CALS Faculty Senate approves a resolution Dec. 6 on campus climate

The Faculty Senate of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) approved the following resolution from the college's Committee on Academic Human Diversity and Resources, Dec. 6. The senate is made up of faculty representing both CALS and the Geneva Agricultural Experiment Station.

Whereas the Cornell community has experienced a series of bias-related incidents over the past several months, and

Whereas the Cornell faculty and administration have issued statements condemning these incidents, and

Whereas addressing issues of campus climate requires the involvement of groups across campus in all colleges and offices, and

Whereas the diffusion of responsibility and action across colleges and offices has led some observers to question the university's commitment to action, and

Whereas the CALS Committee on Academic Human Diversity and Resources nonetheless believes that faculty in the individual colleges need to take action to address campus climate in ways appropriate at the college level, and

Whereas the CALS Committee on Academic Human Diversity and Resources has recently established a subcommittee on faculty training to identify ways to train CALS faculty in diversity issues,

Now, therefore, the CALS Committee on Academic Human Diversity and Resources requests the CALS Faculty Senate to endorse the following statements and take the actions indicated by them:

CALS faculty should endorse the statements in President Hunter Rawlings' statement of 6 November 2000 deploring the recent incidents of bias-related crimes.

CALS faculty and administration should provide immediate and public responses to any bias-related incidents involving CALS students, faculty, staff, property, courses, or other people and activities.

CALS faculty members should recognize their position as role models and seek specific opportunities to address diversity and bias issues in their courses in all fields.

To that end, CALS faculty should seek to identify "best practices" in terms of class exercises, discussion topics, and other tools that can be used in CALS courses to encourage learning about diversity issues.

CALS faculty members should seek out training on how to handle class situations in which stereotypes, hate speech and other bias-related issues emerge.

CALS faculty members should ensure that teaching assistants in their courses and departments receive training on how to handle class situations in which stereotypes, hate speech and other bias-related issues emerge.

CALS faculty members should use their positions on university committees (such as the Campus Climate Committee, the University Faculty Senate and its Affirmative Action and Minority Education committees) to call for greater coordination among the committees and administrative offices dealing with diversity issues, so that the university can demonstrate effective and forceful leadership in this area.

Respectfully submitted,

--Bruce V. Lewenstein, for CALS Committee on Academic Human Diversity and Resources