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Senate motion on statement on diversity
UNH
FACULTY SENATE MOTION # VIII-M8
Statement on Diversity
1. Motion presenter: Paul McNamara, of the Academic Affairs Committee
2. Date of Faculty Senate discussion: March 8, 2004
3. Motion: The Senate Academic Affairs Committee unanimously recommends
to the Faculty Senate adoption of the following statement.
Statement on Diversity as a Compelling Interest
The Vision
The Faculty Senate, composed of the duly-elected representatives
of the faculty, believes that the University of New Hampshire exemplifies
our state and national commitment to both liberty and inquiry. The
latter values have always been intertwined. Part of the value of
liberty is that it allows for a plurality of voices, which in turn
enhances inquiry. So to advance the interests of inquiry at UNH
it is essential to construct an intellectual community in which
a plurality of voices can be heard. Furthermore, to prepare our
students for the future, we must provide them with an environment
that reflects multi-cultural and socio-economic diversity. This
too is continuous with a traditional concern: the cosmopolitan aspirations
long associated with a higher education. A corollary to both of
these considerations is that we should be especially attuned to
those groups that have been underrepresented.1 Therefore, the University
of New Hampshire must exert every reasonable effort to create and
sustain a community of students, faculty and staff that reflects
multi-cultural and socio-economic diversity.
Our Special Challenge
It is the goal of the university to provide students with a
balanced education. UNH expends significant effort to do so. This
is demonstrated in its long-standing commitment to required general
education courses, as well as study abroad programs, a program of
broad intercollegiate and intra-mural athletics, and extensive programming
in the arts as a part of non-classroom campus life. In the same
way in which UNH seeks to provide students with exposure to a diversity
of subjects, international cultures, athletic activities, and arts,
UNH has an obligation to offer its students exposure to that multicultural
diversity that comprises our nation. Were UNH situated in a state
with a diverse population, the normal processes of recruitment might
naturally provide an educational experience, which reflected the
desired diversity. Alas, this is far from our situation. UNH faces
special challenges. For example, UNH serves a state in which minorities
are not present in large numbers: in 2000, New Hampshire had a non-white
population that is one-eighth the national average. As a result,
the vast majority of native New Hampshire students at UNH have had
very little exposure to a plurality of voices which comprises approximately
25% of our nation’s population (in 2000).2 Thus it is essential
that UNH take significant affirmative action to recruit and retain
students, faculty, and employees from such underrepresented groups.
Absent this effort, we have left a serious gap in the educational
program, which we offer our students. With it, we may yet fully
achieve our ideal of the sort of diverse educational community that
is optimal for inquiry and that facilitates the emergence of cosmopolitan
graduates.
1 For example, in our nation, many people have
been traditionally underrepresented in various forums because of
disability, economic status, ethnicity, gender, lack of educational
opportunity, race, religion, or sexual orientation.
2 2000 Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2001/tables/nh_tab_1.PDF;
in friendlier format at: http://www.usatoday.com/graphics/census2000/newhampshire/state.htm.
There are, of course, subtle gradations: the proportion of Asians,
Native Americans, Hispanics, and Blacks in NH is one-third, one-fifth,
one-seventh, and one-eighteenth that of the nation, respectively.
(Percentages and proportions are per one-race declarations.)
4. Senate action: passed, on March 8, 2004
Vote: Approved by a voice vote
Senate chair’s signature: Tom Laue, on March 10, 2004
Forwarded to: President Ann Hart, on March 11, 2004
Forwarded to: VPAA Bruce Mallory, on March 11, 2004
Forwarded to: Pat Gormley, on March 11, 2004
Forwarded to: Michael Kalinowski, on March 11, 2004
Forwarded to: Paul McNamara, on March 11, 2004
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