{"id":141,"date":"2010-02-23T12:07:54","date_gmt":"2010-02-23T17:07:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ssc.wisc.edu\/~whansen\/?p=141"},"modified":"2011-12-16T12:51:28","modified_gmt":"2011-12-16T17:51:28","slug":"diversity-initiative-more-words-than-actions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/?p=141","title":{"rendered":"Diversity initiative more words than actions"},"content":{"rendered":"

February 3, 2010
\nThe Badger Herald <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cInclusive excellence\u201d has quietly replaced \u201cdiversity\u201d and \u201cPlan 2008\u201d as the guiding star in\u00a0UW-Madison\u2019s four-decade long effort to increase minority representation and success.<\/p>\n

Why adopt a new name for its diversity program? The reason is clear. Something had to be done to divert attention from the failed\u00a0Plan 2008 which the\u00a0UW System\u00a0Board of Regents\u00a0promised back in 1998 would make the\u00a0UW System a national leader in achieving diversity.<\/p>\n

The big question now is this: Can \u201cinclusive excellence\u201d succeed in accomplishing its ambitious goals? Answering this question first requires understanding what \u201cinclusive excellence\u201d means.<\/p>\n

The most concise description appears in a\u00a0Board of Regents document [go to\u00a0UW System, \u201cInclusive Excellence FAQ: Short Version\u201d]. It characterizes \u201cinclusive excellence\u201d as a new approach that will foster \u201cgreater diversity, equity, inclusion and accountability.\u201d It says this approach rests on the premise that\u00a0UW System institutions, including\u00a0UW-Madison, \u201cneed to intentionally integrate their diversity efforts into the core aspects of their institutions \u2014 such as academic priorities, leadership, quality improvement initiatives, decision-making, day-to-day operations and organizational cultures \u2014 in order to maximize their success.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is further described as a \u201cchange-oriented planning process that encourages us to continue our diversification efforts albeit with a greater intentionality and attentiveness to how they serve the needs of our students.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do we make of this salad of words called \u201cinclusive excellence?\u201d The concept remains baffling because of its vague abstractness. Even\u00a0UW-Madison Chancellor\u00a0Biddy Martin in addressing the Diversity Forum last fall experienced difficulty explaining what \u201cinclusive excellence\u201d means. If she can\u2019t explain it to a large Union Theater audience, how can\u00a0UWstudents, faculty and staff, as well as the general public, grasp its meaning?<\/p>\n

How will the success of the \u201cinclusive excellence\u201d approach be assessed? The\u00a0UW System document mentions nine criteria. The most tangible of these criteria include proportional representation of underrepresented faculty, students and staff, improved retention and graduation rates, a more welcoming campus climate, and greater multicultural competence in graduating seniors. Sound familiar? They are right out of\u00a0Plan 2008.<\/p>\n

Among the several other criteria is this one. Success will be achieved in\u00a0UW institutions by way of a \u201cthorough institutionalization of equity and diversity where they are embraced as core values and used to inform campus decision-making, educational practices and policy-making.\u201d How will anyone determine whether this goal is achieved?<\/p>\n

Why should anyone expect that \u201cinclusive excellence\u201d will be any more successful than prior plans in realizing the goals of diversity? Just because the regents and\u00a0UW System supported and then adopted this new program does not guarantee its success. Nor did the official enthusiastic support for\u00a0Plan 2008 guarantee its success when adopted more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n

What about implementing this nebulous concept? The\u00a0UW System document says this new approach can work if \u201cinstitutions work diligently and steadily to incorporate their diversity work into the larger instructional culture\u201d so they \u201cbecome integrated into the larger fabric of the institution.\u201d Wasn\u2019t this the intent of\u00a0Plan 2008?<\/p>\n

Is there any knowledge whether this approach has proven itself at other institutions? Where else has it been implemented? How successful has it been in achieving the nine criteria that would mark its success? Until more information is available about whether it \u201d works,\u201d we should remain skeptical about its ability to \u201cfix\u201d diversity problems here.<\/p>\n

Even more startling is the document\u2019s assurance \u201cimplementation should not require any additional resources of either the financial or human kind?\u201d How likely is it that \u201cexcellence and diversity \u2026 will simply become integrated into the larger fabric of the institution\u201d without incurring any additional costs?<\/p>\n

\u201cInclusive excellence\u201d is yet another articulation of a flawed approach. It ignores the core issue \u2014 a failure to overcome at an early age the cognitive and motivational limitations that plague so many minority students well before they reach college age.<\/p>\n

Couched in florid language, \u201cinclusive excellence\u201d represents one more effort to gloss over past failures. It is time for actions to speak louder than words.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

February 3, 2010 The Badger Herald \u201cInclusive excellence\u201d has quietly replaced \u201cdiversity\u201d and \u201cPlan 2008\u201d as the guiding star in\u00a0UW-Madison\u2019s four-decade long effort to increase minority representation and success. Why adopt a new name for its diversity program? The reason … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=141"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144,"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141\/revisions\/144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/users.ssc.wisc.edu\/~wlhansen\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}