A 50 Year History of Social Diversity at the University of Michigan

A 50 Year History of Social Diversity At the University of Michigan

NOTE: The quilt on the cover was constructed from T-shirts reflecting the highly diverse student organizations of the University and presented to the Duderstadts in 1996 to celebrate their presidency. 1

James J. Duderstadt, President Emeritus

The University of Michigan was established in 1817 As with most of higher in the village of Detroit by an act of the Northwest Ter- education, the history of ritorial government and financed through the sale of In- diversity at Michigan has dian lands granted by the United States Congress. Since been complex and often it benefited from this territorial land grant, the new uni- contradictory. There have versity was subject to the Enlightenment themes of the been many times when Northwest Ordinance guaranteeing civil rights and re- the institution seemed to ligious freedom. Envisioned by the people of the Michi- take a step forward, only gan Territory as truly public, Michigan became the first to be followed by two university in America to successfully resist sectarian steps backward. Michi- control. Buoyed by committed students, faculty, staff, gan was one of the earli- and the citizens of our state, the University of Michigan est universities to admit has consistently been at the forefront of higher educa- African-Americans and women in the late 19th tion, grappling with the difficult issues of plurality and President James Angell promoting equality. century. At our found- In many ways, it was at the University of Michigan ing, we attracted students that Thomas Jefferson’s statement of the principles of from a broad range of European ethnic backgrounds. the Enlightenment in his proposition for the nation, In the early 1800s, the population of the state swelled “We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men with new immigrants from the rest of the country and are created equal”, was most fully embraced and real- across the European continent. It took pride in its large ized. Whether characterized by gender, race, religion, enrollments of international students at a time when socioeconomic background, ethnicity, or nationality– the state itself was decidedly insular. By 1860, the Re- not to mention academic interests or political persua- gents referred “with partiality,” to the “list of foreign sion–the university has always taken great pride in the students drawn thither from every section of our coun- diversity of its students, faculty, and programs. try.” Forty-six percent of our students then came from Particularly notable here was the role of Michigan other states and foreign countries. Today more than one President James Angell in articulating the importance hundred nations are represented at Michigan. of Michigan’s commitment to provide “an uncommon In contrast, our record regarding Native Americans education for the common man” while challenging the has been disappointing. In 1817, in the treaty of Fort aristocratic notion of leaders of the colonial colleges Meigs, local tribes became the first major donors when such as Charles Eliot of Harvard. Angell argued that they ceded 1,920 acres of land for “a college at Detroit.” Americans should be given opportunities to develop A month later the Territorial Legislature formed the talent and character to the fullest. He portrayed the “university of Michigania,” and accepted the land gift state university as the bulwark against the aristocracy in the college’s name. Today, although the number of of wealth. However the journey to achieve Angell’s vi- Native American students enrolled is very low, they sion of the University’s public purpose did not come continue to make vital cultural and intellectual contri- easily. butions to the University. 2

The first African American students arrived on cam- and students boycotted classes. Yet many positive ad- pus in 1868, without official notice. In the years follow- vances came from this outpouring of student solidarity. ing Reconstruction, however, discrimination increased. The number of African American faculty and students Black students joined together to support each other on campus increased during the 1970s, new programs early in the century and staged restaurant sit-ins in the were initiated and old programs were funded. 1920s. It was not until the 1960s that racial unrest finally Yet after only a few years, minority enrollments be- exploded into campus-wide concerted action. gan to fall once again and funding waned by the late Michigan’s history with respect to gender is also 1970s. Two more student movements (BAM II and III) very mixed. Michigan was the first large university in formed in an effort to stimulate the University to once America to admit women. At the time, the rest of the again take a systematic look at the difficult problems nation looked on with a critical eye. Many were certain of race on campus. While the University renewed its that the “experiment” would fail. The first women who efforts to achieve diversity and the enrollment of un- arrived in 1870 were true pioneers, the objects of intense derrepresented minorities began to increase, this soon scrutiny and resentment. For many years, women had envolved into a largely bureaucratic effort based on separate and unequal access to facilities and organiza- affirmative action and equal opportunity policies, and tions. Yet, in the remaining decades of the 19th Century, minority enrollments continued to decline. Although the University of Michigan provided strong leadership there were occasional expressions of concern about the for the nation. Indeed, by 1898, the enrollment of wom- lack of University progress on these fronts, these were en had increased to the point where they received 53 not sufficient to reorder University priorities until the percent of Michigan’s undergraduate degrees. Howev- late 1980s. er, during the early part of the 20th Century, and even more with the returning veterans after World War I, the 1980s representation of women in the student body declined significantly. It only began to climb again during the Throughout the 1980s there were increasing signs of 1970s and 1980s and, for the first time in almost a centu- a reoccurrence of racial tensions on several of the more ry, once again exceeded that of men in 1996. During the politically active campuses across the country. Both UC past several decades, the University took a number of Berkeley and Columbia had experienced the first signs steps to recruit, promote, and support women staff and of a new generation of student activism along racial faculty, modifying University policies to better address lines. By the late l980s concern about minority affairs their needs. True equality has come slowly, driven by had also appeared at Michigan through a movement the efforts of many courageous and energetic women. known as the Free South Africa Coordinating Com- mittee, or FSACC, led by a small group of graduate 1960-1970s students in the social sciences. Although the group ini- tially built most of their activism around the case for The University of Michigan faltered badly in its divestment of University holdings in firms doing busi- public purpose of achieving a campus characterized by ness in apartheid South Africa, there were a series of the diversity of the society it served in the post-WWII other issues including demands that the University es- years. As minority enrollments languished and racial tablish Martin Luther King Day as an official University tensions flared in the 1960s and 1970s, it was student holiday, that it re-evaluate the manner in which tenure activism that finally stimulated action. Although the was provided to minority faculty, and that it discard University had made efforts to become a more diverse the normal admissions requirements such as the use institution, both black and white students, frustrated of standardized test scores. Although such activism by the slow movement, organized into the first Black continued at a fairly vocal level, it was stable and did Action Movement (BAM) in 1970, which demanded not escalate until a series of racist events occurred in that the University commit to achieving 10% black en- early l987. This activism was generally manifested in rollments. The administration building was occupied occasional rallies on the Diag, angry testimony to the 3

Protest Shanties on the Diag Protests in the President’s Office Regents at public comments sessions, or letters to the among its faculty, students and staff. In assessing this editor of the Michigan Daily. situation, the new administration concluded that al- Nevertheless, there were other signs that all was not though the University had approached the challenge well within the University. The University was subject of serving an increasingly diverse population with the to occasional attacks from both of the Detroit newspa- best of intentions, it simply had not developed and ex- pers about its lack of success in achieving racial diver- ecuted a plan capable of achieving sustainable results. sity. It was clear that the effort to recruit minority stu- More significantly, we believed that achieving our dents was not a top University priority in the late l970s goals for a diverse campus would require a very major and early l980s, and minority student enrollment de- change in the institution itself. clined throughout this period. Furthermore, the num- It was the long-term strategic focus of our planning ber of minority faculty had leveled off and began to de- that proved to be critical, because universities do not cline; indeed, there were losses of key minority faculty change quickly and easily any more than do the societ- throughout the l980s. This led to a growing sense of ies of which they are a part. Michigan would have to frustration on the part of a number of minority faculty leave behind many reactive and uncoordinated efforts and staff. that had characterized its past and move toward a more Early in l987, student activism shifted from divest- strategic approach designed to achieve long-term sys- ment to focus instead on racism as its rallying cry. temic change. Sacrifices would be necessary as tradi- FSACC was renamed the United Coalition Against Rac- tional roles and privileges were challenged. In particu- ism, or UCAR, and the rallies on the Diag began to ad- lar, we understood the limitations of focusing only on dress incidents of racism on campus. Coincidentally, the affirmative action; that is, on access, retention, and rep- number of charges of racist incidents began to increase, resentation. The key would be to focus instead on the including the appearance of racist flyers in dormitories success of underrepresented minorities on our campus, and complaints about racist slurs directed against mi- as students, as faculty, and as leaders. We believed that nority students. Needless to say, these charges attracted without deeper, more fundamental institutional change great attention from the Detroit papers, which had be- these efforts by themselves would inevitably fail–as come almost fixated on the subject of racism because of they had throughout the 1970s and 1980s. the increasing racial polarization of that city. The challenge was to persuade the university community that there was a real stake for everyone in seiz- 1990s ing the moment to chart a more diverse future. People needed to believe that the gains to be achieved through By the late 1980s, it had become apparent that the diversity would more than compensate for the neces- university had made inadequate progress in its goal to sary sacrifices. The first and most important step was to reflect the rich diversity of our nation and our world link diversity and excellence as the two most compel- 4

Student Access and Success Faculty Undergraduate Student Access Target of Opportunity Program Wade McCree Incentive Scholarship Faculty Development (Faculty Awards Program for King/Chavez/Parks Program minority faculty) Summer programs (e.g., DAPCEP) Cluster hiring College Day visitation for families Creating a welcoming and supportive culture (net- Tuition grants to all Native American students works, centers, surveys) from Michigan. Enlarging candidate pool by increasing PhD enroll- Special Undergraduate Programs ments Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program 21st Century Program Results CRLT Programs +62% for African Americans (128) Leadership 2017 +117% for Latinos (52) Office ofAcademic Multicultural Initiatives +75% for Native Americans (7) Graduate Student Support Senior academic leadership (URM): from 14 to 25 Fully funding minority graduate support Rackham Graduate Merit Fellowship Program Staff Special Programs Demanded accountability in hiring and promotion Tapped grass-roots creativity and energy using Human Resources and Affirmative Action pro- $ 1 M/y Presidential Initiatives Funds tor grams competitive proposals from faculty and Consultation and Conciliation Services student groups. Results Results Top managers: +100% (to 10% of management) Enrollments: P&A: +80 (from 449 to 816) 83% increase in students of color (to 28%) More Generally 90% increase in underrep min (to 15%) Building University-wide commitments 57% increase in AA (to 2,715 or 9.1%) Office of Minority Affairs, Vice-Provost for Minor- 126% increase of Latinos (to 4.3%) ity Affairs 100% increase in Native Americans (to 1.1%) Demanding accountability Graduation rates for African Americans highest Included in compensation review among public universities. Included in budget review UM ranked 27th in nation in minority BA/BS Included in appointment review 8th for M.S. degrees, 7th for PhD degrees Leadership 1st in African American PhDs (non HBCU’s) Half of Executiver Officers were African American Graduate education Executive VP Medical Center (Rita Dumas) Increased minority fellowships by 118% Secretary of University (Harold Johnson) Of 734 Rackham Fellows in 1994, VP Research (Homer Neal) 51% were African American, UM Flint Chancellor Charlie Nelms 29% were Latino UM Dearborn Chancellor James Renick Professional Schools: JJD’s Successor was African American (Homer Neal) Business: 12% AA, 28% color Medicine: 11% AA, 39% color Law: 10% AA, 21% color

Some Actions and Results of the Michigan Mandate by 1996 5

Minority student enrollments (percentages) African-American student enrollments (percentages)

Graduation rates of African-American student Number of minority tenured and tenure-track faculty cohorts six years afer initial entry

Number of university minority graduate fellowships Number of African-American faculty 6

The Michigan Mandate: MLK Day Unity March, addressing student and alumni groups, Professor Bunyon Bryant, Professor Charles Moody (with President Ford), Dean Rhetaugh Dumas, Associate Vice Provost Lester Monts, toasting the heros of the successful Michigan Mandate. ling goals before the institution, recognizing that these understanding increased and support grew. Although goals were not only complementary but would be tight- the plan itself came from the administration, it would ly linked in the multicultural society characterizing our be individuals and units that would devise most of the nation and the world in the future. As we moved ahead, detailed plans for carrying it forward. University publi- we began to refer to the plan as The Michigan Mandate: cations, administrators’ speeches and meetings, Faculty A Strategic Linking of Academic Excellence and Social Senate deliberations, all carried the message: Diversity Diversity. would become the cornerstone in the University’s ef- Over the first two years, hundreds of discussions forts to achieve excellence in teaching, research, and with groups both on and off campus were held. We service in the multicultural nation and world in which reached out to alumni, donors, and civic and political it would exist. leaders and groups, while meeting with countless stu- The mission and goals of the Michigan Mandate dent faculty and staff groups. Great care was taken to were stated quite simply: 1) To recognize that diver- convey the same message to everyone as a means of sity and excellence are complementary and compelling establishing credibility and building trust among all goals for the university and to make a firm commitment constituencies. Meetings were sometimes contentious, to their achievement. 2) To commit to the recruitment, often enlightening, but rarely acrimonious. Gradually support, and success of members of historically under- 7 represented groups among our students, faculty, staff, A series of carefully focused strategic actions was and leadership. 3) To build on our campus an environ- developed to move the University toward these ob- ment that sought, nourished, and sustained diversity jectives. These actions were framed by the values and and pluralism and that valued and respected the dig- traditions of the University, an understanding of our nity and worth of every individual. unique culture characterized by a high degree of fac- Associated with these general goals were more spe- ulty and unit freedom and autonomy, and animated cific objectives: by a highly competitive and entrepreneurial spirit. The strategy was both complex and pervasive, involving 1) Faculty recruitment and development: To sub- not only a considerable commitment of resources (e.g., stantially increase the number of tenure-track faculty in fully funding all financial aid for minority graduate each underrepresented minority group; to increase the students) but also some highly innovative programs. success of minority faculty in the achievement of pro- To cite just one highly successful example, the Uni- fessional fulfillment, promotion, and tenure; to increase versity established what was called the Target of Op- the number of underrepresented minority faculty in portunity Program aimed at increasing the number of leadership positions. minority faculty at all ranks. Traditionally, university 2) Student recruitment, achievement, and outreach: faculties have been driven by a concern for academic To achieve increases in the number of entering un- specialization within their respective disciplines. Too derrepresented minority students as well as in total often in recent years the University had seen faculty underrepresented minority enrollment; to establish searches that were literally “replacement” searches and achieve specific minority enrollment targets in all rather than “enhancement” searches. To achieve the schools and colleges; to increase minority graduation goals of the Michigan Mandate, the University had to rates; to develop new programs to attract back to cam- free itself from the constraints of this traditional per- pus minority students who have withdrawn from our spective. Therefore, the administration sent out the fol- academic programs; to design new and strengthen ex- lowing message to the academic units: be vigorous and isting outreach programs that have demonstrable im- creative in identifying minority teachers/scholars who pact on the pool of minority applicants to undergradu- can enrich the activities of your unit. Do not be limited ate, graduate, and professional programs. by concerns relating to narrow specialization; do not be 3) Staff recruitment and development: To focus on concerned about the availability of a faculty slot within the achievement of affirmative action goals in all job the unit. The principal criterion for the recruitment of categories; to increase the number of underrepresented a minority faculty member is whether the individual minorities in key University leadership positions; to can enhance the department. If so, resources will be strengthen support systems and services for minority made available to recruit that person to the University staff. of Michigan. 4) Improving the environment for diversity: To fos- By the mid 1990s Michigan could point to significant ter a culturally diverse environment; to significantly re- progress in achieving diversity. The representation of duce the number of incidents of racism and prejudice underrepresented minority students, faculty, and staff on campus; to increase community-wide commitment more than doubled over the decade-long effort. But, to diversity and involvement in diversity initiatives perhaps even more significantly, the success of under- among students, faculty, and staff; to broaden the base represented minorities at the University improved even of diversity initiatives; to assure the compatibility of more remarkably, with graduation rates rising to the University policies, procedures, and practice with the highest level among public universities, promotion and goal of a multicultural community; to improve commu- tenure success of minority faculty members becoming nications and interactions with and among all groups; comparable to their majority colleagues, and a grow- and to provide more opportunities for minorities to ing number of appointments of minorities to leadership communicate their needs and experiences and to con- positions in the University. The campus climate not tribute directly to the change process. only became more accepting and supportive of diversi- 8

