We live in a fascinating, fast-changing, interconnected world. We can travel with relative ease globally. Migration from the poorer to richer nations is a dominant feature. Cultures, languages, and races touch one another in ways unthinkable a generation ago. It’s an easy prediction that these trends will only continue.
Hence, the leaders of the future world, whom we seek to educate at Georgetown, should be comfortable and skillful in interacting with those different from themselves. It will be a key attribute to their success.
That’s best achieved when the students, faculty, and staff of Georgetown resemble the varieties of people across the world. Hiring guidelines attempt to create such university colleagues. However, it is a constant challenge to assure that we attract diverse candidate pools, especially for those groups that are underrepresented in the professions we need at Georgetown. Admission procedures seek to find the best students from diverse backgrounds. In that effort we face a never-ending challenge of assuring that those of limited financial means can attend Georgetown.
As I come to work each day, the words “Community in Diversity” greet me on the “Spirit of Georgetown” ICC banner. Long before the August, 2012, start of my being provost, community-wide engagement and commitment led to the release of the Student Commission for Unity report in 2009 and the launch of President DeGioia’s Initiative on Diversity and Inclusiveness.
This Initiative made recommendations in the spring of 2010 across three main areas: academics, admissions and recruitment, and student life. Progress has been made on these recommendations, including:
- Greater diversity among our faculty;
- Work on a colloquium to bring scholars on race, ethnicity, gender, and identity to campus that is on track to begin this Spring;
- Larger and more diverse Georgetown applicant pools, which has helped create greater diversity among students;
- The 1789 Imperative, a goal to fund 1,789 scholarships of $25,000 each year, is a central part of our ongoing capital campaign; and
- The creation of a Diversity Fellows program.
We’ve also expanded the reach and impact of the Doyle Program, which brings together two of our most innovative centers on campus: The Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship and our Berkley Center. Through the Doyle Program, we have supported and encouraged faculty to enhance the study and experience of diversity in the classroom.
To learn how I can bring my own energy to these efforts, I have met with Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Equity, Rosemary Kilkenny, and am now reaching out to students and faculty to set up meetings to hear their thoughts and concerns. I want to learn firsthand from them, their dreams and their aspirations for our community, and I have asked Rosemary Kilkenny to join me in these meetings.
Before I arrived at Georgetown, it had already done great work and made great progress. But a great university’s work is never done in this domain. We must work together and continually renew and recommit ourselves to these efforts.
As usual, I’m disappointed (but not surprised) that talk about diversity has thoroughly omitted disability. As a disabled, Autistic, Asian woman attending Georgetown, this is inexcusable.
Lydia
lydia@autistichoya.com
Diversity takes many forms. I recently spoke at the EDUCAUSE annual conference about some of the diversity efforts at Georgetown University in which I have participated over the years as a doctoral student, senior administrator and adjunct faculty member, Of those, I believe that this documentary on IT accessibility, in which I have a cameo role, is the most meaningful: http://youtu.be/tnsB6YCHVXA.
There is a less discussed threat to diversity in student life. Georgetown students are diverse in their beliefs- we have Hegelians and historical materialists, atheists and catholics, Keynesians and supply-siders. But to say there is true diversity in thought is an overstatement- beliefs are neutralized, disagreement minimized; we end up with a porridge rather than a stew. We have created an environment where disagreement is discouraged- and productive discussion is minimized. I am not asking for an institutional fix, or an “initiative”- this is to my fellow students. Have the courage to make definite claims. To disagree profoundly, but to recognize that the beliefs you reject are not by definition untenable. In the classroom, students almost always settle into an easy consensus, despite important differences. If we are to have consensus, it should be reached through hard work, not fallen into with timidity and laziness. The phrase “ultraque unum”is meaningless if there is no “both” to be made “one”.
THANK YOU Ben, for making that statement. That is one of the most fundamental, cross-cutting problems within the classrooms here at Georgetown. I, personally, never like to settle for what the majority in my classrooms think. I don’t attribute non-conformity in the classroom to my ethnicity, but instead to my experience having started off at a community college in New York and transferring in last year. So indeed, Diversity is not limited by race/ethnicity, but also by experience.
