A commission of students, parents, administrators, faculty members and community leaders met for the first time Friday morning, charged by President John T. Casteen, III with assessing the quality of the student experience with regard to diversity and equity.
Co-chaired by Angela Davis, an English professor and associate dean of students for Residence Life, and Politics Prof. Michael Smith, the presidential commission will study current academic and social cultures on Grounds with particular attention to the experiences of women and minority students. The commission then will look into internal and external models for improvement and offer a set of formal recommendations to the Board of Visitors.
"The challenge of the commission is to really focus in on some key areas and find out what is going on at the University around some of those key areas and programs," Davis said. "This is truly trying to assess where we are, where the gaps are, where we need to go and how we're going to get there."
In his introductory remarks to members Friday, Casteen likened the commission's future findings to a "report card" on the condition of equity within the University community.
Advising them not to fear controversy but to seek middle ground, Casteen told the roughly 30 participants, "either we make a model or we miss a chance that won't come around for awhile."
Smith said he hopes the commission's deliberations will lead to specific and concrete recommendations for action.
"There is a determination to use this commission to gather some of the best ideas that are out there and figure out how to apply them in our context at the University," Smith said.
Smith and Davis agreed that the search for solutions would capitalize on ongoing work on issues of diversity.
"We're not starting from scratch," Davis said. "There's a lot of good work that's out there [and] there's a lot of things that are working."
The formation of the presidential commission was announced at the May 4, 2003 Board meeting. At the same time, the Board formed a similarly motivated Committee on Diversity, headed by Board Member Warren M. Thompson. The announcements of both the commission and the committee followed a series of racially motivated incidents last year.
The President's Commission on Diversity and Equity still is finalizing a meeting schedule but has planned a working retreat in mid-October.
The commission will deliver an oral report of its findings to the Board in May and a written report by the start of the 2004 fall semester.
"What's exciting for me is that truly there is so much positive energy and goodwill about these issues, as challenging as they are," Davis said.
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