Listening, learning, planning, and selling the Michigan Agenda for Women ty, but students and faculty began to come to Michigan siderable effort by many women colleagues to educate because of its growing reputation for a diverse campus. the administration to the point where we began to un- Perhaps most significantly, as the campus became derstand that the university simply had not succeeded more racially and ethnically diverse, the quality of the in including and empowering women as full and equal students, faculty, and academic programs of the Uni- partners in all aspects of its life and leadership. versity increased to the highest level in the institution’s In faculty hiring and retention, despite the increas- history. This latter fact reinforced our contention that ing pools of women in many fields, the number of new the aspirations of diversity and excellence were not hires of women had changed only slowly during the only compatible but, in fact, highly correlated. By every late twentieth century in most research universities. measure, the Michigan Mandate was a remarkable suc- In some disciplines such as the physical sciences and cess, moving the University beyond the original goals engineering, the shortages were particularly acute. We of a more diverse campus. continued to suffer from the “glass ceiling” phenom- Even while pursuing the racial diversity goals of the enon: that is, because of hidden prejudice women were Michigan Mandate, we realized we could not ignore unable to break through to the ranks of senior faculty another glaring inequity in campus life. If we meant to and administrators, though no formal constraints pro- embrace diversity in its full meaning, we had to attend hibited their advancement. The proportion of women to the long-standing concerns of women faculty, stu- decreased steadily as one moved up the academic lad- dents, and staff. Here, once again, it took time–and con- der. Additionally, there appeared to be an increasing 9

to undergraduate and graduate education, to faculty recruiting and development. For others such as the social sciences or law, there already was a strong pool of women students, and the challenge became one of attracting women from this pool into graduate and professional studies and eventually into academe. Still other units such as education and many departments in humanities and sciences had strong participation of women among students and junior faculty, but suffered from low participation in the senior ranks and in leadership roles. Number of women faculty Like the Michigan Mandate, the vision was again both simple yet compelling: that by the year 2000 the tendency to hire women off the tenure track as post- university would become the leader among American doctoral scholars, lecturers, clinicians, or research sci- universities in promoting and achieving the success of entists. The rigid division among various faculty ap- women as faculty, students, and staff. Again the presi- pointments offered little or no opportunity for these dent took on a highly personal role in this effort, meet- women to move into tenured faculty positions. ing with hundreds of groups on and off campus, to lis- Many of our concerns derived from the extreme con- ten to their concerns and invite their participation in the centration of women in positions of lower status and initiative. Rapidly there was again significant progress power—as students, lower-pay staff, and junior faculty. on many fronts for women students, faculty, and staff, The most effective lever for change might well be a rap- including the appointment of a number of senior wom- id increase in the number of women holding positions en faculty and administrators as deans and executive of high status, visibility, and power. This would not officers, improvement in campus safety, and improve- only change the balance of power in decision-making, ment of family care policies and child care resources. but it would also change the perception of who and In 1988 Michigan appointed its first woman Dean of what matters in the university. Finally, we needed to LS&A, Edie Goldenberg, in 1993 our first Vice Provost bring university policies and practices into better align- for Health Affairs, Rhetaugh Dumas, and in 1997 our ment with the needs and concerns of women students first woman provost, Nancy Cantor. Finally, in 2002, the in a number of areas including campus safety, student University of Michigan named its first woman presi- housing, student life, financial aid, and childcare. dent, Mary Sue Coleman. To address these challenges, the university devel- The University also took steps to eliminate those oped and executed a second strategic effort known as factors that prevented other groups from participating the Michigan Agenda for Women. While the actions fully in its activities. For example, we extended our anti- proposed were intended to address the concerns of discrimination policies to encompass sexual orientation women students, faculty, and staff, many of them bene- and extended staff benefits and housing opportunities fited men as well. In developing the Michigan Agenda, to same-sex couples. This was a particularly controver- we knew that different strategies were necessary for sial action because it was strongly opposed not only by different parts of the university. Academic units varied the religious right but also by several of the Universi- enormously in the degree to which women participat- ty’s Regents. Yet, this was also an issue of equity, deeply ed as faculty, staff, and students. What might work in frustrating to many faculty, staff, and students, which one area could fail miserably in another. Some fields, required attention. such as the physical sciences, had very few women rep- Harold Shapiro had tried on several occasions to resented among their students and faculty. For them, persuade the regents to extend its anti-discrimination it was necessary to design and implement a strategy policies to include the gay community, without success. which spanned the entire pipeline, from K-12 outreach Finally, with a supportive, albeit short-lived, Demo- 10

cratic majority among the Regents, we decided to move ahead rapidly to put in the policy while there was still political support, no matter how slim. The anticipated negative reaction was rapid and angry–an attempt by the Legislature to deduct from our appropriation the es- timated cost of the same-sex couple benefits (effectively blocked by our constitutional autonomy), a personal phone call to the president from our Republican governor (although it was a call he did not want to make, and he did not insist upon any particular action), and a concerted and successful effort to place two conservative Republican candidates on our Board of Regents in the next election (resulting in the horror of a 4-4 divided board during my last two years as president). We were determined to defend this action, however, as part of a broader strategy. We had become convinced that the university had both a compelling interest in and responsibility to create a welcoming community, encouraging respect for diversity in all of the characteristics that can be used to describe humankind: age, race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, religious belief, sex- A quilt assembled from student T-shirts reflecting the ual orientation, political beliefs, economic background, University’s diversity in 1998 presented by student government to the Duderstadts. geographical background. longer a priority of the new administration . Indeed, 2000s even the mention of the Michigan Mandate became a forbidden phrase in its effort to erase the past. But, of course, this story does not end with the suc- As a consequence, the enrollment of underrepre- cessful achievements of the Michigan Mandate in 1996 sented minorities began almost immediately to drop when a new president arrived. Beginning first with at Michigan, eventually declining from 1997 to 2010 by litigation in Texas (the Hopwood decision) and then over 50% for African American students overall and by successful referendum efforts in California and Wash- as much as 80% in some of UM’s professional schools. ington, conservative groups such as the Center for In- In 1996 half (5) of the Executive Officers were minority, dividual Rights began to attack policies such as the use but by the early 2000s, only one out of 11 executive offi- of race in college admissions. Perhaps because of Michi- cers and one out of 18 deans in the new administration gan’s success with the Michigan Mandate, the Univer- were underrepresented minorities. sity soon became a target for those groups seeking to Although the 2003 Supreme Court decisions were reverse affirmative action with two cases filed against split, supporting the use of race in the admissions poli- the University in 1997, one challenging the admissions cies of our Law School and opposing the formula-based policies of undergraduates, and the second challenging approach used for undergraduate admissions, the most those in our Law School. important ruling in both cases stated, in the words of Even as the Bollinger administration launched the the court: “Student body diversity is a compelling state expensive legal battle to defend the use of race in col- interest that can justify the use of race in university ad- lege admissions, it discontinued most of the effective mission. When race-based action is necessary to further policies and programs created by the Michigan Man- a compelling governmental interest, such action does date, in part out of concern these might complicate the not violate the constitutional guarantee of equal protec- litigation battle, but also because such action was no tion so long as the narrow-tailoring requirement is also 11

The decline and fall of UM’s racial diversity with a new administration in the late 1990s.

Changes in minority enrollments over past four decades 12

A comparison of Michigan with other peer institutions demonstrates the catastrophic decline in minority enrollments that began at UM in the late 1990s and continued for the next 15 years. (Atlantic, 2014) satisfied.” Hence, the Supreme Court decisions on the After the years of effort in building successful pro- Michigan cases reaffirmed those policies and practices grams such as the Michigan Mandate and defending long used by most selective colleges and universities the importance of diversity in higher education all throughout the United States. But more significantly, it the way to the Supreme Court, the tentative nature of reaffirmed both the importance of diversity in higher the decision (“narrowly tailored race considerations”) education and established the principle that, appropri- probably caused more harm than good by unleashing ately designed, race could be used as a factor in pro- the lawyers on our campuses to block successful efforts grams aimed at achieving diverse campuses. Hence the to broaden educational opportunity and advance the battle was won, the principle was firmly established by cause of social justice. Ironically, the uses of affirmative the highest court of the land. We had won. Or so we action (and programs that involved racial preference) thought… actually were not high on the agenda of the Michigan While an important battle had been won with the Mandate. Rather our success involved commitment, en- Supreme Court ruling, we soon learned that the war for gagement, and accountability for results. diversity in higher education was far from over. As uni- Minority enrollments continued to decline at Michi- versity lawyers across the nation began to ponder over gan throughout the 2010s as the new priority became at- the court ruling, they persuaded their institutions to ac- tracting large numbers of wealthy out-of-state students cept a very narrow interpretation of the Supreme Court capable of paying high tuition and generating the rev- decisions as the safest course. Actually, this pattern be- enue to compensate for the loss of state support. No ef- gan to appear at the University of Michigan during the fort was made to resume those programs that had been early stages of the litigation process. Although the Su- so successful in the 1990s under the Michigan Mandate. preme Court decision supported the use of affirmative As the charts above indicate, Michigan’s decline in di- action (if “narrowly tailored”), many universities began versity ranked among the most precipitous among its to back away from programs aimed at recruitment, fi- peers during this period. nancial aid, and academic enrichment for minority un- In 2006, Michigan voters approved a constitutional dergraduate students, either eliminating entirely such referendum similar to that of California’s Proposition programs or opening them up to non-minority students 209 to ban the use of affirmative action in public insti- from low-income households. Threats of further litiga- tutions. Although most of the decline in minority en- tion by conservative groups have intensified this re- rollments had occurred by this time, this referendum trenchment. prevented Michigan colleges and universities from us- 13

Change in Minority Enrollments affluent backgrounds capable of paying the high tuition Minority 1996 2015 Change necessary to generate revenues to compensate for the loss of state support. The University set aside its long- African Am 2,824 1,801 -36% standing priority of “providing a uncommon education Hispanic 1,473 2,018 +37% for the common man”, instead attracting the “uncom- Native Am 227 92 -60% monly rich” students, which had major impact on its Underrep 4,524 3,921 -14% economic diversity.

Change in Minority Percentages Economic Diversity Minority 1996 2015 Change African Am 9.3% 4.8% -48% Throughout the last decade, there has been an increasing concern that many public universities, partic- Hispanic 4.5% 5.4% +20% ularly flagship research universities such as Michigan, Native Am 0.7% 0.25% -64% were also losing the economic diversity that character- Asian Am 11.6% 13.5% +13% ized their public purpose. A 2010 report by the Edu- Underrep 14.1% 10.1% -32% cation Trust, Opportunity Adrift, stated: “Founded Fresh Afric 9.3% 5.1% -45% to provide ‘an uncommon education for the common man’, many flagship universities have drifted away The drop in underrepresented minorities from their historic mission”. (Haycock, 2010) Analyz- over the past 20 years. ing measures such as access for low-income and under- ing even the narrowly tailored prescriptions of the 2003 represented minority students and the relative success Supreme Court decision, and the decline in the enroll- of these groups in earning diplomas, they found that ments of underrepresented minority students, erasing the University of Michigan and the University of Indi- most of the gains with the Michigan Mandate strategy ana received the lowest overall marks for both prog- in the 1990s and returning this measure of diversity to ress and current performance among all major public the levels of the 1960s. More specifically (as shown in universities in these measures of public purpose. For several charts depicting the enrollments of underrep- example, Michigan’s percentage of Pell Grant students resented minorities over the past 40 years, total African in its freshman class (the most common measure of ac- American enrollments have dropped from a peak of cess for low-income students) has fallen to 11%, well 9.3% in 1996 to 4.8% in 2015, and the enrollments in key below most other public universities including Michi- professional schools such as Medicine, Law, and Busi- gan State (23%) and the University of California (32%); ness dropped from 10%-12% to less than 3%. it even lags behind several of the most expensive pri- While the constitutional ban on the use of affirma- vate universities including Harvard, MIT, and Stan- tive action resulting from a public referendum in 2006 ford. (Campbell, 2015) certainly hindered the recruiting of minority students, Yet, another important measure of the degree to the most precipitous drop in enrollments began long which public universities fulfill their important mis- before the state ban on affirmative action. It clearly be- sion of providing educational opportunities to a broad gan when a new administration halted all of the pro- range of society is the degree to which they enroll first grams of the Michigan Mandate, and then following generation college students. It is disturbing that today the 2003 Supreme Court decision, when it throttled less than 6% of the University’s enrollment consists of back pressures on the deans and directors on achiev- such students, compared to 16% by its public universi- ing diversity. While diversity was certainly given lip ty peers and 14% of the enrollments of highly selective service during the 2000s through a massive public rela- private universities. tions effort, it most assuredly was not given priority for Of comparable concern is the significant drop in en- specific action or strong accountability. Instead the pri- rollments of underrepresented minority students, drop- ority was given to a rapid expansion of students from ping from 17% of undergraduates in 1996 (including 14

Michigan’s ranking in Pell Grant students lags badly behind other public universities.