Some good points raised in the comments above.
There does appear to be a fundamental tension between some of the primary threads, though. On the one hand, we have heard about the very real problem of social segregation on campus and the paucity of meaningful venues for meaningful and continued interaction. On the other, we hear calls for greater funding of things like “Despedida, Asian Graduation, and Harambee… (and) Latino graduation.” Do such events do anything to combat segregation, or do they merely reinforce it? How likely is it than an event that is explicitly ‘for’ a particular racial/ethnic group would become a meaningful venue of interracial exchange? There may be lots of other perfectly good reasons for hosting these sorts of events – I can think of a few off-hand – but if only Latinos feel comfortable attending Latino graduation (just using this one as an example, not trying to pick on it), is that a net gain for diversity, or is it merely creating a zone of homogeneity within a larger community that remains beset by segregation and silos?
The issue of cultural studies departments and programs raises similar questions, all of which of course have been and continue to be hotly debated throughout academia. If only African-Americans major in Af-Am Studies, or even take Af-Am classes, how much of a win for diversity is it really? Is the problem just racism and an unwillingness on the part of whites and others (again, just using AFAM as an example, the same could go for any other cultural studies subset) to study black culture, or are there barriers to entry that we’re not addressing? If you are an Asian kid in an African-American Studies class, how comfortable are you defending or even articulating some point that a majority of the class disagrees with? If true understanding of ‘blackness’ – or Latino/Chicano identity or Native American/First Peoples identity, etc. – is inherently off-limits to you because you cannot live and experience it first-hand, how keen will you be to pursue it? If it’s impossible to ever truly “get it,” will you even try in the first place? Or will the fear of appearing clueless or insensitive or ignorant keep you from ever signing up to begin with?
That appears to be the critical question, as many cultural studies departments around the country have effectively become ghettos, alienated from other departments and doing little to further interracial or intergroup understanding. We see the same problem with women’s and gender studies departments, which are walled off from the established disciplinary departments and their entrenched networks of institutional resources and power. Throwing more money at the problem does little – how integrated can a department truly be if it is considered off-limits by large segments of the student body?
What’s worse, there is an increasingly widespread sense that this ghetto-ization is in some ways intentional. Rather than doing the hard work of baking diversity holistically into and throughout the entire faculty and curriculum, universities are slapping together small identity studies departments, hiring members of that identity group in order to raise the absolute numbers of identity hires, and then calling it a day. Members of those identity groups may find some solace and comfort within those departments, but the majority of campus – which remains (and likely will continue to remain) predominantly white, straight, cis, Christian, and privileged – will remain blissfully untroubled by the experiences of non-dominant identified, which remain largely absent from the curriculum and from their daily lives. A single-course “diversity” requirement isn’t going to do too much to change that, thought it probably can’t hurt. A required course on identity is a good idea on its own merits, given how identities shape our lives, thought, and being.
Long story short: these are issues that campuses and communities around the country have been struggling with for awhile now, and the solutions created thus far have by and large been lacking. This is too important a thing to settle for staid, timid solutions that seem to address the concerns raised by do little to get at root issues. Please, Dr. Groves, do not view this as just one more ‘fire’ that can be put out with a couple of bullet-point items, put in a report, and shelved until the next round of meddlesome students comes calling (this is an attitude administrators display far too often). What is needed here is maximum creativity, a true diversity of thought and action, and a spirit of humbleness.
Meeting with GLUE or at the Black House? Sure, good idea. But you know what would be an even better idea? Bringing along the president of the College Republicans, the GERMS crew chief, the CFO of the Corp, and the CIO of GUASFCU. And don’t just do it once, make a habit of it, with different people. Be the diversity and the dialogue you wish to facilitate. Who knows, maybe it’ll catch on.
Good luck.
– Dizzy, Young (but not too young) alum
Hi Dizzy,
Good points. For example in raising the “segregation and silos” question.
However, on the Asian kid in a Afro American class paragraph I must strongly disagree with your premise that non-Afro Americans would not take Afro-American courses or even major in the study. In both of my History of Africa Courses, about 50-55 students out of 60 were “white.” I’m Hispanic.
