Affirmative Action and Racial Preference, AlterNet.org, February 2003

Affirmative Action and Faculty Diversity, Chronicle of Higher Ed. Forum, January 2003

Student Involvement Directorship

Critical Points for Diversity in OSU 2007

Faculty Diversity Nationwide, Harvard Magazine, March-April 2002

• New faculty orientation, 2004
• Associate Director of Admissions search, 2003
• AFAPC meeting with President Risser, May 29, 2002
• Recruitment and retention of faculty of color - new position searches for vacancies in the Minority Education Office
• Vice provost and associate provost position searches
• Mentoring of young faculty of color
• Salary parity for faculty of color
• Addition of "diversity as a compelling learning goal" to the OSU Mission Statement
• Affirmative action compliance at OSU
• Longevity of campus cultural centers
• Supporting the efforts of the student task force TEAM (Together Everyone Accomplishes More)
  in their efforts improve the racial climate at OSU
  OSU Press Release, 9/99
  Barometer Article, 5/17/99
  Barometer Article, 5/26/99
  AFAPC position letter
• Competence in multicultural education, K-12, as well as higher ed.

New Faculty Orientation, February 10, 2004

Dr. Sabah Randhawa
Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
628 Kerr Administration Building
Corvallis Oregon 97331

Dear Dr. Randhawa:

It has come to our attention that your office is in the process of organizing a series of meetings for new faculty and staff on a range of topics in order to orient them to Oregon State University. We would like to recommend strongly that new faculty and staff orientation include an introduction to the issues involved in, and the services offered by, the Office of Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Programs.

We think such an orientation is important for two reasons. First, such an orientation would explain the Office of Affirmative Action's role as an arbiter in cases of harassment and discrimination on campus and introduce new employees to the policies concerning these issues in their workplaces. We believe that if employees know their rights and responsibilities, and to whom they can turn if they have a grievance, then they will be safer and more productive members of the campus community.

Second, we believe it would benefit the recruitment, support, and retention of students and faculty of color at Oregon State if new employees had a better understanding of how Affirmative Action affects admissions and hiring here on campus. As you know, affirmative action is a very controversial public policy and is subject to much misunderstanding and many misplaced attacks as a form of "reverse racism". We believe that a new faculty orientation would be able to dispel such myths that may leave a lingering feeling among community members that students and faculty of color somehow do not deserve to be here but for the color of their skin or their gender.

We would like to be kept informed as to the progress of your office's plans for these new faculty/staff meetings and to know whether AFAPC can be of help in their implementation. We will contact you in a month to hear about the status of the new orientation plans. In the meantime, if you would like to contact us, please feel free to reach our co-chairs, Joseph Orosco and Candace Croney, at joseph.orosco@oregonstate.edu or candace.croney@oregonstate.edu. We thank you for your consideration.

Joseph Orosco & Candace Croney
AFAPC Steering Committee

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Associate Director of Admissions Search, April 16, 2003

Joy Yokum, Administrative Assistant
Enrollment Management
110 Kerr Admin Bldg

Dear Ms Yokum,

The Association of Faculty for the Advancement of People of Color (AFAPC) is in its fourth year at OSU. The association brings together a multi-ethnic, multi-racial group of faculty whose commitment is, in part, to "making Oregon State University a more inclusive environment." This is in harmony with OSU's vision statement which states that the university values "diversity because it enhances our education and because it provides tools to be culturally respectful, professionally competent and civically responsible." The membership of AFAPC brings together a wealth of resources devoted to this end.

During our last meeting (April 4, 2003) The AFAPC membership was made aware of a new position in Admissions - that of Associate Director. The AFAPC membership voiced unanimous concern about the importance of this position because it has the power to ensure that OSU's mission statement and the value of diversity are being maintained. The members felt that in the review of the short listed candidates the hiring committee needs to emphasize the importance of cultural competence as an essential skill for successfully filling this position. He/she should be innovative in directing and targeting the recruitment of historically underrepresented populations. He/she should be a person who has a strong sense of how to best support those who are knowledgeable in areas of recruiting people from diverse backgrounds-namely the MEO's and EOP offices.

AFAPC strongly suggests that a "demonstrable commitment to diversity" be taken seriously as a requirement for the person filling this position, as this position falls within the realm of those for which that statement is a requirement, not a preference. Additionally, this person must be able to demonstrate this commitment not only in their individual experiences but in their professional and supervisory capacities. For someone to succeed in this position, diversity cannot be something that the individual does for fun on the side - it must be an ongoing part of their professional identity.

