A committee that spent more than a year examining diversity on campus urges the College to take a more active role in improving race relations and warns that little will change unless a senior level administrator coordinates the effort full time.
In its final report to College President James Freedman, the Committee on Community and Diversity at Dartmouth presented a broad strategy for combating intolerance, including continued efforts to recruit minority students, faculty and administrators.
But the report said increasing numbers alone do not necessarily improve the College's situation. The report stressed the need for more substantive changes including a revision of the orientation program for first-year students and increased funding and programming to break down racial and ethnic barriers.
A senior administrator, preferably at the associate provost level, is needed to coordinate these efforts, the report said.
Dean of the College Lee Pelton, a member of the committee, said Freedman will be meeting with other top college officials in the next three or four weeks to discuss the recommendations of this report and how to implement them.
Freedman formed the committee, which was chaired by Trustee Stanford Roman, in the fall of 1992, a few months after students had rallied on the Green to protest the acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers in the beating of Rodney King.
The 39-page final report entitled "Managing Diversity" was submitted to Freedman at the end of December and released by the College yesterday.
The senior administrative position is the most significant recommendation made by the committee. The responsibilities of this position involve coordinating and initiating programs throughout the campus that would foster diversity or community; serving on the Bildner Committee, an important source for financing initiatives; working with the Admissions Office to recruit a diverse set of students; monitoring the quality of life of minorities and women; and facilitating curricular review and course development or revision.
The report also stressed the importance that "this individual not be expected to act as a minority counselor for undergraduate students."
Roman said it would be ideal if this individual held an associate provost position because members of the Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Office are mandated by law to conduct certain duties, such as accumulating statistics.
Roman said the senior administrator the committee envisioned should not be bogged down with looking at numbers; instead, the individual should work on "curricular issues, student life issues and the more subtle issues such as the image of the College and the external perception."
The CDCD report also recommended a review of how the Council on Student Organizations' funds are allocated.
"Affinity groups really have been traditionally vying with hobby-type or recreational groups in terms of resource allocation," Roman said. "It would be helpful to look at that allocation and restructure it because cultural affinity groups should not be vying with groups such as the chess club."
The committee also recommended that the College thoroughly examine the co-ed, fraternity and sorority system. The report said it was not the charge of the CDCD community to look at the Greek system, but it acknowledges the major role it plays in students' social life.
The report said "these organizations on any campus reinforce values and affinities that, among other things, conflict with pluralism, not because of any conscious intent but because they reinforce the most superficial affinities."
CDCD's latest report to the College on diversity is not the only one of its kind. It was preceded by other similar reports, the most notable of which is the McLane report.
The McLane Committee was formed in 1968, shortly following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. CDCD's charge was primarily focused on the last 25 years since the McLane report was issued.
In contrast to the beliefs held by people in 1968, members of CDCD do not believe simply increasing the number of minorities on campus creates real integration.
"The lesson of the 25 years since the McLane Report and the 20 years since co-education is the that racial and ethnic diversity, like coeducation, needs to be managed and facilitated in order to succeed. It simply does not happen on its own."
The 14-member committee was composed of Roman; Pelton; Edward Fox, Tuck School dean; N. Bruce Duthu '80; David Lemal, a chemistry professor; Diane Taylor, a Spanish and comparative literature professor; Karen Wetterhahn, an associate dean of the faculty for the sciences; Terry Asay '94, former president of the Native Americans at Dartmouth program; Andrew Beebe '93, the former Student Assembly president; Susie Lee '94; Marisol Negron '93, a former intern at the Women's Resource Center; and Dana White '94.