So I urge you to question the premise of lack of interest in a racial/ ethnic subject outside of the Afro-American community. Second, questioning the majority is the reason we are in college and, I would argue, what you see as uncomfortableness, I see as a thrill and rush of healthy debate and dialogue thats helps all parties involved reach a deeper understanding of the material being studied and of one another.
I also urge to seriously question your “off-limit” rhetoric. Off limit to whom? Do you know that really popular major Sociology? Well a great majority of Sociology’s subjects are minorities. So I again urge you to question this premise of “Off Limits” and implied lack of interest outside said racial/ethnic group.
I agree with your emphasis on the worthiness of a course on identity, as indeed, Dartmouth even structures its curriculum around it.
And Amen to your final paragraph.
I agree with part of this — identity should be at the forefront of all students’ educations so both those who are privileged and marginalized can learn about the societal structures that privilege certain groups while oppressing others, and how this impacts students here at Georgetown.
On the other hand, I’ve been to disability studies classes at Georgetown and to disability studies groups outside of Georgetown, and writ large, folks doing disability studies are predominantly non-disabled (either physically or mentally). As a disabled person, this is particularly troubling to me. Does this mean I don’t want privileged people in critical disability theory? No, but it does suggest two important problems to be considered —
1.) Are such people actually leaving with a meaningful education or are they leaving and taking their privilege along for the ride?
2.) Why aren’t more members of marginalized communities exposed to the rich traditions of critical theory and progressive academia?
Dr. Groves,
I also agree that what students such as Zenen and Joe have said are extremely important. They have written about issues that I have seen more eloquently than I could, so I only wish to add my support to their statements. I would particularly like to emphasize Joe’s point that it is not just about having a diverse group of students, but interacting as a community of diverse students and faculty. This is a crucial step in realizing the goals of Georgetown. The self-segregation is crippling our ability to interact fully as a community and learn from one another and I agree with Joe that this segregation has some structural roots.
I would also like to add that there are not many outlets for students to discuss their diversity in creative ways. I believe that art, music and other creative mediums are crucial to expressing differences in a way that others can comprehend on a different level. Creativity can unify diversity. The university has few spaces for such expression and most are not public. I hope that Georgetown will promote true diversity, while taking into account ways to bring our diverse student body together.
Respectfully,
Kate Witchger
SFS 2015
Dr. Groves,
My name is Brian Kesten, I was the co-founder and Chairman of the aforementioned Student Commission for Unity. I am pleased to see that the diversity of our faculty and curriculum are on your radar. I must echo the sentiments of many other posters here regarding the fulfillment of the recommendations made by SCU and the President’s Diversity Initiative.
While the President’s Diversity Initiative made significant progress increasing the diversity of the student body and promoting dialogue opportunities on campus, the implementation of ambitious academic recommendations has yet to begin, three years after the publication of SCU’s report and two years after the Initiative issued recommendations.
The student life and admissions working groups were successful because they solicited broad university input and involved enthusiastic parters at the highest levels of the University. As the new provost, you have the opportunity to promote/implement ambitious reforms in academics that have eluded Georgetown for decades. The absence of essential ethnic studies programs are a gaping hole in our academic offerings, and have negative effects on our multidisciplinary capabilities in every department.
With regard to the “Diversity Requirement”, the President’s Initiative proposed a cross-disciplinary requirement that satisfied even the most skeptical faculty members. The proposal would be a great starting point for modernizing our curriculum for our diverse national and global community. Most other universities emphasize diversity by validating its intellectual value through a course requirement. Whether you group schools into the Top 25, COFHE, Jesuit or Top 100, roughly two-thirds have a requirement and nearly all have basic ethnic studies programs. The graph below shows information SCU prepared at the request of former Provost O’Donnell:
http://tinypic.com/r/205738m/6
I am optimistic that Georgetown can belatedly join the growing trend of universities that have embraced diversity not only in rhetoric or in dialogue, but by devoting academic resources to the exploration of difference in the classroom. I believe you would have enthusiastic partners in the President’s Office and throughout our faculty to modernize our curricular offerings if you decide it is important to you and this University.