Lastly, we in AFAPC feel that it is important for this person to be able to proactively implement the OSU stated mission in support of diversity and with conduct representative of those values. Several of our members have already attended the first open forum and anticipate attending the remaining. Please let us know the timetable for presenting our concerns or questions for consideration of the search committee.

Sincerely,

Dwaine Plaza & Janet Nishihara
AFAPC Steering Committee

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Meeting with President Risser, May 29, 2002

• After introductions (10 faculty in attendance), the first question concerned what role diversity was playing in the new budget model. President Risser discussed how OSU had taken on the funding ($200,000 per year) for the diversity faculty scholarship which was formerly funded by OUS. He then talked about how the new budget model accounted for 2/3 of the E & G (Education and General Fund) budget through a formula which uses student credit hours, number of majors, etc. to determine who gets how much money. The other 1/3 can be targeted towards strategic areas of areas which the administration determines has special needs. Diversity could be one of those areas.
  
  
• How do we measure a unit's contribution to diversity? A suggestion was made that since the new budget model puts so much more responsibility on the colleges to make strategic decisions, the accountability for promoting diversity in faculty hires should be at the deans' level. The deans could then hold each of their departments responsible for their own performance. Taking this responsibility down a level could add more strength to diversity efforts. It gives the deans more opportunities to create change while also raising the level of expectation of leadership at that level. This would move more money and decision making to the academic programs and they would be held accountable for the well-being of the university as a whole.
  
  
• In terms of programs supporting diversity - the President said that it seems that there are lots of programs, lots of activities in lots of units and that we need to look to see if we are organized effectively.
  
  
• It was mentioned that the faculty diversity initiative funds are not used effectively. Need to hold colleges accountable for hires
  
  
• Affirmative action has been working to help departments define success in diversity and then work toward their goals. There are no incentives for departments to do this work, however. Most units do not make special efforts to recruit faculty of color. The answer might be (again) bringing the faculty diversity initiatives to the college level, at least for a couple of years to see how it works. Would force colleges to at least think about it. This way the university could have several targeted and specific programs designed for each college, rather than one big ungainly and less responsive university-wide program. The colleges could try some different methods and the deans would have more power to require diversity hires.
  
  
• Diversity achievement scholarship - Asian Americans categorized with the white students; flattened enrollment of APA students even during great growth in the state; historically underrepresented groups not benefiting from the diversity achievement scholarship; use of short essay questions (based on Sedlacek model) for admissions and scholarships; automatic enrollment of top 5% of class; pitting of different groups against each other.
  
  
• The area in which faculty of color who are tenure track are most in danger when it comes to P & T is that of service. Service is perceived as a check-box, you either have it or you don't, for everyone else, but for faculty of color, it is a major part of what they do. They are still being shortchanged by the current, more flexible P & T guidelines - this could be offset by making sure that the job description includes the importance of services.
  
  
• If a university has a cadre of senior faculty who can take a strong and possibly controversial stance on issues of climate, etc., this leaves the junior faculty a little more room to get done what they need to in order to someday be senior faculty. OSU is still in the early stages of getting enough faculty of color here to have the beginnings of a critical mass. We still do not have enough to have that strong cadre.
  
  
• No one becomes a good teacher overnight. Good teaching takes time to learn. Those faculty who are pre-tenure often have the heaviest teaching load, often inherit an out-dated curriculum which they must work to revise and work to develop courses which are new to them. For example, one junior faculty member has had to revamp several existing course based on research that is over 35 years old. Junior faculty put an inordinate amount of time into teaching.
  
  
• The disadvantages of the quarter system are perhaps hardest on junior faculty. There is so much more time spent developing 6 quarter classes as opposed to 4 semester classes. Good faculty are constantly re-working their classes to make them better. For faculty of color, expectations are often very high and evaluations lower than usual - an example was given of students complaining that an instructor gave too much of their own view of things - showing students a different world view is often very challenging to them and they tend to evaluate the course and the instructor lower. Another example, one junior faculty member has had SEVEN new preparations for classes since coming to OSU last year, TWO of which were completely new additions because of the faculty member's own interests, but FIVE that were inherited.
  
  
• Treatment in academic home by colleagues is very important. That is where we spend our time. Are we seen as competent? How are we welcomed? Are we respected?
  