9.4% African American) to 10% in 2015 (4.4% African from its own internal funds. But it is also due to the de- American). Once Michigan’s professional schools were cision made in the late 1990s to compensate for the loss leaders in minority enrollments (with Medicine, Busi- of state support by dramatically increasing enrollments ness, and Law at 12% African American enrollments with a bias toward out-of-state students who generate in the 1990s); today they have fallen badly to levels of new revenues with high tuition. Clearly students who 5% or less. While the very recent decline may be attrib- can pay annual tuition-room & board at the out-of-state utable in part to the impact of the State of Michigan’s rates of $60,000 come from highly affluent families. In- Proposition 2 passed in 2007 that restricted the use of deed, the average family income of Michigan under- affirmative action, racial diversity on campus hasac- graduates now exceeds $150,000 per year, more charac- tually been declining for well over a decade, suggest- teristic of the “top 1%” than the “common man”. ing more fundamental concerns about the University’s commitment to diversity. Lessons Learned What was happening? To be sure, the State of Michi- gan ranks at the bottom of the states in the amount of It seems appropriate to end this chapter on the Uni- need-based financial aid it provides to college students, versity’s public purpose with several conclusions: First, requiring the University to make these commitments we must always keep in mind that the University of 15

Two tragic realities: 1) Michigan tuition is determined largely by state support.

Michigan is a public university, created as the first such with new and young workers. As it has been so many institution in a young nation, evolving in size, breadth, times in its past, America is once again becoming a na- and quality, but always committed to a truly public tion of immigrants, benefiting greatly from their ener- purpose of “providing an uncommon education for the gy, talents, and hope, even as such mobility changes the common man”. ethnic character of our nation. By the year 2030 current Today there is an even more urgent reason why the projections suggest that approximately 40% of Ameri- University must once again elevate diversity to a higher cans will be members of minority groups; by mid-cen- priority as it looks toward the future: the rapidly chang- tury we will cease to have any single majority ethnic ing demographics of America. The populations of most group. By any measure, we are evolving rapidly into a developed nations in North America, Europe, and Asia truly multicultural society with a remarkable cultural, are aging rapidly. In our nation today there are already racial, and ethnic diversity. This demographic revolu- more people over the age of 65 than teenagers, and tion is taking place within the context of the continuing this situation will continue for decades to come. Over globalization of the world’s economy and society that the next decade the percentage of the population over requires Americans to interact with people from every 60 will grow to over 30% to 40% in the United States, country of the world. and this aging population will increasingly shift social The increasing diversity of the American population priorities to the needs and desires of the elderly (e.g., with respect to culture, race, ethnicity, and nationality retirement security, health care, safety from crime and is both one of our greatest strengths and most serious terrorism, and tax relief) rather than investing in the fu- challenges as a nation. A diverse population gives us ture through education and innovation. great vitality. However, the challenge of increasing di- However, the United States stands apart from the versity is complicated by social and economic factors. aging populations of Europe and Asia for one very im- Today, far from evolving toward one America, our so- portant reason: our openness to immigration. In fact, ciety continues to be hindered by the segregation and over the past decade, immigration from Latin America non-assimilation of minority and immigrant cultures. and Asia contributed 53% of the growth in the United If we do not create a nation that mobilizes the talents of States population, exceeding that provided by births all of our citizens, we are destined for a diminished role (National Information Center, 2006). This is expected in the global community and increased social turbu- to drive continued growth in our population from 300 lence. Higher education plays an important role both in million today to over 450 million by 2050, augment- identifying and developing this talent. And the Univer- ing our aging population and stimulating productivity sity of Michigan faces once again a major challenge in 16

Two more tragic realities: 2) although the University makes a substantial commitment to need-based financial aid, it is unable to compensate for the absence of a meaningful state need-based financial aid program in Michigan. reclaiming its leadership in building a diverse campus. lation. The evidence suggests that–without attention to Yet there is ample evidence today from states such race and ethnicity–this goal will ultimately recede into as California and Texas that a restriction to race-neutral impossibility.” Today the University of Michigan pro- policies will drastically limit the ability of elite provides further evidence from the collapse of its minority grams and institutions to reflect diversity in any mean- enrollments of the difficulty of achieving a diverse cam- ingful way. In fact, many of the approaches used by the pus in the wake of Proposal 2. University of California in the wake of Proposition 209 However, when one turns to economic diversity, the have been considered by Michigan. The UC reached University of California provides a sharp contrast to out to low-performing high schools, making it possi- the University of Michigan. Today 42% of all UC under- ble for students achieving at top levels in these schools graduates receive Pell Grants, compared to 15% at UM. would not be penalized in admission decisions for the 46% of UC’s entering California residents come from weaknesses of their schools. They changed its stan- families where neither parent graduated from college, dardized test requirements to put primary emphasis compared to 5% for UM. Approximately 25% of under- on achievements tests rather than aptitude tests. They graduates come from underrepresented minority pop- sought to look more carefully at applicants to identify ulations (African American, Chicano/Latino, and Na- those who had overcome serious obstacles in prepar- tive American) compared to 10% at UM (although this ing themselves for higher education. They worked with later comparison is due in part to the very large growth K-12 schools and community colleges to strengthen the in the Latino population of California). Key to the UC’s preparation for under represented minority students. success is achieving this remarkable economic diversity They launched a major effort to let students, parents, have been two key factors: i) the important of the state’s and counselors know about the opportunities UC pro- Cal Grant program providing need-based financial aid vided in financial aid, broadened applications, and that essentially doubles the support of Pell Grant eli- preparation for attendance. gible students, and ii) a strategic relationship between Yet, as former UC President Richard Atkinson and California’s community colleges and the University of his colleagues concluded, “Today if we look at enroll- California, carefully articulated in the California mas- ment overall, racial and ethnic diversity at the Univer- ter plan, that enables their associated degrees to serve sity of California is in great trouble. A decade later, the as stepping stones from secondary school into bacca- legacy of Proposition 209 is clear. Despite enormous ef- laureate programs at UC. In sharp contrast, the State forts, we have failed badly to achieve the goal of a stu- of Michigan during the 2000s eliminated ALL state dent body that encompasses California’s diverse popu- need-based financial aid. Furthermore, the autonomy 17

The majority of both in-state and out-of-state UM Freshman now come from families with incomes greater than $150,000. granted Michigan’s community colleges allows them to define the mission of the state’s community colleges focus more on providing more lucrative adult educa- in preparing students for further university education tion programs in their communities rather than serving and developing appropriate articulation agreements to as “junior colleges” to prepare students for admission support this transition. Finally, it is absolutely essential to university programs. to the future of the State of Michigan and the welfare To be sure, rising tuition levels in Michigan’s public of its people that it begin to restore adequate support universities have also been a factor. However this has for higher education. Michigan’s ranking in the bottom not been the fault of higher education in the state, since 10% in its ranking of state support for higher education there is strong evidence that the actual cost of its educa- is not only embarrassing but also indicative of why the tional programs has increased only at the inflation rate. state’s economic performance today and in the future Instead, the real blame for the increasing costs seen by will similarly lag the rest of the nation. parents must fall on the State of Michigan, which has Hence restoring the University’s diversity will re- dramatically cut its support of higher education. In fact, quire not only a serious restructuring of Michigan’s fi- a chart comparing state appropriations with University nancial strategies, but even more important, a renewed tuition and fees demonstrates that almost all of the in- commitment to the fundamental public purpose that crease in the costs faced by students and parents has has guided the University for almost two centuries. been driven by the erosion of the state subsidy through While the University of Michigan’s concerted effort appropriations. Hence restoring the University’s eco- to generate support from other patrons, particularly nomic diversity will require action along several fronts: through private giving and sponsored research, it sim- Of highest immediate priority is restoring a signifi- ply must realize that these will never be sufficient to cant need-based financial aid program at the state level support a world-class university of this size, breadth, or capable of augmenting the modest Pell Grants received impact. Without substantial public support, it is unre- by low income students to enable them to attend col- alistic to expect that public universities can fulfill their lege. Next, there needs to be serious effort to better public purpose. 18

Hence the highest priority should be to re-engage incentive to support them), hence falling behind early with the people of Michigan to convince them of the or dropping out of the college-bound ranks. To provide importance of investing in public higher education and strong incentives, the idea would be to provide EVERY unleashing the constraints that prevent higher educa- student with a “529 college savings account”, a “Learn- tion from serving all of the people of this state. This Grant”, when they begin kindergarten. Although this must become a primary responsibility of not only the account would be owned by the students, its funds leadership of the University, but its Regents, faculty, could only be used for postsecondary education upon students, staff, alumni, and those Michigan citizens the successful completion of a high school college-pre- who depend so heavily on the services provided by one paratory program. Each year students (and their par- of the great universities of the world. ents) would receive a statement of the accumulation in Returning again to President Atkinson’s analysis, he their account, with a reminder that this is their money, suggests “We need a strategy that recognizes the con- but it can only be used for their college education (or tinuing corrosive force of racial inequality but does not other postsecondary education). An initial contribu- stop there. We need a strategy grounded in the broad tion of, say, $10,000 (say, a $5,000 federal grant with a American tradition of opportunity because opportu- state $5,000 match) would accumulate over their K-12 nity is a value that Americans understand and support. education to an amount that when coupled with other We need a strategy that makes it clear that our society financial aid would likely be sufficient for their college has a stake in ensuring that every American has an op- education at a public college or university. portunity to succeed—and every American, in turn, has Beyond serving as an important source of financial a stake in our society. Race still matters. Yet we need to aid, the Learn Grants would in themselves be a criti- move toward another kind of affirmative action, one in cal incentive for succeeding in K-12 and preparing for which the emphasis is on opportunity and the goal is a college education. The program might be funded educational equity in the broadest possible sense. The from any of a number of sources, e.g., from a federal ultimate test of a democracy is its willingness to do plus state match, much of the federal revenue coming whatever it takes to create the aristocracy of talent that from the auction of the digital spectrum. Learn Grants Thomas Jefferson saw as indispensable to a free society. would be provided to all students when entering K-12 It is a test we cannot afford to fail.” (in order to earn broad political support) and could be augmented with additional contributions from public, The Road Ahead private, or parental sources during their pre-college years. As to cost, if we assume roughly 4.5 million chil- Perhaps we need a bolder approach, similar to that dren enter K-12 each year (the estimate for 2010), then when in 1862 President Lincoln signed the Morrill Act at $10,000 per student, this would cost $40 billion annu- to create the land-grant colleges to serve both the work- ally ($20 billion each to the states and the federal gov- ing class and build an industrial nation. Or perhaps bet- ernment). While such a sum is, in fact, immense, it is ter yet, when President Roosevelt signed the G.I. Bill in about the cost of one year of K-12 education (or college 1944 or President Johnson signed the Higher Education education, on the average). It also should be compared Act in 1965. In this spirit, then, consider the following to other public expenditures (Medicaid/Medicare, cor- three recommendations: rections, defense, and even student financial aid). From this broader perspective, it really doesn’t seem exces- Learn Grants for the Millennium Generation sive when viewed as an investment in the future of the nation. Many disadvantaged students (and parents) really do not see higher education as an option open to Building a Society of Learning through a National them, but rather as a privilege for the more affluent. Commitment to Lifelong Learning As a result, these students do not have the incentive to perform well in K-12 (nor do their parents have the The nation would commit itself to the goal of pro- 19

viding universal access to lifelong learning opportunities in the 1960s lay elsewhere–protesting the war in ties to all its citizens, thereby enabling participation in Vietnam, fighting for civil rights, saving the environ- the world’s most advanced knowledge and learning so- ment, and, of course challenging the establishment. ciety. While the ability to take advantage of educational Yet, fast-forwarding to today, fifty years later, our opportunity always depends on the need, aptitude, as- generation has clearly failed to embrace the commit- pirations, and motivation of the student, it should not ments made by our parents to educational opportunity. depend on one’s socioeconomic status. Access to life- The quality of our primary and secondary schools lags long learning opportunities should be a CIVIL RIGHT many other nations as K-12 teaching has been trans- for all rather than a privilege for the few if the nation formed into a blue-collar profession. Over the past is to achieve prosperity, security, and social well being decade, state support of our public universities has in the global, knowledge- and value-based economy of dropped by roughly 35%, with the University of Michi- the 21st century. Perhaps no other recommendation, if gan regarded as the poster child as its state appropria- implemented, would drive a greater transformation in tions dropped from 80% of our academic budget in higher education in America, changing very dramati- 1960 to less than 8% in 2015. Perhaps most telling of cally whom it serves, how it is financed, and how it is all, are the extraordinary inequities characterizing edu- provided. It would clearly transform higher education cational opportunity today. As one of our colleagues into a resource capable of serving a 21st century nation has put it: “If you are poor and smart, today you have in a global, knowledge economy. only a one-in-ten chance of obtaining a college degree. In contrast, if you are dumb and rich, your odds rise to A Final Appeal to “Us”...the “Me” Generation nine-in-ten!” Something has gone terribly wrong! Both the tragedy and irony of this situation flows When we joined the University of Michigan com- from the realization that today our world has entered munity in the late 1960s, our parents’ generation was in a period of rapid and profound economic, social, and the final stages of a massive effort to provide education- political transformation driven by knowledge and in- al opportunities for all Americans. Returning veterans novation. It has become increasingly apparent that the funded through the GI bill had doubled college enroll- strength, prosperity, and welfare of region or nation ments, particularly at large public universities such as in a global knowledge economy will demand a highly Michigan. The post-WWII research strategy developed educated citizenry enabled by development of a strong by the federal government was transforming flagship system of education at all levels. It will also require in- institutions such as Michigan into research universities stitutions with the ability to discover new knowledge, responsible for most of the nation’s basic research. The develop innovative applications of these discoveries, Truman Commission had proposed that all Americans and transfer them into the marketplace through entre- should have the opportunity of a college education, preneurial activities. and California responded with its Master Plan, which Now more than ever, people see education as their would expand the opportunities for providing “an un- hope for leading meaningful and fulfilling lives. Just common education for the common man” at great pub- as a high school diploma became the passport to par- lic universities such as the University of Michigan. ticipation in the industrial age, today, a century later, a Our nation–and, indeed, the world–benefited great- college education has become the requirement for eco- ly from these efforts both to provide the educational op- nomic security in the age of knowledge. Furthermore, portunity and new knowledge necessary for economic with the ever-expanding knowledge base of many prosperity, social well being, and national security. We fields, along with the longer life span and working saw spectacular achievements such as sending men to careers of our aging population, the need for intellec- the Moon, decoding the human genome, and, of course, tual retooling will become even more significant. Even creating the Internet and the digital age. Although our those with advanced degrees will soon find that their generation of baby boomers benefited greatly from the continued employability requires lifelong learning. commitments of the “Greatest Generation”, our priori- Education in America has been particularly respon- 20