Thanks,
Brian Kesten
Class of 2010
P.S. If anyone is seeking SCU research documents, please reach me at bdkesten@gmail.com any time and I would be happy to provide any information that I can.
Note well — we are also missing any real course offerings, let alone formalized programs of any sort, in critical disability studies. (Occasionally, we’ll have a course on Introduction to Disability Studies, which does little more than scratch the surface of this rich and engaging field.)
Dr. Groves,
Thank you for bringing up the issue of diversity on campus. It’s incredibly important that our community engages these conversations deliberately and thoughtfully – as some of my fellow students have noted, finding space to feel as though ideals of Diversity in Community are being taken seriously not only in language but in academic practice, in institutional culture, and in student life can often be challenging. I’m hopeful that your speaking to the issue will serve as a starting point for meaningful discussion with and among the student body.
I would first like to echo the points made and questions raised by my fellow students, particularly Zenen, Anthony, and Guadalupe – I won’t restate what they’ve already said, but instead note that it’s extremely important that it be heard and taken seriously.
I would also like to highlight an issue related to campus life that is both saddening and, I think, indicative of the urgency with which our university community needs to begin addressing its approach to and understanding of diversity: the self-segregation of our student body.
The value of diversity does not lie, of course, in meeting percentages or quotas, but in the mutual growth and expanded perspective that comes from building relationships with those of different backgrounds, experiences, and understandings of the world. “Diversity in Community” is a worthwhile and necessary goal because, if lived out, it encourages us to question our own paradigms, to embrace shared humanity across perceived boundaries, and to grow in ways that are not possible when exposed only to similar perspectives.
But the unfortunate reality is that Georgetown’s student life tends to neglect this “community” aspect of diversity. This is reflected in all measures through which diversity can be measured, but is particularly apparent and damaging along racial lines. To put it frankly, it is extremely hard at Georgetown to break out of your own racial group.
This isn’t to say that it’s impossible to make friends with students of other races, but that communities and friend groups on campus tend to be defined largely by race. White students know and interact with mostly white students, black students know and interact with mostly black students, and the same goes for almost all of the racial, ethnic, and cultural identities that make up Georgetown’s community. Worse than simply the creation of and exclusive identification with these groups is how rarely they are brought into meaningful dialog with each other that might challenge us to bridge the gap between them and to explore other aspects of our identities.
I know of only a few students, almost exclusively students of color, who have managed to transcend these barriers and make a home for themselves in “other” groups (it’s worth noting that self-segregation tends to be framed as a problem for students of color to solve – we question why a mostly black or Latino friend group is segregating itself, but neglect to put the same pressure on a primarily white friend group or organization). I am a senior – and a white male – and am only now realizing the extent to which I have limited my growth and my experience here by failing to actively seek out, learn from, and build loving relationships with those whose backgrounds and identities are different from my own. I believe that this self-segregation means that we as a whole are cheating ourselves out of the most beautiful and worthwhile parts of what Georgetown could and should be.
While this may appear to be simply a cultural issue within the student body, it is crucial to consider how our institutional structures condition student culture. And given how far short of our ideal of Diversity in Community we are falling, I believe the University at all levels should consider what steps it can take to create a more unified campus community. There is much that could be done in the academic structure of Georgetown to begin breaking down these boundaries.
Greater diversity among faculty is certainly a crucial step; I know many of my friends of color have had difficulty finding professors who share, understand, and can advocate for their identities and experiences. The creation of departments for cultural studies, as mentioned by my fellow students, would play a huge role in demonstrating Georgetown’s institutional commitment to diversity, attracting and keeping faculty dedicated to such issues, and in sparking the sorts of discussions that can break down some of the walls we create.
There are many other strategies that could help to create a campus that is diverse not only in its makeup but in its mentality. I hope, as others have said, that you will meet with those student groups already discussing these issues to make yourself an active part of the conversation. I hope as well that you will continue to actively seek out and implement strategies for inclusion and encourage the campus community as a whole to engage in the dialog.