  
• Harvard article on faculty of color and women indicates a need to rethink P&T, especially in terms of how decisions get made. If any decision making process in any department or unit is based on majority rule, the richness which diversity brings is lost.
  
  
• We need effective ways to reach "beyond the choir." Need to get to those who are not already working on solutions.
  
  
• Deans need to be asked to put diversity into their budget decisions

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Recruitment & Retention

Dear Colleague,

The Association of Faculty for the Advancement of People of Color (AFAPC) is in its second year at OSU. It brings together a multi-ethnic, multi-racial group of faculty whose commitment is, in part, to "making Oregon State University a more inclusive environment." This is in harmony with OSU's mission statement which says, in part, that the university values "diversity because it enhances our education and because it provides tools to be culturally respectful, professionally competent and civically responsible." The membership of AFAPC brings together a wealth of resources devoted to this end.

We are eager to hear about the strategies pursued in your department and the resources that have helped your department meet OSU's stated diversity mission. If there are organizations and professional publications that you have found particularly effective in your recruitment efforts we would like to hear about them. A compilation of these resources would be of value to the entire campus.

We would also like to contribute to your commitment to and efforts at diversifying the faculty ranks. We can help departments formulate position descriptions in a manner which will encourage more applications from minority communities in a manner consistent with the goals and policies of the Office of Affirmative Action. In addition, many of us also belong to national professional organizations, societies, and list servers specific to particular ethnic groups. We are able, then, to reach a wider than usual scope of potential applicants.

Please feel free to contact any of the members of the steering committee if we can assist you in your searches.

Regards,

J. Antonio Torres, Chair
cc: AFAPC Steering Committee

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Affirmative Action

To: Association of Faculty for the Advancement of People of Color

Thank you for your letter of February 11. We very much value AFAPC's opinions about how to promote racial/ethnic diversity at OSU and we sincerely appreciate the time you have taken to identify areas where we may be able to do more. At a time when many employers are considering retrenchment of their efforts due to conservative court decisions and state initiatives such as Proposition 209 and Initiative 200, it's important to ask how OSU is doing vis-a-vis its commitment to affirmative action. As co-directors of the Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity we both believe that OSU should not settle for "minimal compliance;" rather, we should be leaders in finding ways to increase the racial/ethnic diversity of the campus. Doing so requires continual evaluation of our policies and practices and we appreciate the opportunity to consider your recommendations for strengthening our efforts. We would like you to know that we discussed your letter and recommendations with the President's Cabinet and with the Academic Deans; both groups expressed praise and appreciation for AFAPC's interest and work in this area. The President's Cabinet ask us to do as much as we can do to incorporate AFAPC's ideas into our affirmative action efforts.

We would like to respond to each of your recommendations; however, first, we would like to give a brief overview of how our affirmative action policies and practices are developed and used. Affirmative action in employment derives from a federal Executive Order (11246) that applies to federal contractors. A federal agency, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) oversees compliance of the Executive Order; OSU has been audited by the OFCCP twice in the last 15 years. As you have alluded to in your letter, the courts have considered cases related to affirmative action, so there are legal opinions on some aspects of affirmative action.

OSU's policies, first established in the early 1970s, have developed over time to incorporate: 1) what the OFCCP requires of federal contractors, 2) what we and other employers have found to be good strategies for diversifying an organization, and 3) what we believe to be legal uses of race/ethnicity in the employment context. Where no clear guidelines exist, we have chosen what we consider to be the most aggressive approach possible to recruiting, hiring, and retaining people of color. Of course, in a large organization like a university, a big part of our task as affirmative action leaders is to foster understanding and commitment on the part of individuals who have the authority to make employment decisions.

Job Group:

The OFCCP requires a federal contractor to analyze the workforce according to "job groups." The federal regulations define "job group" as "...a group of jobs having similar content, wage rates, and opportunities." In order for the analyses to be statistically significant, the OFCCP expects each job group to contain, in general, at least 50-100 positions. A job group must be large enough to allow for statistical significance, but small enough to capture "a group of jobs having similar content, wage rates, and opportunities." Also, it is important to be able to identify an "accountable executive;" i.e., an individual with decision-making authority who can be held accountable for working toward affirmative action goals, for each job group. Given these requirements, universities have developed a practice of establishing job groups by college, unless departments are large enough to stand alone and represent job groups of 50 or more positions. Currently, for tenured/tenure-track professor positions, OSU's colleges range in number from 42 (College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences) to 230 (Agricultural Sciences). The College of Liberal Arts faculty job group contains 139 positions.

