Inside Iowa State
Dec. 20, 1996
Diversity issues discussed during campus forum
By Diana Pounds & Linda Charles
Following are selected comments from the Dec. 4 campus-wide
forum to discuss diversity issues. The forum, "Strategies for
Change at ISU," drew 175 observers and comments from a number
of ISU administrators, faculty, staff and students.
Martin Jischke, ISU president
On the challenges of diversity: I don't believe that
these challenges are due to the fact that we have not been
addressing issues of diversity. Increasing diversity has been
one of Iowa State's top priorities and we can point to a
lengthy list of initiatives that the university has mounted
over the last five years to support increasing diversity. É
What I want to do is raise some questions for you that I
think together we have to try to deal with. The first one is:
How do we, in fact, share the promise of diversity for all of
us here at Iowa State? Are the things we're doing really
making a difference in enhancing the climate for our
university, especially at the level of individuals on a
personal basis?
On Carrie Chapman Catt: I have read the book she compiled on women suffrage by federal constitutional amendment ... In particular, I have read all of chapter 6 and the quote that has been used to characterize her as a racist -- dealing with white supremacy.... I did not interpret that chapter to mean that she at all embraced white supremacy. I've not been able to find any of her writings that suggest that she did. ... My conclusion is that her motives were honorable, she was not a racist and she made accomplishments that are worthy of the recognition [Carrie Chapman Catt Hall].
Derrick Rollins, associate professor of chemical
engineering and statistics, and diversity adviser to the
president's cabinet
On recruiting minority faculty: What comes out is, "I
hope we don't reduce the quality of what we're doing by going
out and recruiting faculty." That issue comes up quite a bit,
or is in the back of people's minds. And I sit there at those
meetings sometimes very offended because I think about the
African American faculty who are at Iowa State and I think to
myself, "Where has quality really declined" in terms of
recruiting African American faculty? And yet, the perception
is there. It's real.
On students' responsibility: I don't really see a lot of effort on the students' part to address the problem of coming together with different groups of people. For the most part, I see [student] organizations are pretty secluded and isolated when it comes to race. To me, the best education is not going to be listening to your professor on diversity, or it's not going to come from courses you take. It's going to come from taking the initiative to get to know one another, to invite each other to different functions. É We're not even thinking about the small things we can do to begin to attack the problem. We're waiting for someone else to legislate, or someone else to take the initiative, when there are a lot of things that we can do ourselves to take the initiative to come together, to get to know each other.
Randy Alexander, director of residence
We need to avoid identifying rejection of our point of view
as being the equivalent of bias or racism. ... One thing I
hope we all can agree upon is the right of everyone to hold
his or her point of view, to express it ... even if we don't
agree with it. In order to do that, we need to be able to
communicate honestly. I don't think that we appreciate
sometimes how profoundly awkward we are as a culture in
talking about some of the issues that we talk about. ...
Sometimes things are said because we're awkward with each
other. Sometimes things are said that we disagree with or
because the person saying it simply doesn't understand that
point of view. In order to make progress, we have to have
honest communication. In order for that to happen, we need to
be able to cut each other some slack.
Larhonda Potts, ISU senior and representative of
multicultural support groups in the residence halls
One concern I have as far as the recruitment of African
American students is that the university tends to go to
within the city of Chicago, in the inner city. É I'm from
Kansas City, Mo., and I felt if they had come to me and tried
to recruit me to the university, maybe I would have a
different perception of it.
Lang Tran, representative of the Asian Pacific American
Awareness Coalition
Too often the needs of Asian students are neglected because
they are considered a model minority. This stereotype is just
as dangerous as attacking a minority. ISU is attempting to
diversify its campus. In order to do that, Asian voices need
to be heard. We want recognition and support from the
university. This can be done through concrete plans for the
creation of an Asian cultural center.
Jamey Hansen, representative of the Government of the
Student Body
Diversity should be a part of every class. ... Are my
professors and instructors trained how to teach
multiculturally? Are they asked to handle multicultural
programs? What kind of training are they receiving? And if
they're not, why not?
Bill Woodman, president of Faculty Senate
One of the things that faculty communicated to me is that
there's a need to talk to each other and to talk
individually. You don't change hearts and minds either by
marching or by posters. ... I think that students
particularly would be really quite amazed to find how much
their professors would like to talk to them about whatever is
on their minds.
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