November 2000: Why Diversity?
In July of this year, our campus instituted a new employee orientation
program that includes a discussion with new staff about working in
our diverse campus environment. As part of this dialogue, the facilitators
of the presentation often share why they value working in a diverse
community. It occurs to me that this might be an important consideration
for each of us. Why, indeed, is it important to us as individuals and
as an institution that we have a diverse community?
In his convocation address this fall, Chancellor Vanderhoef stated that
our excellence as an institution is directly linked to the diversity
of our campus. UCD is a major research institution, and the success of
our efforts in addressing global issues related to the economy, environment,
international conflict, food resources, health, etc. relies on our ability
to think broadly and inclusively about all the people who make up our
world community.
Dr. Bertice Berry, a sociologist, author and recent speaker on campus,
suggested that our very survival as a species is dependent on our diversity.
For us to be able to adapt to a changing society, we will need our differences
to help us evolve in our way of thinking and in our way of responding
to new and more challenging issues. She quoted from Darwin who said that
one cannot learn critical thinking with only one thought. It is our differences
that help us to transform in ever expanding ways.
Dr. Norman Coombs, professor emeritus at the Rochester Institute of Technology,
offers that in addition to being the right thing to do, diversity makes
economic sense. He points out that technology has opened a more level
playing field to people with disabilities. Thus, it is more cost effective
to provide readily accessible technology for students with disabilities
than it is to, for example, translate campus documents which are already
on line into Braille. Dr. Berry would agree that valuing diversity makes
economic sense. She proposes that when we pay women the same as men for
equal work, husbands won't have to work harder to make up the thirty
cents per dollar difference that exists between women's and men's salaries.
Valuing diversity, then, also serves our own self interest. Dr. Coombs
further suggests, there is a horizontal, not vertical, line that connects
each of us. Anything that helps us do something better for one person,
is going to be good to everyone. For example, making the world more accessible
for people with disabilities helps all of us, since being able bodied
is generally a temporary condition.
I appreciate what a participant in new employee orientation recently
said - that she sees diversity as an opportunity, not an obstacle. Our
students come from over 100 different countries and over one third of
them speak a least one other language. This provides us with a tremendous
opportunity to learn to think outside of the box of our own perspectives
and to stretch to incorporate the values and perspectives of others.
And, this opportunity awaits us each day we come to work.
Finally, as another colleague shared at a recent workshop for managers,
having a diverse environment is just more fun!
Karen Roth coordinates the Diversity Education Program on campus.