Diversity Town Hall Meetings
Comments and Feedback from Participants
March 31, 2010 (Student Center West)
- The teaching staff does not represent the student population.
- The Latin American and Latino Studies Program and the African American Studies Department have ghettoized faculty and groups.
- In lunchroom everyone sits with her/his own group.
- The diversity experience at UIC is not reflected in the professional world where students work afterwards. Stronger career planning needed.
- The staff is committed to students and reflects the Chicago labor market.
- The privatization of education is going to make recruiting graduate students who become faculty difficult.
- The Urban Health Program budget has not changed in 30 years.
- Is diversity important enough that we are going to do something about it despite severe budget constraints?
- The Institute [for Research on Race and Public] Policy and Great Cities [Institute] offer opportunities to advance diversity. We should take advantage of collaborative partnerships across campus.
- Concrete things can be done to improve hiring and promotions.
- How do we train ourselves to recruit, hire, and mentor?
- Diversity of thought is an important issue.
- Talk in the documents or at the town halls may not precede action because of paralysis or panic over losing territory.
- Because UIC is diverse, people think they do not need to do anything else (among students, the “I know a gay person syndrome.”)
- Trust is missing. Students did not trust that committee’s interest was in line with theirs.
- Can we do only little things?
- Diversity should become the filter for decisions.
- Report is the result of an exercise and graceful but what will remain in the strategic plan?
- Do we really have diversity at all?
- We are not taking advantage of our diversity.
- We need to define university.
- Customer service lacks respect.
- The report does not note that Asian Americans do most of the campus research.
- Silo student organizations do not work together in Medicine.
- Perhaps there is an unwritten rule that we do not hire our own doctorate graduates but other considerations may be at play.
- We have a fragmented campus
- Extra money is needed to hire diverse faculty.
- Chicago does not deal with its diversity. (“The other “c” in Chicago is cynical.”)
- Every course can be expanded in its awareness of diversity. How do we do this?
- How far can the sciences be pushed?
- Diversity is a new concept that may take people time to wrap their heads around.
- A mandate is needed from the Chief Officer of the University.
- A permanent Office of Diversity is needed to ensure progress on diversity.