Given the definition of "job group," it is clear the OFCCP would not accept an analysis based on one, large grouping of all OSU teaching faculty; also, we know of no other university that conducts its analysis in this way. We think we can apply part of your recommendation by looking at smaller groupings of faculty in related disciplines within colleges, provided these groupings would allow for statistically significant analyses. We will work with the deans of the relevant colleges -- those individuals held accountable for affirmative action goals --to determine what smaller groupings within the colleges are meaningful.

Putting aside the technical aspects of how we conduct the utilization analysis, AFAPC raises an important point about the need to sensitize search committees to the broader, university-wide goal of diversifying the workforce. People of color are underutilized in 62% of all unclassified job groups; they are underutilized in 67% of all tenured/tenure-track academic job groups. People of color are 8% of all unclassified employees at OSU; yet, they make up 13% of faculty nationally. This information should be used to direct search committees to consider the need for greater diversity university-wide in every search. We will stress this point in our written guidelines and in our personal presentations to search committees.

Aggregation:

The utilization analysis is conducted by comparing current composition (based on race/ethnicity and gender) of the workforce with "availability" in the existing employment pool. OFCCP regulations focus on using aggregate data for all racial/ethnic minority groups and, in the past two audits by the OFCCP, we were instructed to base our utilization analyses on aggregated figures for people of color in order to assure statistical significance and still include all "minority" groups. While we have used aggregate data to set hiring goals, we also have calculated utilization by individual racial/ethnic minority group, to learn more about what is contained in the aggregate data.

We believe we can apply AFAPC's recommendation in this area to our use of aggregated and disaggregated data. Specifically, where there is a statistically significant finding of underutilizaton, and availability is large enough to be meaningful, we will set hiring goals based on both aggregated and disaggregated data. In addition, we will explore the possibility of using more sensitive tests of statistical significance that might add meaning to differences within groups that have low availability.

As you know from our discussion in January, we believe a significant challenge for OSU lies in recruiting a diverse applicant pool. Whether or not people of color are underutilized in particular job groups, we will continue to emphasize the importance of personal outreach to all persons of color in order to create diverse candidate pools.

Pipeline:

We agree that availability of people of color in higher education is a critical issue and, while it is not an area the OFCCP emphasizes in its compliance oversight, as an office, we do whatever we can to promote and assist OSU programs aimed at encouraging people of color to pursue careers in higher education. Currently, the University sponsors or supports a number of excellent "pipeline" programs such as Science and Math Investigative Learning Experiences (SMILE), Professional and Managerial Internships in State Employment (PROMISE), Native Americans in Marine Science (NAMS), and Leadership Experiences in Agriculture and Diversity (LEEAD). In the area of employment, where the Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity is significantly involved, we support "grow your own" programs and the use of waivers of search to appoint faculty of color to University positions in order to increase racial and ethnic diversity.

Diversity in Position Announcements and Advertising:

The OFCCP requires that every job announcement contain the tag line: "OSU is an affirmative action-equal opportunity employer." Our "Unclassified Search and Hire Process" guidelines advise units to go beyond using just the tag line to include the following in their advertisements (for tenure-track faculty and administrators): "OSU has an institution-wide commitment to diversity and multiculturalism, and provides a welcoming atmosphere with unique professional opportunities for leaders who are women and people of color. All are encouraged to apply." We like the language you propose in your recommendation and, having discussed this idea with the President's Cabinet and the Academic Deans, will work with the Office of Human Resources to include such language in all of our advertising.

We also agree that including "commitment to diversity" as a job qualification is an effective way to underscore our own commitment, to identify candidates who will support our diversity efforts, and to interest people of color in working at OSU. We believe there is general agreement on the desirability of seeking candidates with commitment to diversity; however, your recommendation generated discussion among the deans as to whether or not departments could require "demonstrated ability to work with diverse populations" of new Ph.D.s, just beginning their professional careers. Some would support the idea of assessing this aspect of performance in the third-year review of tenure track faculty. In our view, this issue needs further discussion among faculty and administrators before effective policy guidelines can be established. We plan to continue to discuss this recommendation with individual deans when we meet with them over the next few months to discuss their affirmative action goals.

