Campus strife presents a teachable moment
A series of campus episodes of racial strife – the most noteworthy at the University of Missouri – have created a teachable moment for a new generation of academic leaders. What separates the diversity lessons of the 1960s from those needed today are two things: the rising power of social media and an expectation among some public policy leaders and even trustees that higher education should always be “run like a business,” with no higher purpose than preparing students to “get jobs.”
Neither trend bodes particularly well for higher education or American society at large without a deeper, sustained and more thoughtful discussion about the purpose, intent and context of higher education than could ever occur in an exchange of 140-character social media “tweets,” or be summed up in a corporate quarterly report.
Having occasional discussions about diversity and setting numerical diversity goals are easy items to check off on a business-like “to do” list. But to go beyond lip service – to get to a deeper true understanding of the perspectives that sometimes divide society along racial lines – such check-offs must be backed up by actions. Those actions must affirm inclusivity as a foundational expectation embedded in the DNA of a community – be it an academic, civic or corporate community.
In other words, values matter – and in communities truly living contemporary values where race is concerned, the kind of racial divisions that have erupted on several campuses this year likely would not be finding traction. Minority students would be less likely to feel they are not prized, not appreciated, not listened to and that their needs are not being met.
Some institutions and communities seem to have found a better way to avoid such strife. A case in point: Winthrop University in Rock Hill today is nationally recognized for the diversity of its student body, for the fact that its academic success rate among minority students matches or exceeds that of its white students, and for the “bang for the buck” that it provides all students. Yet it was just a generation ago that Winthrop was all white, all female and rarely heard of outside the South.
Likewise, the city of Rock Hill for decades was known, if at all, primarily as a textile town and the place where nine African-American students were arrested in 1961 for launching a sit-in at a white lunch counter, then famously chose “jail over bail” to help make their cause more widely known.
Today, Rock Hill greets visitors with a welcome sign that declares “No Room for Racism,” reflecting the name of a committee of community leaders who for years brought residents of all backgrounds together to build relationships in ways that ultimately would see them through decades of peaceful social change.
Winthrop did not find its modern sense of inclusivity accidentally either. In 1989, as the institution’s then-new president, I found Winthrop minority enrollment was just 14 percent in a state whose African-American population was twice that. Many on campus shared that concern.
With those conversations in mind, I set out to visit every black-majority high school in the state with a pledge that their college-bound graduates would find a welcoming atmosphere on the Winthrop campus. With me was a Winthrop choral group made up of African-American students who could tell that story in their own words. Concurrently, my wife and I sought opportunities to visit African-American churches with the same message.
On campus, our first-ever “Vision of Distinction” plan promised the Winthrop community would “cherish the gifts of all its people of both genders and all races, religions and ethnic origins.” Most importantly, every year for the next 24 years, we established a set of annual programmatic objectives to put that lofty vision into work clothes.
Key initiatives (among many over the years) were:
▪ recruitment of a vibrant and diverse Student Life staff who teach students from varied backgrounds how to talk to and live with each other in close proximity – even if they are first-generations in their families to go to college, and even if their home communities lacked diversity.
▪ creation of “Touchstone” academic courses that give students experience in working together in diverse groups to achieve goals and broaden their global perspectives.
▪ successful pursuit of grants under the federal TRIO and McNair Scholars Programs to deepen resources to support disadvantaged and first-generation college students.
▪ development of an Academic Success Center focused on reaching out to students, especially in their first year, to provide the extra measure of support they may need to be successful in a new and more challenging academic environment.
▪ creation of an array of counseling opportunities, both formal and informal, for students to express themselves and be heard in ways that tend to resolve conflicts early. As a result, Winthrop’s African-American enrollment moved to 29 percent by 2012, and a Gates Foundation-funded initiative in 2010 named Winthrop as one of 40 campuses nationally where African-American students were “Beating the Odds” against completing their degrees. Winthrop’s best recruiters of minority freshmen had become Winthrop’s own African-American alumni.
In other words, through Winthrop’s annual “Vision of Distinction,” we created a standard for the community, and the means for the community to live by that standard – and we made inclusiveness an all-institutional responsibility. To this day, Winthrop encourages talking and being heard, as well as listening and being transformed.
There are no business metrics by which such internal processes can be precisely measured in a quarterly report fashion, but we do know empirically that such on-purpose intentionality opens opportunities, improves retention and increases degree completions. It also prepares students for the global society in which they will live their lives.
Perhaps most importantly, it lets young people know they all matter. For that, too, is part of higher education’s purpose.
Dr. Anthony DiGiorgio is Winthrop University President Emeritus and Distinguished Professor of Public Service and Leadership.
This story was originally published November 17, 2015 at 7:34 PM with the headline "Campus strife presents a teachable moment."