Chancellor discusses diversity
Tuesday's forum was the third such discussion Chancellor Brady Deaton has led.
Published April 15, 2005
On Tuesday, heavy hitters at MUY came together to discuss an issue that has received significant attention lately: diversity.
Chancellor Brady Deaton moderated the discussion, which included a panel of three professors and Deputy Chancellor Mike Middleton.
"We can't be better until we get beyond our history," Middleton said. "We have to admit that we have our flaws."
Carol Anderson, assistant professor of history, gave a personal perspective on the issue.
"I think globally, but I see it up close and personal," Anderson said.
Anderson relayed two anecdotes in her speech. In one, a student told her after a large lecture that it must be extremely difficult to look out at a large class and see so few African Americans. In the other, a graduate student told her she should leave MU because "it isn't a good place for black people."
Professor of political science Rick Hardy spoke on intellectual diversity, which he said has recently been a hot topic.
Hardy said there are two main schools of thought on the subject: those who feel college campuses need to be more diverse in the area of political views, and others who view the campaign for intellectual diversity as a movement by the political right to artificially insert conservative views into universities.
Some conservatives wouldn't call for an "academic bill of rights," an attempt to bring about political diversity, he said.
Hardy said he wouldn't support any legislation that would force universities to be more diverse along political lines.
"We have brought diversity in terms of politics and in terms of ideas to this campus," Hardy said.
Hardy is a former Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives.
Middleton used much of his speech to discuss affirmative action. He said the Supreme Court has upheld schools' right to consider race, giving colleges a pass to start fixing the problems of diversity.
"We can't fix this climate until we talk about it," Middleton said. "We've got the green light; the only question left is how do we do it."
Anderson said many African-American faculty members have what she calls "battered scholar syndrome," where they feel that despite their credentials and accomplishments these faculty members, she said, are still fair game for discrimination.
Roger Worthington, associate professor of educational, school and counseling psychology, spoke about the campus climate study he and a team of researchers conducted in 2001.
The study includes data from nearly 6,000 faculty, staff, students and administrators.
Worthington said the survey's results were comparable to the findings of similar surveys across the country.
He said people tend to react to the survey in two ways: anger at the "bad climate" or relief that MU compares to the national average.
"MU has made significant progress in moving from a non-inclusive institution to one that expressly values inclusiveness," Worthington said. "I hope everybody thinks we can do better. I'm certain we can do better.
