In the first several weeks after it began operating, the Office of Institutional Diversity (OID) has received an enthusiastic response from those concerned with diversity on campus.
"Everyone who works on diversity at Tufts is excited about the new OID," Director of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Center Dona Yarbrough told the Daily in an e-mail.
Unveiled in a Jan. 12 e-mail from University President Lawrence Bacow, the office is working to integrate faculty and staff diversity practices at all of the university's campuses and has already taken part in some on-campus activities.
"The purpose of OID is to look at diversity within the institution at large and to develop diversity initiatives across the university," Lisa M. Coleman, whose appointment as executive director of the OID became effective Jan. 1., said. Prior to this, she served as director of the Africana Center.
Coleman, in her new position, will report directly to Bacow. She will also report to Vice President for Human Resources Kathe Cronin and have a dotted-line relationship with University Provost Jamshed Bharucha.
Although the office will not explicitly focus on working with students, it will still have a connection with them because student diversity organizations will report to Coleman. The office will also help plan on-campus events.
Coleman, for example, helped organize the Black History Month kickoff event on Feb. 1 and the upcoming Feb. 7 Town Meeting on Stereotyping and Campus Climate.
The new office will take on responsibilities once handled by Tufts' Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO). When OEO director Yves-Rose SaintDic stepped down last year, administrators wanted to reconsider the structure of diversity efforts at Tufts.
"The president and others saw a timely opportunity to rethink how the office was organized, what resources could be brought to bear, and how we could extend our efforts to enhance diversity at Tufts," Chief of Staff Judy Olson said in an e-mail.
The fruition of this consideration was the creation of an umbrella organization that will envelop many pre-existing diversity programs.
The OEO, for example, will still handle compliance issues. "[The OID] doesn't replace OEO or represent a merger," Olson said. "OEO will continue to exist and be a unit within OID."
To be successful in her position, Coleman said that she will have to focus on broad institutional practices.
"A lot of the critiques that have come from students are that student organizations are working on issues of diversity in Arts, Sciences, and Engineering, but that we haven't really looked at diversity at large," she said.
She will also have to maintain close relationships with Tufts' faculty and staff. "Working with [them] has a real effect on students," she said. "You want the climate of the university to reflect diverse learning styles and diversity across the board."
Still, she is likely to face some challenges.
"The issues that surround diversity are complicated and encompass a range of social and political issues: race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, and so on," Associate Professor of Child Development Calvin Gidney said in an e-mail. "I think that this new position is a step in the right direction," he said.
"To me, the most critical issue that faces faculty and students here is the question of numbers. I think that the university needs to do what ever it can to increase the numbers of underrepresented groups among faculty, staff, and students," he said.
Sophomore Evan Woods, a Queer Men's Group facilitator at the LGBT center, also sees an obstacle to be overcome. "I think the real battle for diversity lies within the student body," he said. "And that does not only include the individuals who blatantly express their prejudices, but the community as a whole for allowing such individuals to insult the diversity of others."
Still, Coleman is optimistic, especially after what she considered an impressive response to the controversy stemming from the December publication of the carol "O Come All Ye Black Folk" in The Primary Source.
"When an incident like that does happen, it's inspiring to see a response from the community that says we don't want that," she said. "And that's where I think institutionalization becomes really important. If students are organizing a rally or want to protest, institutional organizations help provide them with the resources they need to make that change."
