Charge letter to diversity committee

Dear Colleagues:

Thank you for agreeing to serve on the President’s Advisory Committee on Diversity. The Committee has a challenging task: to re-imagine the work of maintaining and extending diversity at the University of Washington and to advise me and the campus community on how to do that.

The recent passage of Initiative 200 has deprived us of a tool that has been useful in promoting diversity for decades. Yet the goal remains as important as ever, and it is far from achieved. Therefore, I am asking you and your colleagues to think deeply and creatively about the kind of academic community we want to have in the 21^st century and what we can do to make that vision a reality. We have an historic opportunity to provide leadership and to make a difference on behalf of excellence and opportunity at our University and beyond.

The Committee, which is broadly representative of the campus community, should serve as a forum for considering a wide array of concerns, ideas, and suggestions for promoting diversity. It should actively seek the views of people inside and outside the University to accomplish this purpose. I would like to see the Committee invite speakers to campus and create occasions for the University community to think about, even to argue about, diversity.

Your Committee’s work will complement existing University bodies that are charged with formulating and recommending specific actions in a number of important areas (for example, the Faculty Council on Academic Standards, which is concerned with admissions and other academic policies). In carrying out its assignment, the Committee should call upon these bodies and others for advice and counsel as appropriate.

Dr. Ernest Morris, Vice President for Student Affairs, has agreed to chair the Committee. He will convene the first meeting, which I will attend for the purpose of discussing the Committee’s charge with you. I would appreciate receiving periodic status reports on the Committee’s discussions and your first full report at the end of the current academic year in June 1999. The Committee will remain in existence, likely with some rotation of members, for as long as it is capable of performing its important responsibilities for the University community.

As I have observed repeatedly in recent weeks, the University’s commitment to diversity remains strong, and my own personal commitment to it is very deep. Academic excellence and the health of our society both depend on our educating a diverse citizenry. Your task is to advise us all on how the UW can best do that, both now and in the years ahead. Thank you again for your willingness to serve on this Committee.

Sincerely yours,

Richard L. McCormick
President

cc: Board of Regents
President’s Cabinet
Board of Deans
Faculty Senate Executive Committee
ASUW
GPSS