The Faculty Senate last week took several steps aimed at improving the environment for diversity on campus and opening up a dialogue on the campus climate.
The senate actions were taken in response to incidents of racial harassment on campus last fall. The senate voted Feb. 10 to approve a resolution on campus climate and to approve a resolution to reformulate the Committee on Minority Education.
Senators also were briefed on several other faculty and administration initiatives under way to improve campus climate, including a new committee, "Dialogue on Campus Climate for Students: Diversity and Inclusion," and a forum set for March 17 to discuss the new book Cornell '69: Liberalism and the Crisis of the American University, by Donald Alexander Downs, addressing issues raised at Cornell in the late 1960s.
Before the Senate discussion began, John Ford, the Robert W. and Elizabeth C. Staley Dean of Students, gave a background presentation on campus climate. Ford said many students of color report that they do not feel safe or respected and that the level of tension and fear on campus is greater than it has been for the last 25 years.
"Last semester there was a wave of racial harassment incidents that provoked fear and outrage on the part of students, faculty and staff.... As that racial harassment crisis subsides, more faculty leadership is needed. We must ensure that Cornell is a good place for all of our students," Ford said.
Ford said the administration is committed to a campus environment that embraces all students, and he pointed to the public statement on the subject by Cornell President Hunter Rawlings, issued Jan. 27, which reads, in part:
"It is incumbent upon all of us to promote a climate of civility, decency and respect for others on campus. There is no place for racist attitudes in a university that espouses the enlightened use of reason to pursue humanistic understanding and scientific truth. At a time when we are celebrating the remarkable life of Dr. Martin Luther King, it is important to remember the principles he held and the example he set. His dream of racial justice is one that we should all help this university and this country to realize by our words and our actions....
"Respect for others, especially those with whom we disagree, is an obligation placed upon all of us. Abusive rhetoric, race-baiting and threatening speech and behavior undermine the most important values of an academic community. Cornell stands for reasoned thought, sustained and informed discussion, constructive engagement and freedom with responsibility. Let's leave that legacy for the next generation."
In response to the harassment incidents, the university also improved campus lighting, increased police patrols and increased educational programs and training.
In a Jan. 25 memo to faculty members, the University Faculty Committee -- the elected executive committee that guides the Faculty Senate -- encouraged all faculty to play a leadership role in improving the environment for diversity at Cornell and promised to bring a resolution before the senate to affirm the faculty's concern and its intent to act.
The Faculty Senate overwhelmingly approved the following resolution last week:
"WHEREAS, Cornell University is committed to providing an environment that permits equal opportunity for all members of the community to fulfill their potential for intellectual and social growth and that also permits the free and open exchange of opinions and ideas, and
"WHEREAS, the use of harassing speech or actions directed against particular individuals or particular groups of individuals on the basis of their race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, or religion is not a legitimate part of that exchange and damages the trust and mutual respect essential to the well-being of our community,
"THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Cornell Faculty Senate urges the Cornell faculty to play a more active role in ensuring a safe and open campus environment."
Cooke said the Dialogue on Campus Climate Committee, which will include students, faculty and staff, will attempt to initiate programs aimed at establishing an ongoing campuswide dialogue within all academic departments. The committee, still being formed, will meet weekly and be chaired by Robert L. Harris, associate professor of Africana Studies. Robert Johnson, director of Cornell United Religious Work, has been named vice chair and will provide resource materials to aid in the discussions.
The resolution reformulating the Committee on Minority Education, a standing committee of the Faculty Senate originally formed in 1976, passed unanimously, with a new, broader charge. The charge now states:
"A. Provide continuing oversight of minority education, including not only review of proposed and ongoing special programs but also monitoring the overall educational experience of minority students.
"B. Make recommendations to the faculty and administration where it judges changes are appropriate to improve minority education."
The new charge goes beyond "special programs" to include the "overall educational experience" of minority students; eliminates the responsibility for monitoring the representation of minorities on the faculty at large, currently the responsibility of the senate's Affirmative Action Committee; and changes the composition of the committee from all active faculty to a mixof active and emeritus faculty as well as staff and students.
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