Caucus Concerns
CSU’s Multi-Ethnic Faculty and Staff Caucus has concerns
regarding diversity on campus.
The caucus drafted its list of 16 concerns and presented them to
President Larry Penley in October of this year.
“We asked for comments, suggestions, concerns, issues that
impact people, (things) which were important enough that we should
take them to the president,” said Rajinder Ranu, chair of the
caucus.
There was a list of eight “over-arching” concerns and then a
handful that were specifically from one of three groups of
employees: faculty, staff and administration.
“We essentially (said) that we wanted three main issues from
each group instead of a whole long list,” Ranu said.
Ranu emphasized this wasn’t complaining nor are the members
aggressive about the list.
“While there are issues there, we want to make sure we make a
positive contribution,” he said.
The complete list of concerns presented by the caucus can be
found online at
http://www.admin.colostate.edu/caucus. Some items on the list
are criticized as being too subjective.
“The president did have some concern that there wasn’t a lot to
substantiate what they were saying. It was very anecdotal,” said
Cara Neth, assistant to the president.
Ranu, however, argued that there is evidence.
A Campus Climate survey distributed to all CSU employees this
year shows a greater percentage of employees said there are not
enough diversity programs on campus compared to past years. The
2000 survey had 25 percent saying there are not enough programs,
and this year’s survey had 30 percent.
Conversely, the percentage of employees saying there are too
many diversity programs dropped. In 2000, 25 percent said there
were too many diversity programs and this year 19 percent said
there are too many. Survey results can be found online at
http://www.provost.colostate.edu/index.asp?url=dcc.
But not all of the caucus’s concerns can be dealt with so
broadly.
One concern, for example, it that the “Diversity Coordinating
Committee (DCC) does not appear to be effective,” according to the
caucus concern list.
The DCC consists of members from the university and university
diversity programs. The Center for Applied Studies in American
Ethnicity, the Office of Women’s Programs and Studies and the
Office of Equal Opportunity, among others, are represented.
“You can look at almost any committee, in any organization and
they’ll have their faults,” Neth said. “This is the structure that
we have, and I think it’s a structure that has the potential to
move things forward. Is it the structure for the long-term? The
institution is going to decide that.”
Ranu was pleased with the DCC’s 2002 Diversity Summit. The
Multi-Ethnic Faculty and Staff Caucus raised some of the same
issues it developed at the summit.
Ranu was hesitant to outline negative aspects of the DCC
specifically out of fear of offending members but did say that
there is “concern that the DCC functioning requires some sort of
improvement.”
Neth still contests that the concerns lack evidence.
“Much of what the caucus has expressed is their opinions, and
everyone is entitled to have their opinions,” Neth said. “What
we’re trying to look at is what information is supported by
data.”
Still, Penley will be meeting with the caucus toward the end of
January to address its concerns.
“This is all about equal access, equal opportunity,” Ranu said.
“It’s not to exclude but to include.”
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