sive to the changing needs of society during early pe- lives, thereby enabling both individuals and the nation riods of major transformation, e.g., the transition from itself to prosper in an ever more competitive global a frontier to an agrarian society, then to an industrial economy. While the ability to take advantage of edu- society, through the Cold War tensions, and to today’s cational opportunity will always depend on the need, global, knowledge-driven economy. As our society aptitude, aspirations, and motivation of the student, it changed, so too did the necessary skills and knowledge should not depend on one’s socioeconomic status. Ac- of our citizens: from growing to making, from making cess to livelong learning opportunities should be a right to serving, from serving to creating, and today from for all rather than a privilege for the few if the nation creating to innovating. With each social transformation, is to achieve prosperity, security, and social well being an increasingly sophisticated world required a higher in the global, knowledge- and value-based economy of level of cognitive ability, from manual skills to knowl- the 21st century. edge management, analysis to synthesis, reductionism to the integration of knowledge, invention to research, and today innovation, and entrepreneurship. So what can our generation do, the “me” generation–who as students protested during the 1960s and 1970s, demanded less government and lower taxes in the 1980s and 1990s, and today are embracing the “Let’s References eat dessert first since life is uncertain!” attitude even while denying the impact that their way of life poses to Duderstadt, James, The Michigan Mandate: A Strategic future generations–to address these challenges, much Linking of Academic Excellence and Social Diversity as our parents and our ancestors did for us? Perhaps it (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 1990) is time as we enter our “golden years” that we finally http://milproj.dc.umich.edu/Michigan_Mandate/ step forward to accept a greater degree of generational index.html responsibility for the educational opportunities that we provide our descendants. Perhaps it is time that we use Monts, Lester, The Michigan Mandate: A Seven Yea Prog- our influence, our wisdom, and for many, our consider- ress Report 1987-1994 (University of Michigan, Ann able wealth, to make our own bold commitments for Arbor, 1994 the educational resources that will be needed by future http://milproj.dc.umich.edu/Michigan_Mandate/ generations. index.html Today a rapidly changing world demands a new level of knowledge, skills, and abilities on the part of Duderstadt, James, “The Michigan Mandate: Looking our citizens. Just as in earlier critical moments in our Forward” (Millennium Project, Ann Arbor 2007) nation’s history when its prosperity and security was http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/han- achieved through broadening and enhancing educa- dle/2027.42/88302 tional opportunity, it is time once again to seek a bold expansion of educational opportunity. But this time we Duderstadt, James, A University for the 21st Century should set as the goal providing all American citizens (University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 2000), with universal access to lifelong learning opportunities, Chapter 9 thereby enabling participation in the world’s most ad- http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015050 vanced knowledge and learning society. 166837;view=1up;seq=7 Let us suggest that perhaps it should be our generation’s legacy to ensure that our nation accepts a re- Duderstadt, James, “Diversity Management in Ameri- sponsibility as a democratic society to provide all of its can Universities”, Conference on Diversity Man- citizens with the educational, learning, and training agement in German Universities, Berlin, Germany, opportunities they need and deserve, throughout their 2010 21

Several of the many awards received by the University for its leadership role in achieving diversity 22

Appendices

1. Michigan Mandate Early History

2. The Michigan Mandate (Original Report)

3. Seven Year Progress Report

4. Ch 7 Diversity, A University for the 21st C

5. Diversity in American Universities

6. 2014 Total Minority Enrollments

7. 2014 School & College Minority Enrollments 23

Appendix A The Early History of the Michigan Mandate

The Seeds for Instability that wished to draw energy from the far more substan- tive divestment debates occurring on many other cam- While many look back to the racial tensions and stu- puses–most notably private universities–in an effort to dent unrest which erupted on the University of Michi- sustain race-related activism in Ann Arbor. gan campus in the spring of l987 as the trigger event for By the late l980s this had coalesced into a movement the institution’s renewed effort to build a multicultural known as the Free South Africa Coordinating Commit- learning community, in fact, the real antecedents traced tee, or FSACC, led by a small group of graduate stu- back to earlier times. Although the University had dents in the social sciences, including Barbara Ramsby, placed affirmative action issues high on its agenda dur- Rod Lindzie, and Daniel Holliman. Although the group ing the l970s, it was clear that the University’s focus on built most of their activism around the case for divest- this agenda had been distracted by a number of other ment, there were a series of other issues including de- priorities during the l980s, not the least of which was mands that the University establish Martin Luther King the extraordinary erosion in state support and the Uni- Day as an official University holiday, that it re-evaluate versity’s efforts to deal with this situation. Throughout the manner in which tenure was provided to minority the l970s and early l980s most quantitative indicators faculty, and that it discard the normal admissions re- of progress of affirmative action objectives were de- quirements such as the use of standardized test scores. clining–whether it be minority student enrollments or Although such activism continued at a fairly vocal lev- the University’s ability to attract and retain minority el, it was stable and did not escalate until a series of faculty. Although there were occasional expressions of events occurred in early l987. This activism was gener- concern about the lack of University progress on these ally manifested in occasional rallies on the Diag, angry fronts, this was not sufficient to reorder University pri- testimony to the Regents at public comments sessions, orities until the late l980s. or letters to the editor of the Michigan Daily. Nevertheless, there were other signs that all was not Ongoing Student Activism well within the University. The University was subject to occasional attacks from both of the Detroit newspa- Michigan, like many other campuses, experienced pers about its lack of success in affirmative action. It ongoing student activism around the issue of divest- was clear that the effort to recruit minority students ment in University holdings of companies with a pres- was not a top University priority in the late l970s and ence in South Africa. Although the University had di- early l980s, and minority student enrollment declined vested the bulk of its holdings during the mid-l980s in throughout this period. Furthermore, the number response to state legislation, it had withheld $500,000 of minority faculty had leveled off and began to de- worth of such stocks so that it could contest the state cline; indeed, there were losses of key minority faculty action in court in an effort to protect the principle of throughout the l980s. This led to a growing sense of institutional autonomy. This small holding was suffi- frustration on the part of a number of minority faculty cient to provide a target for various groups on campus (e.g., Professors Alden Morris and Walter Allen). 24

Office of Minority Affairs dangers of shopping in Detroit, illustrating white shop- pers being held at gunpoint by a Black student wear- In an effort to deal with this situation, Harold Sha- ing a tee shirt from a Detroit high school. This caused piro and Billy Frye created a new position of Associate great anger both on the campus and also in the Detroit Vice President for Academic Affairs to provide leader- community. Further, the editorial positions taken by an ship in minority student and faculty recruiting and ap- increasingly radical Daily opinion page staff tended to pointed Professor Niara Sudarkasa to this role. Profes- fan the flames of racism on the campus. sor Sudarkasa was deeply committed, strong willed, and a strong scholar, but her activities were more ef- The Role of the Press fective at the state and national level. Her relationships with faculty and students were limited, and her interac- The Michigan Daily was not alone in its role in fan- tions with the staff tended to be volatile. Compounding ning the flames of racial unrest. The University had the situation was an ongoing turf battle between the been subject to a series of hostile attacks by the Detroit Office of Minority Affairs and the Office of Affirmative Free Press concerning its lack of progress in the affirma- Action. The Director of Affirmative Action, Virginia tive action area. Although the University did not have Nordby, was seen by the minority community to be fo- much to be proud of in this area, the Detroit Free Press cused on women’s rather than minority issues. Further, articles were particularly provocative and raised many the personalities of Nordby and Sudarkasa led to fre- concerns both on and off campus. Added to this was quent conflict. the increasingly hostile stance toward the University Despite these factors, Dr. Sudarkasa managed to taken by the Ann Arbor News. The editor of the Ann turn around the decline in minority enrollments, and Arbor News, Brian Malone, had determined that one for the first time in almost a decade, minority enroll- of the best ways to sell newspapers was to beat up the ments began to slowly rise in l985 and l986–albeit at University on whatever issues could be found–or con- a level far below that of the mid-l970s. Nevertheless, trived. Few opportunities were lost in his efforts to criti- there was continued and growing frustration in the lack cize the University. of progress in student recruiting and in faculty attrition. The media hostility was compounded by the Uni- Furthermore, there was a clear absence of senior faculty versity’s inadequate attention to building and sustain- leadership, coupled with a growing sense of frustration ing a competent public relations capacity. Indeed, early on the part of staff. Indeed, it was clear that many staff in his presidency, Harold Shapiro had combined the members were quietly “stirring the pot” behind the University’s communication/public relations activity scene in order to stir up student activism on a series of with the Office of Development. As a result, the entire issues related to race. communications operation was being used primarily to support the fund raising effort associated with the on- Early Signs of Racial Unrest going capital campaign. Hence, it had little capacity to deal with responses to a hostile press, and the Univer- Although subsequent investigation provides little sity was seriously exposed. evidence of an actual increase in the number of instances of overt racism on campus, it was nevertheless clear Put it all Together, and What Do You Have? that those instances that did occur were receiving some- Trouble with a Capital “T”! what higher visibility. There was increased concern expressed about graffiti on the walls and in the build- In summary, there were many factors that put the ings. There was also occasional racial tension among University in an extremely vulnerable position with re- students within the residence halls. Ironically enough, spect to racial unrest by late l986. Almost a decade of in- some of the most visible forms of racism occurred in adequate progress toward affirmative action goals had the Michigan Daily itself. Of particular note was an led to a high degree of frustration among students, fac- extremely insensitive political cartoon portraying the ulty, and staff. A hostile press had become accustomed 25 to attacking the University across a broad front, from passive role taken by Governor James Blanchard as he in state/out state ratios to tuition to affirmative action. veered away from higher education as a priority during The University had placed a low priority on building his second term and instead looked for devices (e.g., the an adequate public relations effort, which left it de- Michigan Education Trust) designed to deflect growing fenseless against attacks from the media. concerns about underfunding of higher education and There were other systemic problems within the Uni- to keep the universities on the defensive. versity. The absence of any student disciplinary policy However, putting these internal and external fac- had left the University largely defenseless against stu- tors aside, it is clear that the most significant factor in dent misbehavior. The faculty had largely abdicated contributing to the series of instabilities which would responsibility, both for the achievement of the Uni- set in during early l986 was the fact that the Univer- versity’s affirmative action goals and for the behav- sity was simply “asleep at the wheel.” It had not given ior of students more generally. So too, there was poor high priority to affirmative action activities. It did not leadership in key parts of the University. For example, have the capacity to sense the growing racial tensions with the loss of Tom Easthope, there was no capacity on the campus. And it had not made an adequate in- in the Office of Student Services to deal with student vestment in developing the resources that would give problems as they arose. Throughout Student Services, it the capacity to interact with the external community. and particularly in Housing, there was an increasing The University had become quite vulnerable to a new tendency to attempt to ignore or hide problems or is- round of student activism along racial lines. sues when they arose. For example, when some of the first incidents of racial flyers began to occur, these were The National Climate not brought to the attention of higher authorities in the University. There was a general tendency to attempt to Throughout l986 there were increasing signs of ra- pass the buck up the administrative chain of command cial tension on several of the more politically active on more sensitive issues as they arose. This, coupled campuses across the country. Both Berkeley and Co- with inadequate staff capability and cumbersome regu- lumbia had experienced the first signs of a new gen- lations for student behavior in the residence halls, led eration of student activism along racial lines. There had to a situation bound for trouble. been actual racial conflict on some campuses, with the The external environment contributed to the rising most serious incident, resulting in actual physical vio- tensions on campus. Of particular significance here was lence, occurring earlier in the fall at the University of the increasing hostility of the Michigan State Legislature. Massachusetts. Hence, there was already strong aware- The two principal appropriations committees respon- ness within the national media and increasingly on the sible for higher education were led by Senator William part of student activist groups of the growing racial ten- Sederburg, a former Michigan State faculty member, sions on the college campuses. and Representative Morris Hood whose district included Wayne State University. Both Sederburg and Hood The Birth of the United Coalition Against Racism were overtly hostile to the University of Michigan and used every opportunity to disadvantage it in the ap- Early in l987, the student activism shifted from di- propriations process. Indeed, there was a complex investment to focus instead on racism as its rallying cry. teraction in which Senator Sederburg would frequently FSACC was renamed the United Coalition Against Rac- manipulate Representative Hood into a violent attack ism, or UCAR, and the rallies on the Diag began to ad- on the University. These attacks ranged over a series of dress incidents of racism on campus. Coincidentally, the issues including the perception of rising non-resident number of charges of racist incidents began to increase, enrollments, rising tuition and fees, and an increasing including the appearance of racist flyers in dormitories series of attacks on the University for its inadequate and complaints about racist slurs directed against mi- efforts in the affirmative action arena. The hostility of nority students. Needless to say, these charges attracted the Legislature was compounded by an increasingly great attention from the Detroit papers, which had be- 26

