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Speaker urges Purdue to coordinate diversity

Jason Gulley/Exponent Photographer

LEND ME YOUR EARS: James B. Stewart, former vice provost of educational equality at Pennsylvania State University, spoke during a program titled "Strategies for Successful Diversity Action Committees" about how Purdue can become more diversity-aware.

By Kevin Grindlay
Staff Writer

In a discussion about diversity on Wednesday, it was suggested that Purdue, along with other universities, adopt certain military objectives.

James B. Stewart, former vice provost of educational equality at Pennsylvania State University, spoke during a program titled "Strategies for Successful Diversity Action Committees" about teaching universities to have the same goals about diversity that the Armed Forces do.

The general consensus at the program was that most students don't have a definite idea of why valuing diversity is important.

According to Stewart, there are actually more women in the military who are African-American than European-American. He believes this demonstrates the effectiveness of its diversity agenda.

The military, said Stewart, maintains that if soldiers don't value diversity and have mutual respect for each other, it jeopardizes the mission. He would like to see this attitude brought to Purdue.

To accomplish this, Stewart encouraged the audience to "make a link between the goals of diversity committees and the goals of the University."

Another admirable aspect of the military, according to Stewart, is that it must give progress reports in regard to diversity. He said that colleges like to make initiatives, but they often don't want to evaluate the outcome of those initiatives. He thinks that the deans and department heads need to continually be asked, "What have you done to promote goals in the area of diversity?"

But not everything discussed had to do with the military.

One controversial issue Stewart confronted was affirmative action. He addressed complaints that affirmative action lets a less qualified person get a position over the better candidate. According to Stewart, the term "best candidate" is very nebulous. Everyone has his or her strengths and weaknesses, so it's hard to be sure who's more qualified, he said.

The problem with this argument is that simply because a decision is difficult to make doesn't mean that one can resort to qualities, such as race, that are unrelated to the job itself.

Stewart also called for more student involvement in promoting diversity. He said that at Pennsylvania State University, pressure now comes primarily from students. They summon the dean and recommend specific classes to be put into the curriculum. "They'll even decide which syllabus to use," he said.


03/28/2002	Previous Edition 3/27