Thanks for your time,
Joe Donovan
SFS 2013
jsd44@georgetown.edu
Hi Dr. Groves-
Thanks so much for discussing such a delicate and complex issue here at Georgetown.
While we are pleased to see that the University is interested in diversity here on campus, we also recognize that there is room for improvement. I think my colleague, Zenen, has accurately chronicled the history of what has been seen in the past and covered a lot of sentiments shared on campus (at least from a student’s perspective).
I just have a few questions regarding your claims of the University’s efforts to address this issue:
– Who are these students that you and VP Rosemary Kilkenny have been meeting with. More importantly, how will can these students engage with the rest of the Georgetown community?
– Where can I find out more about this colloquium on schedule of the Spring? I feel that students are not aware of what is going on. (Perhaps there is a problem with communication in these efforts?– )
– As far as communication, the same applies to the other issues that the University claims to be addressing, how can we find out more? How can students and faculty be engaged and included in this process? (Especially since these conversations have been going on for years, I think it would be fair to be inclusive and engaging).
– I understand that the SCU recommendations also addressed “diversifying academics” what is the Doyle Program doing to address this.
-Finally, while I think University is doing a great job with admissions of diverse students, I think it is important to look at retention and drop out rates of students of color (particularly males). I think examining the facts of the issue can lead to some enlightenment about the state of diversity here at Georgetown.
Understand that these discussions have been going on for years between students and faculty. I would sincerely like to invite you to to join these discussions to better understand the sentiments of students and faculty (listed by Zenen).
Please keep us updated on your ideas, plans, and efforts and accept the invitation to engage in such a delicate but multifarious issue here on campus! I definitely think that your statements and the invitation to work together are a great first-step in working on something that is embedded in Georgetown’s mission.
Thanks again,
Guadalupe Fernandez
Also, the retention rates of disabled students! Two good friends of mine, both disabled (and in different ways from each other), left Georgetown because of how rampantly ableist the administration, faculty, and students are at this institution. I know secondhand of many others. Georgetown may claim to admit disabled students and provide services as necessary, but Georgetown does little of import to actually cultivate disability culture and community, let alone disability power and pride. Furthermore, if the dropout rates of disabled students are so staggeringly high as they appear to be, why has Georgetown not taken any publicly known steps in partnership with disabled members of the community to rectify the policy and attitudinal barriers to true equity and inclusion for disabled people here?
There is a superb essay on “Life Lessons in Diversity” by Ted Gup on the back page of the Oct 26 issue of the Chronicle Review portion of the Chronicle of Higher Education. Having read that just yesterday, it was a pleasure to read today that our new provost wants to continue and strengthen the quest for diversity at Georgetown. Kudos from a retired math faculty member. I should also note that my three children graduated from Georgetown and I think that one of the best parts of their education was the great variety of viewpoints and experiences that their fellow students brought to their Georgetown classes.
Dr. Groves,
Thank you for taking the time to address the issue of diversity at Georgetown, especially when many believe that the problem has been resolved or do not see the problem at all.
I am only in my second year at Georgetown and already have I seen a discrepancy between resources, faculty, and the support for cultural organizations on campus. The SCU recommendations seem to have been set aside and any attempts to forward the movement have been stalled.
To reiterate what Zenen Jaimes has said, events such as Asian Graduation, Despedida, and Harambee have been organized by students. These events demonstrate the lack of institutional support for the diverse community at Georgetown. There is no center, like the LGBTQ center, that provides cultural groups with support and direction. CMEA and GSP are great resources that supports students academically. Perhaps if they were given more resources and manpower, they could also serve to support student groups appropriately.
In terms of academics, it saddens me that there is no department or major devoted to Asian American Studies, Latino-Chicano Studies, African American Studies, Native American Studies, etc.; there are only certificates. It is a particular blow to me that there is not even a class that teaches my native tongue.
Perhaps changes have already been made in these departments, but we students are simply unaware of them. For example, you said that progress had been made in “greater diversity among our faculty.” I am sure this is true, but it is difficult to see the change when there are so many classes being taught and each student only interacts with a handful of professors. Your Student Advisory Committee sounds like a wonderful idea to bridge the gap between the advances made in the administration and the students’ awareness and reception of them.