Increasing activism concerning UM racial diversity 27 come almost fixated on the subject of racism because triggered strong reaction in the press. of the increasing racial polarization of that city. So too, The University responded immediately by shutting both the Michigan Daily and the Ann Arbor News gave down the radio station and launching an investigation headline attention to any charge of a racist incident, into the incident. However, it is also clear that there whether substantiated or not. were broader issues involved. For example, it later Parenthetically, there does not seem to be any evi- became evident that the radio station incident really dence that the number of racial incidents on campus represented a sophomoric attempt to imitate a similar had increased significantly during the late 1980s. How- incident which had occurred several months earlier on ever, those instances that did occur–or were claimed to a Washington radio station to probe the limits of broad- have occurred–attracted far more visibility and became cast freedom. The fact that the radio station broadcast the focal point of student activism. Most of these inci- had occurred in early January and was not singled out dents were associated with the residence halls. Here, by activist groups until late February, suggested that once again, the inability–or unwillingness–of residence the announcement of this incident was a very carefully hall staff to accept responsibility for the handling of planned and staged event, designed to get maximum these issues in a timely fashion led to much of the diffi- publicity in the media. culty. In effect, the staff of the Office of Student Services effectively isolated the administration of the University The Hood Hearings from an adequate understanding of or capacity to address these incidents. Although the radio station is generally singled out The fact that Harold Shapiro was on sabbatical leave as the trigger event in the series of racial protests that and Duderstadt was acting president compounded the would occur throughout the spring of l988, in truth difficulties because, as acting president, Duderstadt the most damaging event was a public hearing held had little capacity to give strong marching orders to on campus by state representative Morris Hood. As other vice presidents to deal with racial incidents as noted earlier, Representative Hood chaired the Higher they were reported. As a result, the University admin- Education Appropriation Committee in the Michigan istration had precious little capacity to deal with the House of Representatives. He had been hostile toward growing tensions on the campus. the University for some time. Therefore, it was natural that student activists aimed at disrupting the Univer- The Radio Station Incident sity would develop a direct relationship with Hood in an attempt to draw him into their efforts. For some time Smoldering racial tensions broke into flames in Hood had been attacking the University on a variety early l988. The trigger event used by student activ- of issues including tuition constraints and non-resident ists–primarily UCAR–was an incident in which an enrollments, egged on to some degree by another hos- inexperienced disc jockey on the student-run closed- tile legislator, Senator Sederburg. circuit radio station invited callers to tell their most Representative Hood picked up the new charge of offensive jokes, and a series of racially and gender of- racism associated with the radio station incident with a fensive jokes were told on the air. Although the inci- vengeance and immediately announced that his intent dent itself occurred in early January, it was not singled to hold public hearings of his Higher Education Ap- out and brought to the attention of the University until propriation Committee on the Michigan campus to de- the public comments session of the Regents meeting termine the extent of the racism. Although many were in late February. This meeting was chaired by Harold aware of the circus environment this event would cre- Shapiro who had returned briefly from his sabbatical in ate, none of the University’s friends in the state legisla- New York. During the public comments session, UCAR ture, including in particular Speaker of the House Gary representatives played a tape of the offensive material. Owen, were willing or capable of talking Hood out of The intensely racist and obscene nature of the material his intent. Furthermore, Governor Blanchard also was shocked all those present at the Regents meeting and unwilling to play any active role in heading this off. 28

In view of Hood’s powerful position in the Legis- group, known as BAM-III, which portrayed itself as a lature, the University believed it had no choice but to new Black power coalition intent on reactivating the allow Hood and his committee to hold hearings on agenda of the earlier Black Action Movements of the campus, and hence it could only turn its attention to l970s. This was a somewhat more militant group that damage control. The University agreed to allow the proposed a separatist agenda for the University along hearings to be held in the Michigan Union Ballroom so racial lines. This group played a major role in the dis- that a large crowd could attend. Furthermore, in work- ruption of the March Regent’ meeting. ing with the staff of the appropriations subcommittee, Midway during the Thursday afternoon meeting, it assembled a schedule of testimony before the com- during a break in the proceedings, Black activists pro- mittee, led off by Harold Shapiro, followed by Virginia ceeded to take over the Regents meeting by seating Nordby and Henry Johnson. themselves at the Regents table, disrupting the meet- In his opening remarks, however, Hood took every- ing, and forcing the Regents to shift the meeting else- one by surprise by stating his belief that the Univer- where. As the Regents left the meeting, they were sur- sity was a racist institution and that he wanted to hear rounded by a number of activist students who harassed testimony only from Black students, faculty, and staff. them as they walked across the campus. In an effort to Hence, the agreed-upon agenda went out the window, deal with this behavior, Harold Shapiro and several of and instead what ensued was a circus of open-mike the Regents agreed to meet with leaders of the BAM-III criticisms of the University from people with every and UCAR groups. However, this meeting simply pro- conceivable axe to grind. Of particular note were a se- vided some of the more radical student leaders with an ries of vicious personal attacks directed at Harold Shap- opportunity to verbally harass Shapiro and members iro, including actual threats of violence directed toward of the Board and build further visibility in the press for both Shapiro and his family. Other members of Hood’s their element. Hence, when it became apparent that appropriations committee sat passively, either unable public theater rather than dialog was the intent of the or unwilling to bring this circus atmosphere under con- activist groups, Shapiro adjourned the meeting and trol. stated his willingness to meet at a later point in private.

Disruption of Regents Meetings The Jessie Jackson Visit

Throughout much of the year activist groups had Due to widespread media coverage, the events on been using the public comments of Regents meetings the Michigan campus were receiving broader national as a focal point for disruption. Because of the wide- coverage. Hence, it was clear that it was only a matter spread press coverage of this portion of Regents meet- of time before components off campus were drawn di- ings, it was ideal for obtaining maximum media cover- rectly into the campus activities. And sure enough, the age for various activist agendas. As the various activist University soon received word that Jessie Jackson in- groups became more and more aggressive, they soon tended to visit the campus to meet with various groups found that they could bring significant pressure to and to try to play a role in negotiating between various bear by packing the actual Regents board room itself, activist groups and the University. In retrospect it was surrounding the Regents table, and intimidating the learned that activist members had used family connec- Regents and others who might wish to talk at public tions to communicate directly with Jackson. However, comments through menacing behavior. For this reason, because Jackson was heavily involved in the early stag- it was decided to shift the March Regents meeting to es of his presidential campaign, and Michigan would a larger space, the Michigan League ballroom, where provide an excellent forum, it was not at all surprising crowd control would be more easily achieved. that he would choose to visit Michigan as “a peace- Throughout the days leading up to the March Re- maker.” Although the University would have preferred gents meeting and following the Hood hearings, rallies to have headed off the Jackson visit, it had little choice continued on campus led both by UCAR and a new but to accept his visit to the campus. The University 29

Jesse Jackson visit, negotiations, and address at Hill Auditorium had less than twenty-four hours notice of the timing of igan. He then went around the table and asked each the Jackson visit, and thus there was little that could be member of his group to state what their highest priority done to head it off. demand was of the University. For example, the Black Jackson arrived on Sunday afternoon and spent Action Movement indicated that their highest priority much of Sunday night meeting with a number of activ- demand was for $35,000 for the Black Student Union. ist groups, both on campus and off. By this time student UCAR demanded the establishment of an Office of Mi- leadership had managed to activate a number of com- nority Affairs “with an independent budget”. A Black munity groups both within Ann Arbor and the city of faculty member demanded funds to support his per- Detroit, and many of these were involved in discussions sonal research. And so on, running through the specific with Jackson. Early the next morning the President’s demands of each group. Office received notice that Jackson wished to meet with Following this opening set of demands, there en- Harold Shapiro at l0:00 a.m. There was no indication as sued was a very tense set of negotiations throughout to the nature of this meeting. Harold Shapiro agreed to the remainder of the morning, through lunch, and into meet with Jackson. Duderstadt suggested he and Dean the afternoon. At periodic intervals during the meeting, John D’Arms join Shapiro in the meeting just in case Jackson would move into the adjacent room for off-line there was a broader agenda. comments with Harold and then return to the meeting. This was a fortunate decision because when Jackson During one of these occasions he was joined by Elliot showed up, he was accompanied by a dozen represen- Hall, a prominent Detroit attorney, and father of Lannis tatives from various groups, including a number of in- Hall, one of the student leaders involved in the UCAR dividuals from off-campus. He was also accompanied movement (and probably the link that brought Jackson by a large press contingent who were fully prepared to campus.) to camp outside the door of the President’s Confer- The discussion around the table was a difficult one. ence Room to report on the meeting. Jackson and those Harold Shapiro was exhausted throughout much of who accompanied him then moved into the President’s marathon session due to the overload of the preceding Conference Room to meet with Shapiro, D’Arms, and weeks. Duderstadt and D’Arms had to carry much of Duderstadt. the load. The discussion was particularly difficult be- Jackson began by announcing that he wanted to ne- cause it was clear that many of the groups around the gotiate for the various groups represented by his en- table were primarily after their own special interests– tourage. His initial goal was to force the University to including several of the faculty members. Jackson was agree to a target of 24% Black enrollment within five fully prepared to stay as long as it would take to wear years–24% being the percentage for southeastern Mich- the University leadership down. 30

But here the University had one major advantage: tional affirmative action policies. Jackson had scheduled a major rally in Hill Auditorium Shortly before 4:00 the group adjourned and Jack- at 4:00 p.m. which would be covered by the national son and Shapiro, surrounded by reporters and cameras, media. Duderstadt and D’Arms knew that Jackson had walked over to Hill Auditorium. Hill Auditorium was to come out of the negotiations with some visible results packed with large numbers of students and other on- to hold up at this meeting, if he was to maintain his lookers struggling to get inside the building. On the credibility as a peacemaker/negotiator. Hence, Duder- stage of Hill Auditorium were dozens of groups and stadt and D’Arms developed a strategy to hold out for individuals, representing much of the Black leadership a more reasonable agreement and hope that time would of southeastern Michigan along with selected members work for them. As the time of the Hill Auditorium rally of the University’s Board of Regents. Harold Shapiro approached, Duderstadt and D’Arms took the lead in spoke first and described the agreement so that Jack- preparing a draft agreement and making certain that son would not have the opportunity to distort it in the language was worded in such a way that it did not his own presentation. Jackson’s own presentation was commit the University in specific numbers, as had the more a sermon than an address, lasting almost an hour, BAM I agreements in the early l970s (the l0% Black en- and rambling through his standard themes. Indeed, he rollment agreement of the 1970s). eventually ended up exciting the crowd with slogans For example, they insisted on including the phrase, such as “up with hope, down with dope.” Afterwards “aspiration” for proportionate representation consis- he swept off the campus and on to his next set of public tent with federal policies rather than specific numbers. appearances associated with his presidential campaign. As it became apparent that the University was not going to agree to specific numerical targets, a number of President Shapiro’s Decision to Leave members of Jackson’s entourage began to object. How- ever, Jackson realized that it was important that he have The events of the winter term–the Hood hearings on some agreement, and therefore he told them that it was campus, the disruption of the Regents meeting, and the the best they could get under the circumstances and Jackson visit–had already put great pressure on Presi- that they should accept it. The eventual agreement was dent Shapiro. The Shapiros had just returned from a known as the Six Point Plan since it had six basic ele- sabbatical leave and were still readjusting to campus ments including: life. The personal attacks were particularly unfair, since Shapiro had long had a deep commitment to equity and 1. An agreement to establish a Vice Provost for Mi- social justice. Yet, despite his efforts, several of the ac- nority Affairs with an office and a budget; tivist groups aimed much of their anger at the leader- 2. $35,000 of annual support for the Black Student ship of the University in their attempt to gain visibility Union; for their agenda 3. Support funds for minority faculty develop- Earlier in the year Shapiro had been approached by ment; Princeton University, first about the possible leadership 4. The establishment of specific plans and targets of the Institute for Advanced Studies and then concern- for each component of the University; ing the presidency of the university itself. He had re- 5. The development of a racial harassment policy sponded on both occasions that he was not interested in 6. The establishment of an advisory committee on leaving the University of Michigan. However, the series minority affairs to work with the president of of events during early l988, including the unfair per- the University. sonal attacks by activist groups, became increasingly burdensome. Therefore, when Princeton approached The agreement began with a carefully worded sen- once again later in the spring, Shapiro agreed to begin tence drafted by Duderstadt and D’Arms to reflect the discussions with them and eventually reached agree- aspiration of the University to move toward the same ment to become President of Princeton University. In proportionate representation targets characterizing na- late April, shortly before University Commencement, 31

Shapiro informed the Regents and Executive Officers ful to “candidate” Jackson, did serve two useful pur- of the University of his intent to leave. This was an- poses. It provided a certain catharsis for the University nounced shortly before University Commencement. community, and it pulled together the various activist groups under a single umbrella so that the University Some Observations could interact with them more effectively.

Once again, certain themes are apparent from the University’s experience during this difficult period. The University was clearly unprepared to cope with this new outbreak of student activism and campus disruption. There was inadequate involvement of staff on campus capable–or more to the point, willing–to become involved; there was inadequate capability to deal with the media; there was a marked absence of link- ages to various external communities who might have helped, particularly to the Black community; and there was a lack of team work that could link leadership of the University together to deal with such a crisis. What were the trigger events for the activism and disruption? To be sure, there were the racial incidences themselves. Here it should be noted that while some of these did occur and were due no doubt to the racism which more generally characterizes American society, there also was some evidence that several of the racial incidents, such as the distribution of racist flyers, were actually planted by the activist groups themselves. Fur- thermore, the timing for bringing to the University’s attention the radio station incident, occurring as it did almost six weeks after the incident itself, indicated that this too was used in a highly opportunistic fashion to disrupt the University. Nevertheless, it was also clear that these incidents and the way that they were portrayed by groups in and of themselves were not the real events that destabilized the University. Rather, if one had to point to a single incident it would be the hearings held by Representa- tive Hood on campus. These hearings, which took on a McCarthyesque character, victimized the campus and its leadership while triggering enormous media attention. The damage done by this legislative interference in the affairs of the University was very deep and demonstrates in a rather convincing fashion the havoc that irresponsible government officials can cause to the frag- ile nature of a university. The Jesse Jackson visit, while disruptive and damaging to the University as a media event, albeit help- 32

