A diversity consultant has recommended that Indiana State University take steps to strengthen “inclusiveness” on campus, following a six-month study involving campus and community stakeholders.
For higher education institutions, inclusive excellence involves infusing diversity, equity and educational equality into a campus culture.
Gerda Govine, who runs a consulting firm in Pasadena, Calif., presented her findings to ISU Diversity Council members, faculty, staff and community members Thursday in Tirey Hall.
“Hands down there’s diversity, but there’s an inclusion disconnect,” Govine said during a question-and-answer discussion.
Her recommendations included replacing the Office of Diversity with a centralized inclusive excellence training and research center, which Govine recommended placing in Cunningham Memorial Library. She also suggested the diversity council be reconfigured to focus on inclusive excellence and serve as the auditing body for the training and research center.
ISU will begin reviewing the recommendations and begin implementation in August. President Dan Bradley will decide which suggestions will be set in motion.
“So there’s plenty of time for you to look at the report, think about it and give us some comment,” Bradley said.
The full report is available by visiting www.indstate.edu/president and clicking on 2015 under “Presidential Communications.”
Beginning in November, Govine interviewed 123 people of diverse backgrounds from the campus and Terre Haute communities. Another 58 participated through a focus group.
Govine also reviewed documents and reports from previous diversity studies conducted at the university.
She and diversity council members studied best practices at Washington University in St. Louis, Western Michigan University, San Diego University and California State (Los Angeles).
Other recommendations included developing shared financial responsibility for inclusive excellence models to ensure efforts are consistently funded. She also advised creating an annual President’s Award for Inclusive Excellence to recognize outstanding efforts to advance such goals.
Based on interviews and her research, Govine said ISU is the most diverse residential higher education institution in the state.
But some students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, African American, Latino or Muslim told her they felt excluded in the campus community.
“At the end of the day, there was not a total disconnect as far as being disenfranchised,” she said.
Through her interviews, stakeholders consistently recognized the work of the Charles E. Brown African-American Cultural Center, Center for Global Engagement and University College to assist students, according to the report.
But stakeholders suggested adopting a broader working definition of diversity across campus to be more inclusive and reflective of students, faculty and staff, the report stated. They also advised, according to the report, providing customized professional diversity and inclusion training for faculty, staff and students.
While not responsible for implementing the recommendations, Govine’s report envisions the training and research center as home to inclusive excellence training, educational opportunities for the community and academic-community partnerships to study and advance inclusive excellence.
The office would have a director and advisory board of eight to 10 members, Govine said.
Student Counseling Center director Kenneth Chew, who attended one of the presentations, appreciated the need to train and research. But he wanted to see the Office of Diversity’s mission of providing student support continue in the new organization.
The office can help students who have issues with a department or professor, provide information and point toward campus and community services.
“If we only focus on training and research, it’s like we’re losing the heart of diversity,” he said. “It’s not losing the brain, but it’s losing the heart.”
Govine agreed.
“Just in a general way, those things would not go away and can’t go away,” she said. “People have to be served, now how that’s [broken] out, that’s not my decision, but, again, it doesn’t mean one cancels out the other.”
Govine also addressed concerns about faculty and staff of color who left the university before and during the study.
She said there needed to be multi-leveled solutions involving all community stakeholders to solve the problem.
Bradley said the university needs to make sure prospective employees understand the size and location of Terre Haute and the educational programs ISU primarily offers.
“They need to understand that,” he said. “I don’t think that we’ve got our recruitment efforts attuned to making sure that when we bring people in, that they understand the kind of institution they’re coming to.”
Bradley said administrators know the areas that need work, such as the African American student population being substantially larger than African American faculty and recruiting employees who want to live and work in Terre Haute.