inistrators in studying the best way to conduct exit interviews.

3. Conduct a similar salary equity study for faculty as has been doneforstaff. Salary equity studies, for both faculty and staff, should beconducted on an ongoing basis and inequities should be addressed in atimely manner.

President's Response:

Faculty equity studies are matters that are dealt with though the collective bargaining process. An equity study for staff has already been undertaken. Although the number of employees of color is too small to be meaningful statistically, individual cases will be considered on a case­by­case basis.

4. The Climate, Equity, and Welfare Committee will continue tostudythe University's discriminatory harassment policy, and will work withany data gathering and interpretation offices to determine what can bedone to systematically collect and monitor this data.

President's Response:

The Vice President for Student Affairs and the Special Assistant to the President for Affirmative Action will work with the Commission to evaluate data and systematize the collection and evaluation of pertinent material. One of our challenges this year will be our efforts to consolidate this collection.

5. The Office of Affirmative Action should monitor the policies on discriminatory harassment over the next year and discuss findings with the Climate, Equity, and Welfare Committee and the Commission.

President's Response:

An evaluation of the new discriminatory harassment policies will be conducted by the Vice President for Student Affairs and the Special Assistant to the President for Affirmative Action, with the cooperation of the Office of Human Resources and the Vice President for Academic Affairs. Input and comments from employee councils, the Faculty Senate, and student organizations will be particularly invited.

6. Diversity training should be incorporated into the student orientation program at UNH/Manchester. Initiatives on both the Durham and Manchester campuses should be ongoing and evaluated regularly.

President's Response:

Diversity training for orientation leaders and those conducting similar new­student training has been incorporated at Durham, and is being discussed with the Dean at Manchester to ascertain the most productive means for initiating this. This training is expected to be ongoing and will be evaluated on a continuing basis by the Vice Provost for Enrollment Management and the Special Assistant to the President for Affirmative Action.

7. The Committee recommends that Student Affairs examine issues for students related to the role of RA's, hall directors, and others having animpact on the quality of student life within the Division of Student Affairs. It is also suggested that Student Affairs create, distribute and use as a basis for continuing discussion and education of the studentbody and faculty, a film of/by students of color on their past/ongoing experiences at UNH. This is one of the topics discussed with DSC and BSU, as well as other concerned organizations.

President's Response:

The Vice President for Student Affairs, is coordinating these matters with the support of the Director of Multicultural Affairs, the Special Assistant to the President for Affirmative Action, and offices and programs which impact quality of life for students are examining these issues and concerns. The production of an in­house film by students of color and the use of other materials, speakers, programs, and similar means to educate the University community are being explored and planned.

8. The Affirmative Action Office should work on establishing inservice training and faculty discussions that focus on diversity issues.

President's Response:

The Special Assistant to the President for Affirmative Action (and her predecessors) has already provided in­service training, faculty discussions, and other forums (for faculty, students, and staff dealing with issues of diversity, affirmative action, and discriminatory harassment. This includes staff training, orientation staff training, new faculty orientation, teaching assistant and research assistant training, and similar venues. Plant¦ing for the next academic year is underway with a variety of offices to ensure that this ongoing process continues to reach as many members of the community as possible. The Special Assistant to the President for Affirmative Action will work with the Commission, and with other campus offices and groups to create a plan using a wide variety of resources for this discussion and educational effort.

Academic Programs

Recommended Action:

1. Appoint a committee to undertake the implementation of the diversity

requirement.

President's Response:

After thorough analysis, the Chair of the Faculty Senate has determined that the diversity requirement was not formally approved by eider the Academic Senate or the Faculty Senate. The Chair, in consultation with the Senate Agenda Committee, will continue to research this matter and determine an appropriate course of action with the Provost and the President.

2. Regularize the funding of operating budgets of the African American

Studies and Race Culture Power Programs.

President's Response:

[See #3 below].

3. Explore how the African American Studies and Race Culture Power

Programs could be given more solid institutional support.

President's Response:

Minor programs are the responsibility of the colleges because they are instructional programs. As a consequence, their operating budgets come from the Deans. The College of Liberal Arts provides institutional support to its minor programs through the related departments and puts operating funds for minors into departmental budgets. Over the last decade, the College has made aggressive efforts to add courses that not only support these interdisciplinary minors but are embedded in the basic disciplines. Anthropology, History, and English are examples of departments that have modified curricula and developed diversity courses.

The two minors, Race Culture Power and African American Studies, have quite different histories at UNH. African American Studies is relatively new and is in a start­up phase. That program has been started with a small operating budget plus some release time funds and some equipment. Race Culture Power started in 1994 and has had start­up funding in excess of $50,000. That minor has not had the student response that was anticipated and each year has attracted only a small number of students declaring the minor. It may be that a review of the program within the context of the current diversity curricula would be helpful at this time. That possibility will be discussed in the College and program. The Dean agrees that an examination could be helpful.

4. Introduce the Race, Culture, and Power program at UNH Manchester.

President's Response:

The Provost will work closely with Dean LaCroix and Dean Hoskin to consider this proposal.

5. The visibility of UNH to prospective minority applicants is essential to successful recruitment. Thus, the funding for and the establishment of summer programs for high school students of color on the model of the Summer Select Program should be actively pursued.

President's Response:

The University recognizes the importance of a variety of programs (whether "free standing" or components of other programs) which introduce high school students of color to llNH programs. The University will aggressively pursue endowment funds, rather than one­time dollars, for programs that give UNE visibility to perspective minority students. Funding for such programs is included in the current plan for the University's capital campaign.

Community Relations

Recommended Actions

1. The Commission urges the President to seek a "permanent home"forthe Partnership Council. By this, we mean that an office or appropriate individual(s) should be assigned to review its history and consider the unrealized plans to fully implement an African American, AsianthAmerican, Native Arnerican, and Hispanic caucus structure.

Subsequent to this review, a proposal should be submitted for the President's endorsement that speaks to the Council's assessed viability.

President's Response:

UNH needs closer ties to minority communities in New Hampshire, and the Partnership Council is a primary means to accomplish this. The Special Assistant to the President for Affirmative Action is working to re­establish these ties. I expect to continue that office as the permanent home for the Council. The Special Assistant has already begun working with the Hispanic Cornmunity in Manchester, together with the Commission Coordinator, the Dean of the Whittemore School of Business and Economics, and the Dean of UNH/Manchester, and plans to reestablish the caucus or other structures that will most effectively use the Council.

Again, I thank you for your conscientious and Borough work over the past year. Your work provides the foundation for further progress toward longer term goals for the retention and recruitment of people of color on the University campus. I look forward to working with the Commission in the year ahead.

/bmc

Attachment

bec: Jane Stapleton

May 4, 1998

TO: Walter Eggers

FROM: Joan Leitzel

SUBJECT: Hiring Faculty from Underrepresented Groups

As you know, I want the President's Office to be helpful to the Deans as they make efforts to hire new faculty from groups significantly underrepresented in their fields at UNH. I believe this help could be available in two ways.

For new hires from groups who are significantly underrepresented in their fields at UNH, the President's Office could provide either half of the salary for the first two years or salary support for three summers.

For faculty level visitors from groups significantly underrepresented

in fields at UNH, the President's Office could provide half the salary.

I will appreciate your talking further with the Deans about these ideas, and letting me know if such funds would facilitate the appointments of a greater mix of faculty.

/cec