Listening and Learning... 33

The Six Point Plan education. Furthermore, Moody had a close relationship with Black leadership at the national level. Hence, During the weeks following the traumatic events the search moved quickly and resulted in the selection of March, the University campus was relatively quiet. of Moody as the new Vice Provost for Minority Affairs. Although there continued to be a good deal of sabre- The second issue of major concern was the lack of rattling by various activist groups, jockeying among credibility of the Director of Affirmative Action, Virgin- themselves for power and visibility, there were no fur- ia Nordby, with broad elements of the Black commu- ther events that pulled together these coalitions. Once nity. The hostility between Nordby and Niara Sudar- again they began to diverge as a consequence of their kasa was well known. In fact, Nordby was blamed by widely varying agendas. This gave the University an the Black community for many of its own frustrations. opportunity to begin to consider in more detail the im- It became clear that a change was necessary, and Dud- plications of the Six Point Plan, agreed to publicly in erstadt undertook the difficult task of negotiating first the Jackson negotiations, and to develop a longer term with Shapiro and then with interim president Robben strategy. Fleming to find an appropriate and politically accept- With Harold Shapiro’s announcement of his deci- able mechanism to allow new leadership for the Office sion to leave the University it was clear that the mantle of Affirmative Action. Other aspects of the Six Point of leadership for these issues passed immediately to Plan were somewhat easier to handle. The President’s Duderstadt as Provost of the University. To be sure this Advisory Committee on Minority Affairs was deferred was made somewhat more complex by Shapiro’s deci- for implementation until the fall. A Faculty Develop- sion to stay on as a lame-duck president until the end of ment Fund was implemented to assist in minority l988 before moving to Princeton. This gave Duderstadt faculty development and retention, and the Graduate the very complex challenge of providing adequately School was assigned the lead role in providing neces- strong leadership from behind the scenes as Provost of sary support to minority faculty. the University. Despite these actions, it was clear that the Universi- The first order of business was to fulfill the Univer- ty was still very vulnerable to instabilities ignited from sity’s obligations under the Six Point Plan agreement. time to time by the politics swirling about the agendas A key item was completing the search for the new Vice of various groups of activists. UCAR continued its ef- Provost for Minority Affairs. This was an extremely dif- fort to expand its power base and kept returning to a ficult search because it had to deal with a very complex long list of demands they had put before the University set of political forces–from the perspective of student at an earlier stage. This list was essentially identical to activists, other minority communities, faculty percep- similar lists that were put in front of a number of other tion, and so forth. Duderstadt decided to handle the universities as part of a nationwide effort. It included a search by personally chairing the search committee. He number of intentionally extreme proposals such as call- selected a committee designed to have maximum cred- ing for the granting of immediate tenure to all Black ibility to the broader University community and pro- faculty, the movement to an open admissions policy for ceeded to move ahead with a series of early morning students of color, and so forth. breakfast meetings on a weekly basis throughout the In the face of this continuing activism, it became search process. clear that the key challenge before the University was It was clear from the very early stage that the list of to somehow regain control of the agenda. That is, the candidates with the necessary credibility to all constitu- University had to take a number of steps so that it be- encies was extremely limited. Indeed, one candidate gan to define the agenda and the issues for debate in the stood out from the beginning, Professor Charles Moody months ahead. This task was particularly difficult since of the School of Education, who combined the neces- Shapiro was clearly viewed as a lame duck president, sary credibility with the various student groups along and hence any leadership would have to be provided with the external minority communities through his from the Provost’s office. It also meant that other execu- leadership in affirmative action issues related to K-l2 tive officers would have to be brought into alignment 34

with the strategy without the benefit of “presidential munications staff was very strongly opposed to this ef- authority.” fort. In an effort to reach across executive officer lines, Finally, it was also clear that the University did not Duderstadt had to use his authority as the University’s have an infrastructure in place needed for this effort. chief budget officer to threaten the communications The public relations staff was essentially non-existent; staff with the loss of their budget if they did not accede the staff in student services, particularly Housing, was to his requests. In retrospect, this effort to recapture not only of marginal competence but actually working control of the communications dialog was one of the at cross-purposes to the University administration, and most important steps taken during the early stages. there were inadequate communication links with the leadership of the Black communities in southeastern The Change Group and Strategic Planning Michigan. The challenge, therefore, was to develop and put into place an effective strategy to regain control of It was clear at the outset that moving through the the agenda and to begin to move ahead with a long- Six Point Plan, building teamwork through retreats, term strategic plan, but to do it from a “behind-the- and launching a major public relations effort, while scenes” chief executive officer sitting in the Provost’s important, would simply buy time and would not ad- Office. dress the longer-term issues. What Duderstadt realized at an early stage was that the real key to making prog- Executive Officer Retreats ress was to recognize that it would involve a process of organizational change. His own earlier experience in The first step was to gain a better understanding of the University’s College of Engineering had given him what the real issues were. To this end, Duderstadt ar- great skepticism for the bureaucracies–organizations, ranged a series of Executive Officer retreats involving policies, and procedures–that characterized the tradi- all of the executive officers of the University and then tional affirmative action and equal opportunity pro- eventually broadening to include the deans. At the out- grams conducted by institutions such as the University. set, facilitators were brought in such as Bailey Johnson In fact, he suspected that such programs were installed of the University of Massachusetts and Mark Chesler, of in the l970s in an effort to transfer the responsibility for the University’s Center for Conflict Resolution. These minority representation and minority concerns away day-long retreats, while sometimes painful, were quite from the leadership of the institution to bureaucratic useful in pulling together a team. Although these ses- structures so that it would become out of sight, out of sions were led first by Provost Duderstadt and then in mind. And indeed during the l980s, this effort clearly collaboration with Charles Moody, they did involve the fell from among the higher priorities of the University, presence of Harold Shapiro. In passing, it was clear that thereby leading eventually to the difficulties that arose Shapiro found these sessions particularly difficult. He in the late l980s. conveyed his frustration from time-to-time about the Recognizing that progress would involve an orga- lack of support that the broader University had given nizational change process, Duderstadt pulled together him during the period of personal attack earlier in the an informal group of individuals, known simply as year surrounding the Hood hearings. the “Change Group”, who had expertise in organiza- The second technique used to regain control of the tional change from both the public and private sector. agenda involved a major internal public relations cam- Charles Moody added not only his keen understand- paign built around the University Record. Duderstadt ing of many of these diversity challenges faced by the ordered the University Record to develop a second reg- University, but he also had important relationship with ular weekly edition highlighting all of the University’s student and faculty minority groups. Included in this efforts in the affirmative action area. Although these group were individuals with extensive experience in issues frequently contained information about earlier driving change in comples organizations, such as Joe programs, they did convey a sense of movement. Par- White, former Vice President for Human Resources at enthetically, it should be noted that the existing com- Cummins Engine and then associate dean of the Busi- 35

Charles Moody Mark Chesler Harold Johnson

John D’Arms Niara Sudarkasa Joseph White

Rhetaugh Dumas Charles Vest Shirley Clarkson 36

ness School; Mark Chesler, head of the Center for Con- tion, and implementation of the plan. flict Resolution; Chuck Vest, dean of the College of En- The purpose of the plan was to change the institu- gineering, who had worked closely with Duderstadt in tion to remove all institutional barriers to full partici- achieving a similar organizational change process in pation in the life of the University and the educational the College of Engineering. Of particular importance opportunities it offered for peoples of all races, creeds, was the role of Shirley Clarkson, assistant to the Presi- ethnic groups, and national origins. But it was also rec- dent and former projects manager for the Center for Af- ognized at the outset that the strategic plan would re- rican and Afro-American Studies, who did much of the ally become only a road map. It was intended to set out drafting of the Michigan Mandate. a direction and point to a destination, but the journey Second, Duderstadt also recognized that what had itself would be a long one, and much of the landscape to be done was to develop and implement a highly stra- through which the University would travel was still to tegic approach in which very clear objectives were set be discovered. As the effort evolved, it attempted to and highly focused actions were taken to move toward deal with two themes that heretofore had appeared to these objectives. Finally, Duderstadt realized that it was be incompatible: community and pluralism. The goal of absolutely essential to regain control of the agenda and the effort was to strengthen every part of the University to move away from the University’s tendency to sim- community by increasing, acknowledging, learning ply react to each incident triggered by student activist from, and celebrating the ever-increasing human diver- groups. Hence, an effective strategic plan in and of it- sity of the nation and the world. self would not work without an accompanying public It was also recognized at the outset that the plan relations effort capable of regaining the support of both would be organic and evolving in such a way as to the internal and external communities. To this end, the facilitate the involvement of both the University com- strategic planning effort began to evolve under the code munity itself and the broader external community. The name the “Michigan Plan.” However when a highly challenge was to construct a process that would engage publicized, but considerably less ambitious effort, was the various constituencies of the institution, reflecting launched at the University of Wisconsin known as their opinions and experience. Indeed, the plan would the “Madison Plan”, Shirley Clarkson coined the new provide the framework for a continuing dialogue about name, the Michigan Mandate, to avoid confusion. the very nature of the institution. In this sense, the Change Group was engaged in developing a dynamic The Michigan Mandate: Early Design process and not a finished product. In their discussions, the Change Group became The Change Group worked throughout the spring convinced that the University’s ability to achieve and and into the summer to develop the broad outlines sustain a campus community recognized for its racial, of what would later become known as the Michigan cultural, and ethnic diversity would in large part deter- Mandate. It recognized early on that the real goal was mine the University’s capacity to successfully serve the institutional change. The objective was to develop a state, the nation, and the world in the challenging times preliminary version of a plan, a new agenda, a vision before us. The group became convinced that this diver- of the future of the University of Michigan that would sity would become the cornerstone in the University’s respond more effectively to two of the principal chal- efforts to achieve excellence in teaching, research, and lenges before us in the 2lst century: first, the fact that service in the multicultural nation and world in which our nation was rapidly becoming more ethnically and it would exist. racially pluralistic; and second, the growing interde- In this sense then, the plan, which was to become pendence of the global community, which called for known as the Michigan Mandate, was developed as greater knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of a framework for building a multicultural community human history than ever before needed in our history. that would be a model for society at large. More spe- Duderstadt, working closely with Shirley Clarkson, as- cifically, the purpose of the Mandate was to guide the sumed personal responsibility for the design, articula- University of Michigan in creating a community that: 37

that we already had. The challenge was to persuade i) supported the aspirations and achievements of all the community that there is a real stake for everyone in individuals, regardless of race, creed, national origin, seizing this moment to chart a more diverse future, that or gender; the gains to be achieved would more than compensate for the necessary sacrifices. ii) embodied and transmitted those fundamental It was also recognized at the outset that there would academic and civic values that bonded us together as a be many mistakes in the early stages. There would be scholarly community and as part of a democratic soci- setbacks and disappointments. The important point ety, while at the same time it; was to make a commitment for the long range and not be distracted from this vision. iii) valued, respected, and indeed drew its intellec- This long range viewpoint would be particularly tual strength from the rich diversity of peoples of differ- important in the face of activist groups because of the ent races, cultures, religions, nationalities, and beliefs. ongoing pressures to serve one special interest group or another or to take a particular stance on a narrow issue But the Change Group also recognized that institu- or agenda. Indeed, many, both on and off the campus, tions do not change quickly and easily any more than tended to view the presence or absence or nature of do the societies of which they are a part. To move to- such responses as a sequence of litmus tests that mea- ward the goal of diversity the University would have to sured the extent of University commitments. leave behind those current reactive and coordinated ef- While the inevitable pressures were understand- forts that had characterized its past and move toward a able, the plan would succeed only if the University more strategic approach designed to achieve long-term leadership insisted on operating at a long-term strate- systemic change. In particular, it recognized the limita- gic rather than on a short-term reactive level. It was es- tions of those efforts that focused only on affirmative sential to keep one’s eyes focused on the prize ahead action; that is, on access, retention, and representation. and resist efforts to react to every issue that arose. In It believed that without deeper and more fundamental this sense then while commitment and support within institutional change, these efforts by themselves would and outside the University community were necessary inevitably fail–as they had throughout the l970s and ingredients for success, it could not succeed alone as l980s. While such affirmative action efforts should be the University had learned in the past two decades. continued, what was really the focal point would be to It was essential to have a strategy, a plan designed to achieve a more permanent and fundamental change in guide institutional change. the character of the institution itself. The goals in developing the Michigan Mandate were To make progress in achieving such a change, it was to: i) develop a carefully designed strategic process for recognized that the first and vital step was to link di- achieving, using, and cherishing diversity, ii) achieve a versity and excellence as the two most compelling goals community strongly committed in philosophy to our before the institution, recognizing that these goals were objectives, and iii) allocate the necessary resources to not only complementary but would be tightly linked accomplish this task. A plan was sought that featured in the multicultural society characterizing our nation clear, concise and simple goals, proposed specific ac- and the world in the years ahead. The challenge was tions and evaluation mechanisms, and reflected exten- to broaden its vision, to draw strength from its differ- sive interaction with and direct comment from a variety ences, and to learn from new voices, new perspective of constituencies and individuals to ensure responsive- and different experiences of the world. ness to the plan. It was also decided that once the basic In these efforts the University would have to take outlines of the plan were developed, a broad process of the long view that would require patient and persis- consultation would be launched to engage groups both tent leadership. Progress would also require sustained on and off campus. vigilance and hard work as well as a great deal of help The mission and goals of the Michigan Mandate and support. The plan would have to build on the best were quite simple: 38

