I appreciate the opportunity to talk with you about the impact this bill (HB1304) would have on the University of New Hampshire and to explain why the University must oppose the bill.

To give a context for my remarks, I want you to know that at this time UNH is admitting all qualified applicants and that all students are admitted under the same academic admissions standards. Academic standards are not differentiated on the basis of race, sex, national origin, religion, or sexual orientation. Admission decisions at UNH are not made on the basis of one or two numerical scales alone. Rather, the University reviews all indicators in an applicant’s background in order to judge the student’s potential to be successful at UNH.

Having said that, the University of New Hampshire recognizes that diversity in the student body, faculty, and staff is essential to fulfill the University’s primary mission: providing a quality education. Let me explain why diversity is a quality of education issue.

• Students learn a great deal from one another, especially from others who have different backgrounds, cultures, beliefs, and values. The college years are years of intense learning and values acquisition. This learning takes place best in a richly diverse intellectual and social environment.

• Students at a university like UNH are likely to live and work in more diverse communities when they leave the University than they have experienced before they came. The demographic changes in New Hampshire recorded in the last census give evidence that our graduates who stay in New Hampshire will live in an increasingly pluralistic society. This is also true for graduates who locate outside New Hampshire.

• Public higher education has the responsibility to teach all of the nation’s populations. Developing the talents and abilities of all our citizens is critical to America’s economic competitiveness. Last month I received a letter signed by many of the CEOs of the nation’s leading companies which states, "As corporate leaders, we recognize the growing importance of the global economy and the imperative of preparing all Americans to play a role in that economy."

As a consequence, the University of New Hampshire has a strong commitment to building a diverse student body, faculty, and staff. In order to do this, we must be sure that opportunities at UNH are known to diverse populations. The goal is to attract qualified individuals into our student, faculty, and staff applicant pools from all parts of our pluralistic society.

The bill under discussion today, HB1304, would prevent the University System from setting quotas, goals, or guidelines for the admission of students and the recruitment of faculty and staff based on race, sex, national origin, religion, or sexual orientation. We are not concerned with quotas. We don’t have them, and we don’t want them. But we do care about goals and guidelines. The University must have goals in order to continue to strengthen its programs. We must have guidelines to indicate how the University will meet its goals, what we will do and what we will not do.

At UNH we’re working hard to develop a successful diverse community in which each person is able to meet his or her full potential. We do this because of our commitment to provide all students with the highest possible quality of education and to meet the needs of New Hampshire’s knowledge-based economy. Success requires strong effort, and it requires goals and guidelines. For these reasons I ask the Committee not to support HB1304 which would restrict our ability to continue the progress we have made.