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NEWS
DIVERSITY
"Faculty, staff and student involvement" necessary for Diversity Plan to work
Continued from page I
and that we should work together for sub
stantive equality.
"The plan provides the language to com
municate about diversity as an institution,
but the action steps should make sure that
students who get enrolled have access to
resources that will support them," said
Assefa.
What is Diversity?
The plan includes four general goals: 1)
To increase and sustain diversity among stu
dents, staff and faculty 2) To assure substan
tive equality in a diverse community 3) To
create an institutional structure that will sus
tain the diversity and substantive equailty
initiatives, and 4) To improve opportunities
for diverse organizations to do business with
the College.
"(The Diversity plan) is a vision whereby
diversity is a positive trait that represents
the best of our country and our world
rather than a threat to the status quo," said
Vice President for Academic Affairs and
Academic Dean Adrienne Israel, who helped
with editorial revisions of the plan.
The plan currently states that "Diversity is
not about only difference but also inclusive
ness and a recognition that we share many
aspirations and attributes including a com
mon institutional context."
Additionally, "Diversity" refers to five
areas of emphasis: race, gender, ethnicity,
sexual identity, and international origin,
which applies to both non U.S. citizens and
to students who are not native-born.
In the executive summary, the plan states
that "Whenever the plan discusses the goals
of achieving diversity in the College, it refers
to these five areas of emphasis"
"I hope that we will continue to do the
tricky work of both defining "diversity"
more broadly," said Director of Campus
Ministries Max Carter, who is a member of
the Quaker Life and Diversity committee.
"We need to bring in a variety of Quakers
as well as varieties of Muslims, Jews, and
other religions, for example, and not getting
caught up in a "politically correct" version
of diversity."
Assefa said that while being general is
inclusive, being specific is necessary because
while Guilford can make the College more
diverse by enrolling more diverse students,
the level of support each group gets varies
greatly.
"For example Quaker students have a
lot of support, a lot of resources that enable
them to practice their faith that other faiths
on this campus don't have access to equal
resources," said Assefa. "After passing the
plan, we now agree that need to work
towards diversity and substantive equality,
but how can we make it real?"
Quantitative and Qualitative Goals
The last stages of revision fine-tuned the
language but made the objectives of the plan
more general.
Plan."
The plan details specific goals for enroll
ing more students, faculty and staff mem
bers.
"They are not quota," said Hammond.
"They are to make sure that Guilford is at
the very minimum in line with percentages
of national diversity."
Though the quantitative goals are pre
cisely set, the qualitative goals are undeter
mined.
"Quantitative goals are always clearer.
It's about data and numbers so they are pre
cise," said Interim Director of Multicultural
Education Holly Wilson. "Qualitative goals
are always going to be less clear which is
why community input is important so we
can determine these steps."
For example, objective 2.3 of goal 2 states
that "by 2015, the college will enhance inclu
"People's knowledge and awareness about what diversity means, racism
as a concept, as action is on different levels. It's interesting to see how
the plan went from really specific to being more watered down."
Marthu Assefa, senior
"The good thing about the plan being
general is that it is open and doesn't leave
people out," said Hammond. "If were to list
every group and every initiative then they
would be set in stone and we would forget
important things."
However, the lack of specificity in the
plan's goals has also been critiqued.
"Peoples' knowledge and awareness
about what diversity means, racism as a
concept, as action is on different levels,"
said Assefa. "It's interesting to see how the
plan went from really specific to being more
watered down."
The objectives of the plan are discussed in
terms of quantitative and qualitative goals.
The quantitative goals each have a set
timeframe to be accomplished. According to
the plan, "diversity numbers are currently
at or near the 2010 targets in the Strategic
siveness in the college's environment by
creating institutional policies and practices
that sustain and advance equality for all stu
dents, staff and faculty." These "policies and
practices" have yet to be determined.
Though the plan outlines sample action
steps for each of the objectives, actual poli
cies have yet to be determined.
Some possibilities for objective 2.3 are
to increase the number of students who
participate in the Multicultural Leadership
Scholar Program from 10 to 20 and to "link
the Diversity Plan objectives with Guilford
Connects in an intentional and functional
manner.
The Diversity Action Committee
"Now the work begins, and it's every
body's job" said Hammond. "The diversity
action committee will be in charge of form
ing sub-committees that will each work on a
specific objective and create action steps to
accomplish it within the timeframe."
Wilson, who has played a key role, along
with Hammond, in getting campus input on
the plan by organizing public forums, said
that the diversity action committee is not offi
cially formed yet. There are recommendations
in the plan and it will be formed in the fall.