Philosophy: To recognize that diversity and excel- Improving the environment for diversity: to foster lence are complementary and compelling goals for the a cultural and diverse environment; to significantly re- University and to make a firm commitment to their duce the number of incidents of racism and prejudice achievement. on campus; to increase community-wide commitment to diversity and involvement in diversity initiatives Representation: to commit to the recruitment, sup- among students, faculty, and staff; to broaden the base port, and success of members of historically underrep- of diversity initiatives, for example, by including com- resented groups among our students, faculty, staff, and parative perspectives drawn from international studies leadership. and experiences; to ensure the compatibility of Univer- sity policies, procedures, and practice with the goal of a Environment: to build on our campus an environ- multicultural community; to improve communications ment that seeks, nourishes, and sustains diversity and and interactions with and among all groups; and to pro- pluralism and in which the dignity and worth of every vide more opportunities for minorities to communicate individual is valued and respected. their needs and experiences and to contribute directly to the change process. Associated with these general goals were more specific objectives: Over the course of the next several months a series of carefully focused strategic actions were developed Faculty recruiting and development: to substantial- to move the University toward these objectives. These ly increase the number of tenure track faculty in each strategic actions were framed by the values and tradi- underrepresented minority group; to increase the suc- tions of the University, an understanding of our unique cess of minority faculty in the achievement of profes- culture, and imaginative and innovative thinking. sional fulfillment, promotion, and tenure; to increase A good example of this approach was the Target of the number of underrepresented minority faculty in Opportunity faculty recruitment program. Tradition- leadership positions. ally, university faculties have been driven by a concern for academic specializations within their respective dis- Student recruiting achievement and outreach: ciplines. This is fundamentally laudable and certainly achieve increases in the number of entering underrep- has fostered the exceptional strength and disciplinary resented minority students as well as in total under- character that we see in universities across the country; represented minority enrollment; establish and achieve it also can be constraining. Too often in recent years the specific minority enrollment targets in all schools and University had seen faculty searches that are literally colleges; increase minority graduation rates; develop “replacement” searches rather than “enhancement” new programs to attract back to campus minority stu- searches. dents who have withdrawn from our academic pro- To achieve the goals of the Michigan Mandate, it grams; to design new and strengthen existing outreach was recognized that the University had to free itself programs that have demonstrable impact on the pool from the constraints of this traditional perspective. of minority applicants to undergraduate, graduate, and Therefore, the central administration sent out the fol- professional programs. lowing message to the academic units: be vigorous and creative in identifying minority teachers/scholars who Staff recruiting and development: to focus on the can enrich the activities of your unit. Do not be limited achievement of affirmative action goals in all job cat- by concerns relating to narrow specialization; do not be egories; to increase the number of underrepresented concerned about the availability of a faculty slot within minorities in key University leadership positions; to the unit. The principal criterion for the recruitment of strengthen support systems and services for minority a minority faculty member is whether the individual staff. can enhance the department. If so, resources will be 39 made available to recruit that person to the University style occasionally made him an easy victim for student of Michigan. activists. The particular incident seized on by UCAR In this way some important academic barriers for actually occurred during a confidential meeting with minority recruitment were removed. Those depart- LS&A department chairs early in the fall term of l987. ments that were able to identify candidates found In his effort to urge departments to become far more rapidly that their vitality was not only enhanced, but aggressive in affirmative action efforts, Steiner stressed their numbers were enlarged. The Target of Opportu- the importance of recognizing the unique character of nity program was an example of idealism joining self- the University of Michigan. In particular, he stressed interest; it also provided an example of breaking down the importance of upholding the standards of the Uni- the barriers. versity of Michigan rather than returning to the tragic The Michigan Mandate plan evolved throughout open-door admission policies of the l970s, which al- the spring and summer of l987. Although much of the though it had been successful in attracting large num- strategy had been developed by the fall, only a few of bers of minority students, had turned into a revolving the strategic actions could be put into place because of door as many of those admitted failed to succeed and the interim nature of the University leadership–with graduate. Included in this discussion was Steiner’s use Harold Shapiro in a lame duck status, Robben Fleming of the soon-to-be-famous phrase that the objective of waiting in the wings as interim, and a rather difficult the University of Michigan was not to attract minority and contentious presidential search underway on the students “flocking to the University” but rather to re- part of the Board of Regents. Nevertheless, in an effort cruit students who had demonstrated the capacity to to gain control of the agenda, the decision was made to succeed at the institution. continue with special editions of the University Record, Although the group meeting in executive session both to demonstrate the University’s progress toward with Steiner was primarily comprised of department fulfillment of the Six Point Plan and also to highlight chairs, the Sociology Department had sent a substi- some of the more innovative programs associated with tute, Professor Alden Morris. Morris had been working the as-yet-to-be announced Michigan Mandate. Media with a number of the students actively involved in the consultants were retained (Walt Harrison) to provide UCAR movement. He quickly leaked the substance of more direct access to the national media. To build the the Steiner remarks to UCAR. The UCAR leadership necessary foundation for implementation of the plan, realized that they were suddenly presented with the Duderstadt began to include components of the under- incident they needed to regain control of the agenda. lying philosophy of the Michigan Mandate in his own Throughout the remainder of the fall, UCAR carefully public addresses. planned their efforts, and immediately following the winter holidays in early January (some three months Student Activism after the Steiner remarks), UCAR held a series of press conferences condemning Steiner’s remarks and de- Although the University was successful in regain- manding both his apology and his resignation. Unfor- ing some control of the agenda, student activist groups tunately, Steiner decided to meet publicly with those continued their efforts to trigger student unrest and concerned and was taken off balance when a large disrupt the campus. While BAM III rapidly dissolved, contingent of UCAR students arrived with the press. UCAR, characterized by a much stronger and adept This resulted in yet another confrontation that began to leadership, continued to search for opportunities to re- draw in other elements, in particular Charles Moody, ignite racial tensions on the campus. who went on record strongly criticizing Steiner. And, as with the radio station incident, they even- This situation was made more difficult by the bit- tually found a suitable target: Dean Peter Steiner of ter relationship that developed between Steiner and the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. While Moody, which tended to fan the racial tensions on the Steiner was widely regarded as one of the University’s campus. Both Interim President Fleming and Provost strongest and most effective deans, his rather forthright Duderstadt worked for weeks behind the scenes to re- 40

pair the rift between Steiner and Moody. Both issued before the University in January and invited all mem- statements supporting Steiner but at the same time urg- bers of the University to provide their input so that a ing greater sensitivity as the University pushed ahead final version of the policy could be completed and im- on its commitments to diversity. plemented by late spring or summer. Virginia Nordby, Throughout the remainder of the winter term UCAR Director of the Office of Affirmative Action, played the launched occasional sorties designed to trigger inci- lead role in collecting and implementing the revisions. dents that would allow it to build its power base. In- The public announcement of the draft had several deed, it seems clear in retrospect that some of the more interesting effects. First, it did put at ease a number of radical elements of UCAR actually seeded “racist” inci- members of the minority community who felt some- dents from time to time in their efforts to regain control. what at risk because of the absence of any student However, two things were beginning to happen policies in this area. Furthermore, it honored the Uni- which were eroding the power base of student activ- versity’s commitment to have moved forward with ism. First, the early elements of the Michigan Mandate policies concerning racial harassment. However, some plan were beginning to work, and this progress was of the more activist students on the Michigan Student evident to the University community. But beyond that, Assembly and the Michigan Daily attempted to stir up UCAR began to find itself divided over the issue of a the fears that the Fleming draft harassment policy was student harassment policy proposed by Interim Presi- only the first step toward a more comprehensive code dent Fleming. for non-academic student conduct. In fact, MSA leadership attempted to disrupt the January and February Re- The Student Harassment Policy gents meetings, using the harassment policy as the fuel for a “no-code” effort. Interestingly enough, the Flem- In late summer of l987 it was announced that for- ing policy effectively divided the more radical student mer President Robben Fleming had agreed to serve as activists from the mainstream of the minority student interim president of the University until such time as groups since the latter had pushed hard for just such a the Board of Regents selected permanent leadership. harassment policy. Throughout the fall term Fleming prepared for this As is typical of any such broadly consultative pro- transition by meeting with a great many people across cess, as more and more groups became involved, the the campus. From his earlier experiences in the l970s, policy began to take on a life of its own. While many Fleming was well aware of the difficulty in dealing with members of the University community did their best to the political environment surrounding racial tensions. respond with the best of intentions, there were of course In particular, he recognized that the Six Point Plan com- others who viewed the policy as a potential tool to admitted the University to develop policies to deal with vance their own special interests and sought modifica- the issue of racism and racial harassment on campus. tions to this end. After a good deal of further debate, Furthermore, he also recognized that in the absence of a final form of the policy was prepared and Fleming a more general student discipline policy–a student code took this to the Board of Regents for action in April. Af- of nonacademic conduct–the campus would remain ter extensive discussion, the policy was adopted by the quite vulnerable to those who might commit racist acts Board of Regents and went into effect. in part to challenge the system. It was recognized at the outset that the implemen- After extensive consultation, Fleming spent the win- tation of any harassment policy would be a complex ter holidays drafting a prototype student harassment issue, in part due to the fact that most other institu- policy–on his own typewriter. Shortly after he took of- tions had already moved down this path. Indeed, many fice as interim president in January, Fleming ran this other institutions had simply used a slight broadening initial draft by a number of individuals, including the of their existing student conduct codes to accomplish executive officers of the University as well as some of the same action. However, a few other institutions were his colleagues in the Law School. After this initial re- seriously considering taking steps similar to those at view, he then put out the draft policy in public form Michigan, and hence they were watching Michigan 41 with some interest. It was clear that beyond the devel- difficult politically since it would almost certainly trig- opment of the policy itself, the implementation process ger another round of protests around racial lines. would require the development of extensive training There were also definite misgivings as the legal tests and administrative structures. Of particular impor- of the policy evolved. For example, the national lead- tance was the implementation of the policy within the ership of the ACLU was rather embarrassed that their residence hall environment. Michigan chapter had taken on such aggressive oppo- In retrospect, it should have been anticipated that sition to the policy. Indeed, preliminary contacts were the policy would be abused to some degree, both in its made on the part of the national ACLU to convince the development and in its implementation. The Office of Michigan ACLU to back-off of this effort–without suc- Affirmative Action, which was given the lead in devel- cess. A second complication was the fact that the case oping materials explaining the policy and developing was assigned to Judge Avern Cohn, an outspoken critic implementation procedures, moved ahead without ad- of the University. Cohn indicated at the very earliest equate oversight. As a result, many of the materials that moment that he believed the University “guilty of sin” were developed clearly overextended the original in- and felt that his court would demonstrate it. In a sense, tent of the policy. Furthermore, a number of special in- he made it clear at the outset that his mind was made terest groups began to get involved in the implementa- up on the issue before the trial proceeded. tion of the policy. What resulted began to acquire all of As it became more apparent that Judge Cohn would the tones of today’s “political correctness” debate–that rule against the policy on First Amendment grounds, is, in which groups would tend to justify extreme con- the University faced the decision as to whether to ap- straints on student behavior, including speech, using peal a negative decision. Within some quarters of the the harassment policy as an excuse even though upon University there was confidence that the policy itself more careful reading it was clear that the harassment was sufficiently narrowly drawn that we would even- policy was sufficiently narrowly drawn that it would tually be able to win. However, it was also felt that the not apply to these situations. policy was quite cumbersome and subject to misappli- Hence, it was only a matter of time before someone cation. Hence, the University administration decided would bring suit against the University claiming that to take advantage of what it anticipated as a negative the policy violated first amendment rights. These ini- court ruling to eliminate the policy and begin again. tial suits were enjoined by the American Civil Liberties The actual court decision came down in September Union and began to work their way through the court of l988 during the first month of the presidency of James system. Duderstadt. In anticipation of this action, Duderstadt Within the University administration, Fleming and had asked the new General Counsel of the University, the legal staff continued to believe that the policy it- Elsa Cole, to draft a far narrower policy based on the self was probably constitutional. Indeed, it was quite “fighting words” principle that would clearly stand similar to policies adopted at other institutions such as the First Amendment test. In particular, he asked that the University of Pennsylvania. However, they viewed the policy be directed at specific individual harassment with some alarm the increasingly cumbersome process rather than the broader speech implications of the earli- that was being developed to apply the policy. Further- er policy. Hence, when Judge Cohn finally struck down more, it became increasingly clear that the policy was the original policy, Duderstadt immediately moved to subject to considerable misuse and abuse by those who use his presidential powers under Regents Bylaw 2.0l either misunderstood its intent, or, worse yet, those who to put into place the far narrower “fighting words” pol- understood its intent but wished to distort and extend icy so that the campus would continue to have some it to push their own special interest agendas. Hence, the safeguards in place to counter the absence of a more University administration became more and more con- general student disciplinary policy. He managed to ob- cerned that the policy was evolving into a Frankenstein tain the Regents support for this use of the presidential monster. Unfortunately, they also recognized that a ma- power, although it is unlikely that the Regents would jor effort to modify or even replace the policy would be have voted for such a policy themselves. While most 42

Minority student enrollments (percentages) African-American student enrollments (percentages)

Graduation rates of African-American student Number of minority tenured and tenure-track faculty cohorts six years afer initial entry

Number of university minority graduate fellowships Number of African-American faculty 43

Regents understood the vulnerability of the campus, Of particular concern here was the importance of they were also comfortable in letting Duderstadt take determining and controlling an agenda that would be the heat on this issue. focused on strategic objectives. It was recognized at the The new restricted policy was supported by most outset that there was a danger in that various special in- of the opponents of the Fleming policy, including the terest groups would attempt to distort or even disrupt ACLU. The substitute policy went into place without the Michigan Mandate in order to establish their own any further contest. In fact, in subsequent months many particular priorities. Hence, control of the agenda was other institutions adopted similar restricted harass- recognized as a critical element of success, and a strong ment policies based on the “fighting words” concept. public relations/media based campaign was designed Nevertheless, Duderstadt intentionally included the with this as its objective. language “interim” in enacting the policy because of At the beginning of the fall term, Duderstadt be- his belief that further review would be necessary–not gan to implement this plan through a series of major only of the policy itself, but whether there was even a addresses to on-campus groups, including the Senate need for an harassment policy. Such reviews occurred Assembly, the deans, various schools and colleges, roughly one year later, and reached the conclusion that various student groups, and alumni. Of particular im- the policy would remain in its restricted form with an portance here were presentations to a number of ethnic interim title on an indefinite basis, subject to ongoing groups, including Black student groups and faculty, review. Hispanic students and faculty, a number of minority staff groups, and so forth. Duderstadt spent a great deal The Michigan Mandate: Action Agenda of time meeting with leaders of external communities to explain to them the nature of the Michigan Mandate, Early Strategies including the key leadership in cities such as Detroit, Flint, Lansing, and Saginaw, various alumni groups, With the selection of James Duderstadt as the elev- various church groups, and so forth. enth president of the University in June of l988, he im- Within the University an effort was made to build mediately turned his attention to moving forward in the key teams necessary to move forward with the a much more visible fashion with the implementation Michigan Mandate. This involved at the outset a series of the Michigan Mandate, the key strategy which had of retreats involving the leadership of the University– been developed during the previous year to make the executive officers and deans–but also the more active University a model of a multicultural learning commu- use of the President’s Advisory Committee on Minor- nity. By working closely with both the original Change ity Affairs, and the Vice Provost’s Advisory Commit- Group and broader elements of the University’s lead- tee on Minority Affairs. Throughout the course of the ership, a plan was developed which would involve year the Michigan Mandate became effectively woven extensive consultation to put into place the remaining into the objectives of the University. There were many elements of the plan during the year ahead. examples of key actions taken by the University that played important roles in maintaining the momentum Building a Support Base of the Michigan Mandate. For example, the decision by the University to declare Martin Luther King Jr. day Key to the success of the Michigan Mandate was as a time for education and reflection on the Univer- the engagement of as many individuals and groups as sity’s role in a multicultural society became particularly possible, both on and off the campus. It was recognized important. Here it should be recalled that one of the at the outset that success would be determined largely principal demands of activist groups for several years by grass roots involvement. Hence, it was important to have been to declare Martin Luther King day an official build commitment and awareness by creating a process University holiday. Instead, the University moved to in which a variety of different groups were involved in identify Martin Luther King Jr. day as an opportunity refining of the Michigan Mandate plan. for educational commitment in which classes would 44

be replaced by a variety of other learning experiences levels–undergraduate, graduate, and professional–in including retreats, seminars, and numerous lectures. its history. Indeed, Black enrollments increased by 36 The Board of Regents agreed to support this particular percent over the first three years to 2,358 or 7.l percent strategy. of the student body. Hispanic students increased 56 A second example occurred when the University percent to l,055 students or 3.2 percent of the student managed to negotiate with the Michigan Attorney Gen- body. Asian students increased 37 percent to 2,474 or eral an agreement that would allow it to sell its remain- 7.5 percent, while Native American students increased ing $500,000 worth of stock holdings in companies with 22 percent to l57 or 0.5 percent total. South African interests. Here the key issue was whether the Attorney General would continue to push to chal- 3. There was also remarkable progress at the gradu- lenge the University’s autonomy or drop the case fol- ate and professional levels: 46 percent increase in mi- lowing the ruling by the Court of Appeals uphold- nority graduate students (55 percent increase in Black) ing the University’s autonomy. The Attorney General and 36 percent in minority professional students (53 agreed to drop the case, and the University was then percent Black). free to go ahead and complete divestment. The focus of the initial phase of the Mandate was 4. The University’s graduation rates for students of primarily on issues of representation. That is, it focused color exceeded 60 percent, ranking it among the best in on building a more representative presence of minority the nation. groups among its students, faculty, staff, and leadership. It went beyond this, however, and also sought to 5. During the first three years of the Michigan Man- put into place policies and procedures and programs date the University added l2l new faculty of color to to assist these groups in achieving success at the Uni- the University’s tenure track ranks, including fifty-nine versity. African American faculty. This put the University on schedule in achieving a preliminary objective of dou- Signs of Progress bling the number of faculty of color on campus within the first five years of the Michigan Mandate. The broad array of steps taken during the early phases of the Michigan Mandate began to have an im- There were many other signs of progress ranging pact almost immediately. Over the course of the next from major growth in financial aid to students of color three years, the University made very significant prog- to increased outreach programs to school systems in cit- ress toward the goals set out by the Michigan Mandate. ies such as Detroit, Flint, and Saginaw. From top to bottom University decisions began to be made with the goals of diversity as their priority. In- The Michigan Mandate: In High Gear deed, throughout the nation other universities began to use the Michigan Mandate as a model in their own The New Challenge planning. Several of the key highlights of this period of the The first phase of the Michigan Mandate wasfo- Michigan Mandate included: cused on the issue of increasing the representation of minority groups within the University community. l. An increase of 39 percent in minority enrollments But increasing the numbers was always recognized to over the first three years of the Michigan Mandate, re- be the easy part of the plan. It is the case that one can sulting in the largest number of students of color in the have a great many different people living in the same University’s history, 6,044 or l8.2 percent of enrollment. locale, working side-by-side, going to the same classes, but that will not mean that one has a community. Just 2. The University achieved the largest number of increasing the numbers and mix of people doesn’t pro- Hispanic, Native American, and Asian students at all vide one with a sense of mutual respect and a cohesive 45

