By Brendan O’Reilly and Brian Bohl
Diversifying the student body has been a long-standing priority in the student admission process, but the demographics of the University’s senior administration and other prominent faculty positions reflect a much more homogeneous composite.
University President Stuart Rabinowitz hopes to diversify his cabinet when he fills several vacant senior positions, his chief deputy said.
Rabinowitz will soon interview finalists to fill the vacant dean positions in the schools of education and business, Provost Herman Berliner said. The University is also searching for new vice presidents for Campus Life and Enrollment Management.
An announcement on the positions is not imminent, Melissa Connolly, vice president for University Relations, said.
“You can’t strive for a diverse student body if your faculty is not diverse, because then you’re not going to have appropriate mentors,” said Vice Provost Liora Schmelkin. “You’re not going to have, really, a model by which the student body can also to fit into.”
She said that this year’s freshman class was one of the most diverse, with 24 percent composed of minorities.
“We all believe that diversity is an important element in a liberal arts education,” said Connolly. Advertisements for vacant faculty positions are posted on IMDiversity.com in an effort to find minority candidates, she added
“I think the most important factor is going to be qualifications,” said professor Carole Ferrand, the speaker of the faculty.
Ferrand said she gets the sense that persons of a minority group who meet the University’s standards will be looked on favorably.
Ferrand said one strategy that will be adopted is a working relationship with Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Berliner and School of Communication Associate Dean Cliff Jernigan recently visited Clafin University in South Carolina.
The trip was an attempt to create a partnership between the University and Clafin that would entail faculty and student exchange.
Jernigan is the University’s highest-ranking African-American academic administrator. He previously served as the chair for the Department of Mass Communications at Claflin, the state’s oldest historically black college or university.
“I am proud to say that the full faculty at the meeting in October, unanimously approved a diversity policy, which solidifies the University’s commitment to increasing the number of minority faculty members,” said Ellen T. Frisina, chair of the University Senate Executive Committee and associate professor in the School of Communication.
“Dr. Berliner and the full administration have assured the faculty that the diversity policy will be followed by clear and real procedures to put in place the mission of increased diversity among faculty.”
The University has developed a diversity taskforce led by Provost Herman Berliner, who is also senior vice president for Academic Affairs.
“The task force is looking at specific strategies for increasing diversity,” Ferrand said.
A problem Schmelkin sees in attracting minority faculty is the cost of living on Long Island. The University has set aside two houses on the edge of campus for minority faculty members, which have been leased for one year, giving the members a chance to acclimate to Long Island. Berliner initiated the program last Fall.
“I started in 1995, and there was only one woman vice president before me,” said Holly Seirup, who recently vacated the position of vice president for Campus Life. “Now, there are six.”
“When I started, I was the only woman at the meetings. I think what’s happening is we are becoming more reflective of society,” she added. “I’m sure it will happen with everything else. There are tremendous qualified candidates.”