"The diversity action committee is responsi
ble for the oversight and administration of the
diversity plan initiatives," said Wilson. "We
get feedback from constituencies then provide
feedback to the President, the Board and the
community to make sure we are implement
ing things that the campus wants."
"The plan doesn't confirm and specify all
of the names of the people who will make up
the committee," said Hammond, "because we
want to leave it open for others to be added to
the list if necessary."
However, the committee will involve the
Director of Multi-Cultural education, Wilson,
and the Assistant to the President for Planning
and Management, Jeff Favolise.
Wilson said that faculty, staff and student
involvement is necessary for the plan to
work.
"Ensuring that all different constituencies
have a voice is important," said Wilson. "It's
great that we have good numbers but what do
people feel like when they get here? Do they
feel diversity? Do they feel community?"
One concrete focus of the plan is increasing
the number of anti-racism training work
shops.
"Not everyone at Guilford is getting the
adequate anti-racism training," said Co-
President of the International Club and soph
omore Multi-Cultural scholar Yazmin Garcia
Rico. "I am saying this because I have received
myself offensive comments related to my
background, and I have been treated differ
ently. Anti-racism training should be required
for all the students, staff and faculty."
Wilson said that suggestions and input are
greatly appreciated and encouraged.
"We want to know "are we living up to the
plan?" If we aren't then let us know. The com
munity needs to be in the driver seat to help
us make the plan a reality."
TUITION
Tuition to increase by 5*5 percent for next year
Continued from page I
According to a Budget Committee report,
"The budget will incorporate any changes
in the enrollment projections since February,
first session summer school registrations, and
other unanticipated revenues and expenses,
in time for the start of the fiscal year on July
1."
Final revisions will be made at the October
2009 board meeting where the trustees will
review and approve final budget revisions in
light of Oct. 1 official enrollment numbers.
"We asked the trustees to pass what was
called the 2009-2010 budget in principle
because there are many unknowns on
enrollment for next fall," said Vice-President
for Finance and Administration Jerry Boothby.
"What the board passed was simply based on
what we knew at this point."
Vormelker said that the Budget Committee
came up with enrollmment data on a better
case, a middle case, and a worse case scenario
and brought these numbers before the board
so they could make a preliminary decision,
despite the many unknown variables.
"Given the uncertainty of the current eco
nomic crisis, the Budget Committee wanted
to ensure that the school could continue to
operate no matter the enrollment situation,
said Vormelker. "Under the worse case sce
nario the committee would be required to
close a $2.7 million budget gap. Flaving cut
expenses as far as possible, including educ
tions in staff, part-time faculty, facilities,
and the Strategic Long-Range Plan, the oiily
remaining way to close the gap was to raise
tuition and fees."
Hayton said that it is necessary to place
tuition increase in a nationwide context.
"The increase for room and board reflects
an increase in the cost for food nationwide,"
said Hayton, "Also, this increase in tuition
and fees needs to be placed in a nationwide
context where higher education costs con
tinue to increase, as charted by the Higher
Education Price Index (HEPI)."
According to the Budget Committee
report, "the current worse case revenue sce
nario projects net operating revenue of $51.6
million, and total expense requests of $53.9
million."
The Budget Committee utilized the worse
case scenario to develop a balanced 2009-10
budget, with a current budget estimate of
$51.6 million.
According to the report, "essentially, this
scenario combines the pessimistic forecasts
of lower revenue and higher expenses.'
The report highlighted the major elements
that will determine the budget in the worse
case scenario: "360 traditional first year stu
dents in the fall (versus over 400 students for
the previous five years, including 406 last
falls 2008), a resumption of faculty and staff
raises, and an increase in capital spending."
According to Hayton, these factors, as
well as other assumptions, have created
roughly a $2.2 million shortfall between the
Committee's strategic goals and the available
revenue that must be closed.
This means that a $2.2 million shortfall in
revenue needs to be reconciled by the May
meeting.
The Budget Committee report states "This
is an extremely difficult budget to prepare
because of the continuing economic down
turn and volatile enrollment patterns, and
their impact on the total revenue available to
fund campus initiatives and expenses."
Bryan said that despite the fact that the,
trustees did not want to put further strains
on the families, they had to approve a tuition
increase.
"Many members of the board of trust
ees talked about the implications that an
increase in tuition and fees would have on
the students," said Boothby. "The underlying
principle of the meeting is that the trustees
are very sensitive to families and their eco
nomic conditions and whajt can be done to
help them."