"Another mechanism that many institutions have turned to in order to
institutionalize diversity is establishing new permanent positions. These often
allow externally funded projects to continue after the life of a grant, or they
create possibilities for initiating new programs . . . It seems to be far more
effective to make such new appointments full-time rather than part-time and to
consider carefully to whom the staff person should report. If responsibilities
include curriculum and faculty development, for instance, many have found it
more effective to make the appointment in academic affairs rather than in
student affairs. If responsibilities include student development and campus
climate, more often the appointment is in student affairs. Several campuses
stressed the importance of supporting the new appointment by continuing to
assume that the daily responsibility for attending to diversity also belongs to
the campus as a whole" (McTighe Musil et. al., 1999, p. 34).
"In order to capitalize on the synergy among the variety of diversity
activities, many campuses discovered that they needed an organizational
structure to coordinate the wide-ranging work. A structure often makes the
difference between disparate, low-impact, localized programming and collective,
high-impact, pervasive programming. . . Rather than rely on an EEOC staff person
outside the faculty, Brandeis University established a faculty diversity
committee to assist departments in their search for diverse faculty members.
Women's commissions like the one at the University of Michigan, composed of
people from a wide variety of positions across the institution, have frequently
proven to be effective structures for addressing the needs of women students,
staff, faculty, and administrators. With new structure, however, clarifying
goals, jurisdiction, and relation to pre-existing structures is needed to avoid
confusion and internal competition" (McTighe Musil et. al., 1999, p. 37).
Identify a diversity officer or equal employment opportunity (EEO)
representative to oversee the process, ensure the recruitment process is
adequate, proctor the formal voting, and maintain comprehensive notes and
records of the process to ensure that all aspects of the selection are handled
fairly and consistently (Spangler & Wixon, 2000).
The office that coordinates the recruitment and hiring process must have enough
staff - qualified, competent, committed - to support the recruitment, screening,
and hiring of candidates. This staff should provide orientation and training to
the faculty and staff who serve on the screening committees so that they can
understand the university's commitment and the laws, rules and regulations that
pertain (de los Santos, 1994).
Appoint a coordinator/analyst to produce and analyze data to support the
university's diversity plan. Data will include analysis of recruiting pools,
benchmarking comparisons and tracking of internal progress (Kent State
University Diversity Implementation Plan 2001-2005).
At colleges and universities that have achieved high percentages of African
American and Latino American faculty, "the faculty affirmative action
administrator is more likely to be an assistant to the president. The people who
occupy this position have significantly more time to spend on affirmative action
than does a director of human resources and considerably more power than a
director of affirmative action" (Davis, 2002).