I am only in the middle of my Sophomore year. I do not want to leave Georgetown in two and a half years and feel unsatisfied with my experience here. However, believe me when I say that students appreciate your strong desire to improve Georgetown’s diversity.
Sincerely,
Anthony T. Do
Georgetown University | School of Nursing and Health Studies ’15
Human Science/Premed
atd35@georgetown.edu
Note well also the lack of a Disability Cultural Center (see Syracuse University’s DCC and the University of Washington, Seattle’s D Center [Disability and Deaf Cultural Center]) and any course offerings in disability studies other than the occasional introduction course (never taught by a disabled professor, for the record, and sometimes including problematic material that shouldn’t be in a DS course).
@Zenen – So glad you wrote such a thoughtful response to this post! I do want to add, though, that in addition to some student push back, there was (and is) incredible resistance to any kind of real change at GU from the most powerful constituencies, and the “leaders” have found themselves at a loss. Vague talk about pluralism and community in diversity is generally a crowd pleaser, but it’s professors and administrators who have shied away from acting on these words.
Here we go again, equating race with culture. Instead of practicing race discrimination (or “affirmative action”) in admissions and the hiring of faculty, why not focus on hiring/accepting the best and the brightest with a diversity of skills, cultural experiences, and backgrounds, rather than merely those “diverse” in appearance. Somehow, I don’t see Georgetown using its resources to support poor white kids from rural America who did well on their SATs and taught themselves to build robots, speak Arabic, or program in C++. It would be nice if, just for once, Georgetown could look to correct issues that actually matter (like teaching its students marketable skills, or hiring more politically-diverse faculty). But hey, that’s GU.
Hello Dr. Groves.
I would first like to thank you for taking the time to talk about diversity on our campus community. Unfortunately, in my opinion, these discussions happen all too infrequently.
I’m currently a senior and over the past three years I have seen quite a change since I began in 2009. I still recall very vividly when the recommendations by the Student Commission for Unity were released and the less than stellar campus response to some of the proposals that followed. Most of the negative responses came from students that objected to the “diversity requirement” in the curriculum. Unfortunately, many students thought this was a waste of time and irrelevant to their studies.
Since the initial backlash, I have seen small, incremental movements to fulfill some of the goals. But I am still disheartened to see how the recommendations have been neglected. The link to SCU on the main university webpage (http://www.scunity.org/) is broken and the DAC webpage has extremely dated information.
There is a real feeling by many students that the university is not as engaged with issues of diversity as it can be and only reacts when there is a problem such as attacks against LGBT students, racist publications by The Hoya, or the defacing of posters put up by cultural groups.
Most of our peer institutions already offer the cultural studies that Georgetown neglects like Asian-American Studies, Latino-Chicano Studies, Native American Studies, etc. How can we hope to build a diverse faculty, or keep the ones that are already here, if we do not offer the support and career opportunities offered by other schools?
And ultimately we need to have more program support for cultural groups. The Students of Color Alliance can only do so much to support our events. And when it comes down to it, students are the ones organizing Despedida, Asian Graduation, and Harambee. I’m going to be a senior organizing the Latino graduation for myself. This should not be the case. Programming support by the LGBTQ Resource Center has allowed Lavender Graduation to flourish over the past five years, and this can happen with the other cultural graduations as well.
I look forward to discussing these issues and many more with you as I close off my senior year and think about where I can help support diversity programs as an alumnus.
I invite you to meet more students and discuss these issues on campus with the Georgetown Leaders in Unity & Equity (GLUE), the Hour Glass Discussions at the Black House, and A Different Dialogue with LEAD. We meet weekly and monthly.
Thank you very much; I can’t wait to see how Georgetown changes over the next couple of years.
Zenen Jaimes
SFS 2013
nzjaimes@gmail.com
The recommendations from the SCU reports are far from being accomplished, much less initiated. I really hope Dr. Groves and the rest of the administration are open to fully embrace some much needed progress.