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President's Report

Originally Published in The Spectator
November 30, 2007

I have the editorial staff of the Spectator to thank for their openness to an occasional contribution on my part, and so am planning to write periodically about some of the things on my mind and, I believe, on yours. I welcome suggestions and reactions. Today I'll provide an update on what we are doing in the area of diversity.

"Diversity" is not a problem to be solved; in the broadest sense, it is both a fact and an ideal for a college such as ours. I foresee a future in which Hamilton will become – inevitably and gratefully – ever more diverse. We must prepare for that future by enlarging our understanding of each other and by practicing respect and civility to each and every one of our community.

While Hamilton College will become increasingly diverse, it is already a more diverse campus than it was five years ago. The increase is due in large measure to the efforts of our office of admission and financial aid to recruit historically underrepresented students. But formal diversity does not necessarily change mindsets or ways of living, as I suggested at Convocation last August, and Hamilton (like colleges and communities the world over) sometimes faces threats to inclusiveness. Recent campus events make clear that we have work to do in order to ensure that everyone here feels like, and is, a full-fledged member of our community.

Associate Deans Allen Harrison and Steve Yao are charged with helping us realize that vision and I am asking that they, Deans Thompson and Urgo meet as a group in order to clarify the interface between their offices and the appropriate lines of reporting for concerns and complaints on the part of affected individuals and groups.

Taking inspiration and direction from the Diversity Strategic Plan of November 2004, the deliberations and recommendations of the Campus Planning Committee and the suggestions of the student Social Justice Initiative, I am initiating additional actions that will, I hope, improve our community's embrace of difference.

In the very short term, we will improve the ALCC building. Dean Thompson is meeting with students, faculty and staff to plan for upgrading and renewal that can be undertaken by spring to make the building better suited to the activities it supports. In the longer term, we intend for the proposed renovation of ELS as student activity space to celebrate the diverse cultures and interests of our student body. Just how that should be accomplished and what the relationship of a new ELS and the ALCC should be are not a matter of universal agreement, so we will need continued conversations with students.

At a meeting this fall of the planning committee, faculty and staff who had participated last summer in a workshop on inclusiveness suggested that our Web site be evaluated. I have therefore directed that the dean of admission and financial aid and vice president for information technology work with others to assess our site with respect to its representation of multicultural students, activities, and academic programs. They will review content and presentation of information from the point of view of prospective students, current members of the campus community and other audiences, and make appropriate changes by the end of spring.

Dean Yao will work with the director of Institutional Research to establish an "equity scorecard," an instrument that should help give us an evolving picture of our successes and shortcomings in these areas.

We are also evaluating the advisability of engaging an outside group to work with us on support for diversity. The National Coalition Building Institute (www.ncbi.org) has been mentioned. If we are to take this step, we would want to move forward soon. I welcome your reactions to this suggestion along with any information you may have about the NCBI's work elsewhere.

Dean Thompson is reviewing the role of the annual new student orientation program in teaching and supporting tolerance and understanding, and Dean Urgo will charge the strategic planning subcommittees on academic program, faculty and staff recruitment and retention, and student recruitment and retention with initiating improvements in our diversity and inclusivity missions. I should add, in particular, that the deans, trustees and I are well aware that funding for financial aid needs to be increased and we are continually working on ways to accomplish this. Hamilton's recent decision to end merit scholarships freed approximately one million dollars annually for need-based aid.

These actions are not the only ones we will take – or have taken. I expect to report soon on ongoing or completed initiatives of the past few years. Meanwhile, if you would like to collaborate on any of the efforts I've just mentioned, please contact the person in charge or let me know.