During the past two weeks, Ohio University students and faculty members have attended forums of candidates who are vying for the position of assistant to the president for diversity.
The three candidates -all African-American-discussed their qualifications for the job and answered questions from the audience at three separate forums at the end of July and yesterday. This position would put in place the second African-American to work in the upper echelon of OU's administration, after President Roderick McDavis.
The individual selected for the job will provide assistance to McDavis as the university attempts to remove the stigma of being a campus lacking in diversity. Of the more than 19,000 students enrolled in the fall of 2004, 89.2% were white, according to data from the university's office of institutional research.
McDavis said that while many moves are being made to help OU -including an increase in minority enrollment of more than 120 with this fall's freshman class-much patience still would be needed.
It will take us some time to achieve that diverse campus we are hoping for. And it is very important that we do so in order to provide the best academic experience for our students. We need to be able to prepare them for the real world
McDavis said in an interview.
Michael A. Powell, director of equal opportunity and affirmative action at Northwestern University, was the first of the three to give a presentation. Powell spoke July 28 about his previous experiences working at Northwestern and at the College of William and Mary and Tufts University, where he was senior diversity officer.
I have been working with various academic administrations for over a decade now. I've been able to interact with students and faculty on various subjects and matters. Everything that I have gone through and have been able to do within those years show my qualifications for this job Powell said.
The next to present was Bryan D'Von Samuel, who serves as executive assistant to the vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. In his presentation, Samuel explained what he would implement into OU's plans for diversity, as well as his personal definition of diversity.
We all need to realize that diversity is all-inclusive regardless of age
race and sex. Once this is realized
we can then begin to plan out what goals we want to strive for and execute properly in order to achieve them
Samuel said, at his July 29 presentation.
That is why it is important to recruit the right people
so that these goals are accomplished
he said. I know that I'm one of those right people because I have dealt with almost every aspect of educational diversity
and I'm very passionate about it.
The final presentation was given yesterday by G. Christine Taylor, who has served as the interim assistant to the president for diversity since McDavis appointed her last year. Her thorough presentation included pie charts and figures showing the number of students of all demographics for the previous years and for the upcoming one. She spoke about some of the diversity issues within the university and the image that must be removed from it.
We have a history of a big walk and little talk when it comes to diversifying this campus. We also have an image of being a segregated campus with a history of hostility
Taylor said.
When asked about what needs to be done, Taylor responded with a positive outlook on the university's future.
OU is actually in a good place right now. We had a banner year
bringing in 352 multicultural students with 204 being on scholarships -that is a 65% increase for the fall. But we can not stop there. We need to compete with schools like Miami and others when it comes to scholarship money. That has to be a top priority
