UCD SENATE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND DIVERSITY COMMITTEE

Annual Report 2001

Summary

This year the AAD Committee has focused on several strategic goals, as well as conducting activities concerning an increase in campus and community incidents related to ethnic and gender issues. The AAD Committee strongly recommends that a campus climate survey be taken as soon as practically feasible, in coordination with the new Associate Executive Vice Chancellor for Campus Community Relations position which should probably be filled in the next few months. Two ongoing major subcommittees have been formed to recommend actions regarding training for faculty involved in search committees and supervision of campus employees, including wording within position announcements; and another to recommend actions regarding inclusion of evaluation of faculty for diversity and community accomplishments in merit/promotion actions (the 'accountability' issue). Coordination with the Staff Affirmative Action and Diversity Advisory Committee and the Constituent Group Chairs was initiated, with representatives from AAD attending their meetings and their representatives attending AAD meetings. In addition, a meeting with the Chancellor was called to examine the response of this campus to President Atkinson's program for matching start-up funds for faculty FTE in areas of formal community studies. Recent hate incidents and campus group reactions to these incidents have also been actively discussed, and resulted in suggestions for curricula changes arising from changing needs from an increasing diverse student community. E-mail business and representation in one of two system wide Affirmative Action Committee members took place. AAD Committee members were included in the interview process for the new Associate Executive Vice Chancellor for Campus Community Relations, formulation and implementation of a new set of awards for accomplishments regarding community and diversity, a planned renewed faculty mentoring program, and the AAD Chair took part in the formal interview process for the Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor position. Comments on the lack of noting the opportunity in improving faculty diversity in the Capstone Campus Academic Plan are being relayed to the Senate.

1. Subcommittees on Faculty Hiring and Evaluation

Subcommittees were formed to recommend actions and plans for faculty training and evaluation of faculty contributions to community and diversity. They were given a deadline of June 30, 2001 for their recommendations.

The charge of the 1st subcommittee was to examine faculty training for participation on search committees, as suggested by precedents at such similar institutions as the University of Nebraska, where all search committee members go through an orientation/training program which includes Affirmative Action and diversity components. Also included in the charge to this committee was the examination of the possible training of faculty supervising campus employees, inclusive of staff and students. The templates used for faculty position announcements were to be examined for possible modification to reflect the need for an ability to teach a diverse student community, following examples by other California state educational institutions and therefore in full compliance with Proposition 209. The Principles of Community, and its place in the hiring process and announcement wording was also to be considered.

The charge of the 2nd subcommittee was to consider how faculty could be held accountable for their responsibility to the Principles of Community in the workplace. Possible reward structures through the merit and promotion system were to be discussed.

2. Curricula Changes

An ongoing discussion was initiated in response to requests from the Council for Asian Pacific American Affairs (CAPAA), a group of faculty, staff and students, to examine the need for assessment of course curricula in meeting the needs of a changing student demography. Current course curricula, needs for new courses which consider the rich contributions of many cultures to academic topics, and new language courses are to be studied. CAPAA students also suggested a mandatory community/diversity class for all students.

3. Campus Community Survey

The Committee strongly recommends a campus community survey as soon as possible. Dr. Sue Rankin from the Pennsylvania State University Educational Equity Office presented material for a possible survey at UC Davis. Contacts with administration indicated that they were not willing at the time (the beginning of 2001) to initiate the survey. A new position, the Associate Executive Vice Chancellor for Campus Community Relations, would benefit greatly from a baseline survey for future assessments of program effectiveness, and it appears administration will probably support a survey at the commencement of the new position.

4. Joint Meetings and Coordinated Activities

Joint meetings were held or representatives were present in meetings involving the Chancellor, Federation Affirmative Action and Diversity Committee, Staff Affirmative Action and Diversity Advisory Committee (SAADAC), Staff Constituent Group chairs/leaders and CAPAA (Council for Asian Pacific American Affairs). These involved, among other topics:

a) Coordination on issues of required diversity training for community members involved in hiring

b) Coordination in making the Principles of Community more prominent and ubiquitous, including faculty making students aware of the Principles at the beginning of classes

c) Coordination on development of Diversity Coordinators in Departments and units

d) Curricula changes to reflect language classes; mandatory student courses or stronger GE diversity requirements; orientation for new faculty and students including strong diversity training components

e) President Atkinson's recent initiative offering on the order of $250,000 to this campus for start-up funds of new faculty positions in ethnic, gender, and related community studies.

5. Hate Incidents on Campus

Starting in the Fall Quarter, a number of hate incidents slowly surfaced. The pace picked up during the next two quarters, with increasing number of reports, some of which were at the possible criminal level, others of which involved non-criminal usage of ethnic slurs, implied violence, or other negative activities. CAPAA reorganized in the fall and held many meetings to investigate the incidents, culminating in the largest teach-in/rally of recent years, next to Mrak Hall in the Winter Quarter. Specific recommendations were made by CAPAA to the administration and faculty regarding methods to reduce community tensions in the rapidly changing demography of the campus, where the population of undergraduates from Asian and Asian-Pacific American backgrounds are now almost as numerous as from European backgrounds. Some of these recommendations are reflected in all of the items above. The Chair of AAD has been to many of the CAPAA meetings.

6. Campus Resource Allocations, Hiring and Retention

The Committee expressed its strong concern for the a possible unequal distribution of space and resources between or among colleges, departments and programs on campus. Many faculty in Humanities, Art and Cultural Studies perceive that they are seen as not needing resources and are being neglected in terms of space and funding/resources. This would have a negative impact on our diverse faculty and student population since the lack of these resources limits our actions in providing effective teaching and resource opportunities to the diverse populations in these departments and programs.

7. Other Activities Including System Wide Coordination

Our committee was involved in system wide activities to advise the Regents of opposition to SP-1 and SP-2 as part of the system wide committee. One representative went to the May 14, 2001 system wide meeting. Other system wide activities were aligned with several of the Items above.

Comments on the lack of noting the opportunity in improving faculty diversity in the Capstone Campus Academic Plan are being relayed to the Senate. Committee members noted serious problems with the Capstone report related to omission of these issues and are making recommendations to include them.

Representatives from AAD participated in ad-hoc committees to create and implement new Chancellor's Diversity and Community awards for faculty, staff and students, and for a renewed faculty mentoring program. Representatives also participated in interviews for the Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor, were members of the Recruitment Advisory Committee for the Executive Associate Vice Chancellor for Community Relations.

The recent California State Audit on the hiring of female faculty on campus was made available to committee members for future discussion. Important implementation recommendations will be considered in the next few months based on the Audit.

AAD Committee members were present at tables at the ASUCD Diversity Week and the staff-led Soaring to New Heights program. program with Vice Provost Klein.

Respectfully submitted,

Kyaw Tha Paw U, Chair

Wendy Ho

Victor Montejo

Michele Praeger

Lisa Pruitt

Evelyn Silvia

Carol Miller

Peg Durkin

Steve Russell

Jafar Yaghoobi

Hope Medina

Edward Wei