Thank you again for your thoughtful consideration of issues related to affirmative action at OSU. We believe your recommendations will strengthen our efforts and we look forward to a continuing dialogue with AFAPC.

Sincerely yours,

Angelo Gomez, Stephanie Sanford
Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity

cc: Paul Risser, Tim White, Jacque Rudolph

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Cultural Centers

To: President Paul Risser

We are writing in regard to the continuing discussion that began this winter concerning OSU's long term plan and the role of the four minority cultural centers within it. Considerable concern was generated in each of the communities associated with the cultural centers when it became clear that only one of the centers was represented on the map of the university's long term plan.

Regardless of the reasoning behind the omission of the other centers, the lack of clarity in OSU's position on the long term status of the centers has serious ramifications. OSU identifies diversity as a primary value in its mission statement, and considerable progress has been made over the last decade in the recruitment and retention of minority students and faculty, yet when confusions of this sort arise, the solidity of OSU's long term commitment falls open to question. In addition, the ensuing community meetings and the air of crisis in which they occur imposes a significant burden upon exactly those student populations our other efforts are designed to support. Students organizing to respond to a perceived threat are diverting time from the educational efforts that should be the primary focus of their time at OSU. OSU, rather than creating anxiety and uncertainty, should provide a stable environment in which all of the other efforts promoting student success can operate with full effect.

We, as faculty, ask you to put an end to this uncertainty by clearly including the four cultural centers in their current locations on OSU's long term plan, where they should remain permanently, or until such time as suitable alternate locations in the campus core is identified in full consultation with the affected community. Making this simple commitment, and making it clearly and unequivocally, will allow students to return to their studies and faculty to their other duties, and allow all campus efforts toward building diversity to progress without this continuing impediment.

Jos Anemaet, Dawn Wright, Jim Garcia, Linc Kesler
For the Association.

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TEAM

Wed, 17 May 2000

To: President Paul Risser

The membership of the Association met on April 13th with members of TEAM to hear their concerns over the response they received from the President's Cabinet, dated March 6th, to a set of recommendations they submitted on September 27, 1999. The consensus of the Association at that meeting was that the recommendations submitted by TEAM were specific and deserving of a clear and detailed response from the Cabinet. We agree with TEAM's assessment that the level of response that they received appeared to be ad hoc and unfocused and was not commensurate with the level of professionalism that TEAM's recommendations represented. We are particularly concerned that a serious student initiative appears to have been discounted in this way. We think the TEAM recommendations are valid and are deserving of implementation.

Since that meeting we have been apprised of the response sent by TEAM to the administration, and appreciate the initial reply that you have made to TEAM. We now urge the administration to move quickly to formulate a more detailed, substantive, and respectful response to the original recommendations.

Linc Kesler, Dwaine Plaza, Robert Thompson
For the Association.

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Queer Resource Center

To the OSU Community, President Risser and ASOSU

The Association of Faculty for the Advancement of People of Color (AFAPC) would like to strongly voice our support for the expectation of safety and appropriate resources for all OSU students.

AFAPC fears that in the controversy surrounding the proposed Queer Resource Center, the campus peoples of color may have been portrayed as feeling threatened by and in opposition to the establishment of this resource. While some people of color at OSU may hold this position, the members of AFAPC wish to express our support for this Center as we support the critical needs of all OSU students.

J. Antonio Torres, Chair
cc: AFAPC Steering Committee, 2000-'01: Ataa Akyeampong, Erlinda Gonzales-Berry, Linc Kesler, Deanna Kingston, Amy Kobus, Robert Thompson, J. Antonio Torres, Chair, Shiao-Ling Yu

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Vice Provost and Associate Provost Position Searches

November 9, 2000

TO: Larry Roper, Chair
Search Committee for Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Associate Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

FROM: Steering Committee
Association of Faculty for the Advancement of People of Color

The Association for the Advancement of People of Color (AFAPC) requests that interview schedules of the finalists for the positions of Vice Provost and Associate Vice Provost of Academic Affairs include specific times for representatives from AFAPC to meet with each candidate. Individuals filling these positions play pivotal leadership roles in supporting and sustaining the University's commitment to diversity. Sensitivity, knowledge and understanding of the issues underlying recruitment and retention of students, faculty and staff of color are of significant interest and concern to us.

We look forward to visiting with the candidates. Please contact Antonio Torress regard to scheduling meetings for the Association.

Thank you

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