Lester Monts John Matlock Robert Zajonc

The leadership of the next phase of the University Diversity initiatives

community. To achieve this the University faced the deed a mandate–for the University. challenge of creating a new kind of community, a community that drew on the unique strengths and talents The Evolving Plan and experiences of all of its members. And this was felt to be the important challenge of the second phase of the The University of Michigan had a certain advan- Michigan Mandate. tage over many other institutions because it benefitted More specifically, it was recognized that the tradi- from having one of the strongest concentrations of pro- tional institutions of our society, our communities and grams in the social sciences of any American university. neighborhoods, our churches and public schools, our Hence, it was clear that key to the University’s success business and commerce, all had failed to create a sense in building a multicultural university would be draw- of community or to provide the models for creative in- ing on the great experience and knowledge of its so- teraction that were needed to build a new kind of soci- cial science faculty. To this end, the Change Group was ety based on a general mutual dependence, trust, and restructured into a group that more appropriately re- respect. It was recognized that in America today it is flected these disciplines and Robert Zajonc, Director of on our college campuses that many students come to- the Institute for Social Research, was asked to chair the gether for the first time with students of other races and committee. Beyond this a second structure was formed cultures in an environment in which they are expected by replacing the affirmative action coordinator council to live, work, and learn together. It was therefore not with a new committee consisting of the second rank- surprising that in our existing universities structures ing administrative officers in each unit of the Univer- there is a good deal of tension and separatism. sity, and charged with implementing many of the ideas Hence, the University accepted that one of its mis- necessary to take the University toward a multicultural sions was to build multicultural learning communities. community. In a sense, it was recognized that our college campuses In this regard, it should also be noted that while the would become the crucibles in which the multicultur- Michigan Mandate was being moved into a new phase al, multiracial world cultures of 2lst century America the strong commitment to achieve a more representa- would be forged. This was a major responsibility–in- tive presence in the life of the University by minority 46

Toasting the achievements of the Michigan Mandate team!! students, faculty, and staff continued to be among the the extraordinary diversity of our nation and the world University’s highest priorities. The President and other in which we live. In a sense, the University was acting officers continued to push very hard on this agenda and to change its make-up and its culture to bring all ethnic would meet from time to time with units of the Univer- groups fully into the life and leadership of the institu- sity who were felt to be making less than the desired tion. The goal of the Michigan Mandate was to make commitment. the University a leader known for the racial and ethnic diversity of its faculty, students, and staff. To make the Concluding Remarks University set its sights on becoming a leader and creating a multicultural community capable of serving as Through the Michigan Mandate, the University of a model for higher education and for society-at-large. Michigan set out on a new course to better respond to 47

Student Access and Success Faculty Undergraduate Student Access Target of Opportunity Program Wade McCree Incentive Scholarship Faculty Development (Faculty Awards Program for King/Chavez/Parks Program minority faculty) Summer programs (e.g., DAPCEP) Cluster hiring College Day visitation for families Creating a welcoming and supportive culture (net- Tuition grants to all Native American students works, centers, surveys) from Michigan. Enlarging candidate pool by increasing PhD enroll- Special Undergraduate Programs ments Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program 21st Century Program Results CRLT Programs +62% for African Americans (128) Leadership 2017 +117% for Latinos (52) Office ofAcademic Multicultural Initiatives +75% for Native Americans (7) Graduate Student Support Senior academic leadership (URM): from 14 to 25 Fully funding minority graduate support Rackham Graduate Merit Fellowship Program Staff Special Programs Demanded accountability in hiring and promotion Tapped grass-roots creativity and energy using Human Resources and Affirmative Action pro- $ 1 M/y Presidential Initiatives Funds tor grams competitive proposals from faculty and Consultation and Conciliation Services student groups. Results Results Top managers: +100% (to 10% of management) Enrollments: P&A: +80 (from 449 to 816) 83% increase in students of color (to 28%) More Generally 90% increase in underrep min (to 15%) Building University-wide commitments 57% increase in AA (to 2,715 or 9.1%) Office of Minority Affairs, Vice-Provost for Minor- 126% increase of Latinos (to 4.3%) ity Affairs 100% increase in Native Americans (to 1.1%) Demanding accountability Graduation rates for African Americans highest Included in compensation review among public universities. Included in budget review UM ranked 27th in nation in minority BA/BS Included in appointment review 8th for M.S. degrees, 7th for PhD degrees Leadership 1st in African American PhDs (non HBCU’s) Half of Executive Officers were African American Graduate education Executive VP Medical Center (Rita Dumas) Increased minority fellowships by 118% Secretary of University (Harold Johnson) Of 734 Rackham Fellows in 1994, VP Research (Homer Neal) 51% were African American, UM Flint Chancellor Charlie Nelms 29% were Latino UM Dearborn Chancellor James Renick Professional Schools: JJD’s Successor was African American (Homer Neal) Business: 12% AA, 28% color Medicine: 11% AA, 39% color Law: 10% AA, 21% color

Some Actions and Results of the Michigan Mandate by 1996 48 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63

Appendix D Diversity Chapter 9 in A University for the 21st Century (UM Press, 1999)

Today civilization is in danger by reason of a perversion place within the context of the continuing globalization of doctrine concerning the social character of humanity. The of the world’s economy and society that requires Amer- worth of any social system depends on the value experience icans to interact with people from every country of the it promotes among individual human beings. There is no one world. These far reaching changes in the nature of the American value experience other than the many experiences people we serve and the requirements of global respon- of individual Americans or of other individuals affected by sibility demand far-reaching changes in the nature and American life. A community life is a mode of eliciting value structure of higher education in America. for the people concerned. Our rapidly diversifying population generates a re- Alfred North Whitehead markable vitality and energy in American life and in our educational institutions. At the same time, it gives A distinguishing characteristic and great strength rise to conflict, challenging our nation and our institu- of American higher education is its growing commit- tions to overcome at last our long history of prejudice ment over time to serve all segments of our pluralis- and discrimination against those groups who are differ- tic society. Higher education’s broadening inclusion of ent, particularly and most devastatingly, those groups talented students and faculty of diverse ethnic, racial, identified by the color of their skin. Tragically, race re- economic, social, political, national, or religious back- mains a significant factor in our social relations that ground, has allowed our academic institutions to draw profoundly affects the opportunities, experiences, and on a broader and deeper pool of talent, experience, and perspectives of those discriminated against as well as ideas than more exclusive counterparts in other places those who discriminate. To change this racial and cul- and times. This diversity invigorates and renews teach- tural dynamic, we need to understand better how oth- ing and scholarship in American universities, helping ers think and feel and to learn to function across racial to challenge long-held assumptions, asking new ques- and cultural divisions. We must replace stereotypes tions, creating new areas and methods of inquiry, and with knowledge and understanding. Slowly, we Ameri- generating new ideas for testing in scholarly discourse. cans are learning but there remains a great distance to We have never needed such inclusiveness and di- go. versity more than today when differential growth pat- The final century of the second millennium, for all terns and very different flows of immigration from its advances in learning and technology, is likely to be Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Mexico most remembered for the horrors unleashed by racial, are transforming our population. By the year 2030 cur- religious, and ethnic prejudice and discrimination. If rent projections indicate that approximately 40 percent anyone should doubt the urgency of our task in seek- of all Americans will be members of minority groups, ing to overcome this evil heritage, they have only to re- many—even most—of color. By mid-century we may call the Holocaust or to look around the world today at cease to have any one majority ethnic group. By any the religious, racial, and ethnic conflicts that have killed measure, we are evolving rapidly into a truly multi- millions of innocents, made millions of others refugees, cultural society with a remarkable cultural, racial, and ripped nations asunder, set neighbor against neighbor, ethnic diversity. This demographic revolution is taking and poisoned the minds and hearts of generations. 2

From Rwanda to Timor, from Kosovo to the Middle and scholarship. Our nation’s campuses have a unique East, the endless toll of violence and suffering rises opportunity to offer positive social models and provide unabated. Some see this as evidence that the ideal of leadership in addressing one of the most persistent tolerance and understanding is impossible to achieve. and seemingly intractable problems of human experi- We cannot accept such defeatism. We must meet this ence—overcoming the impulse to fear, reject, or harm challenge to overcome prejudice and discrimination the “other.” In addition, there are persuasive pragmatic here and now. America’s colleges and universities have reasons for academia to pursue diversity. a critical part to play in this struggle. This means we must not falter in our national com- Social and Moral Responsibility mitment to ending discrimination and achieving the promise of equal opportunity. In recent years academia American colleges and universities are founded has made a dedicated effort to make progress towards on the principle that they exist to serve their society diversity. It can point to significant gains as a result of through advancing knowledge and educating students these efforts. Unfortunately, but perhaps not surpris- who will, in turn, apply their knowledge for their own ingly, this progress has given rise to a growing back- advancement but also to serve others. Hence, higher lash. An increasing number of Americans oppose our education, indeed all educational institutions, are re- traditional approaches to achieving diversity such as sponsible for modeling and transmitting essential civic affirmative action. Federal courts are pondering cases and democratic values and helping to develop the ex- that challenge racial preference. In state after state, vot- perience and skills necessary to put them into practice. ers are taking aim through referenda at an earlier gen- In this sense, then, higher education’s commitment to eration’s commitment to civil rights. At such a time, it reflect the increasing diversity of our society in terms seems particularly important that we in academe talk of both our academic activities and the inclusiveness of openly, with boldness, about the need for more, not our campus communities is based in part on the Ameri- less, diversity. There is plenty of room to debate the can university’s fundamental social, institutional, and merits of various methods of achieving our ends, but scholarly commitment to freedom, democracy, and so- as our nation and our world become ever more diverse, cial justice. ever more interdependent and interconnected, it is vital To further these lofty goals, our colleges and univer- that we stand firm in our fundamental commitment to sities must overcome inequities deeply embedded in our diversity. our society by offering opportunity to those who historically have been prevented from participating fully The Case for Diversity in the life of our nation. Over the years our universities have broadened their commitment to providing equal When one discusses the topic of diversity in higher opportunity for every individual regardless of race, na- education, it is customary to focus on issues of race and tionality, class, gender, or belief. They have done so as ethnicity, and we shall do so in much of this chapter. part of their basic obligations to serve those who found- But it is also important to recognize that human diver- ed and support us, to serve as models of social interac- sity is far broader, encompassing characteristics such tion, and to serve as a major source of leaders through- as gender, class, national origin, and sexual orienta- out society. This is a fundamental issue of equity and tion. These, too, contribute to the nature of an academic social justice that must be addressed if we are to keep community. In both the narrow and broader sense, it is faith with our values, responsibilities, and purposes. important to set out a compelling rationale for seeking diversity in American higher education. First and fore- Educational Quality most, the case rests on moral responsibility and democratic ideals, based on our social contract with society. Nevertheless, universities are social institutions of I would also contend that diversity is a critical element the mind, not of the heart. While there are compelling in sustaining the quality and relevance of our education moral and civic reasons to seek diversity and social eq- 3 uity on our campuses, the most effective arguments in their students. favor of diversity to a university community tend to be those related to academic quality. Intellectual Vitality Perhaps most important in this regard is the role diversity plays in the education of our students. We have Diversity is similarly fundamental for the vigor and an obligation to create the best possible educational en- breadth of scholarship. Unless we draw upon a greater vironment for the young adults whose lives are likely diversity of people as scholars and students, we can- to be significantly changed during their years on our not hope to generate the intellectual vitality we need to campuses. Their learning environment depends on the respond to a world characterized by profound change. characteristics of the entire group of students who share The burgeoning complexity and rapidly increasing rate a common educational experience. Students constantly of change forces us to draw upon a broader breadth and learn from each other in the classroom and in extra- depth of human knowledge and understanding. Per- curricular life. The more diverse the student cohort, haps our society could tolerate singular answers in the the more opportunities for exposure to different ideas, past, when we could still imagine that tomorrow would perspectives and experiences and the more chances to look much like today. But this assumption of stasis is no interact, develop interpersonal skills, and form bonds longer plausible. As knowledge advances, we uncover that transcend difference. new questions we could not have imagined a few years There is ample research to suggest that diversity ago. As society evolves, the issues we grapple with shift is a critical factor in creating the richly varied educa- in unpredictable ways. A solution for one area of the tional experience that helps students learn. Since stu- world often turns out to be ineffectual or even harmful dents in late adolescence and early adulthood are at in another. The dangers of unanticipated consequences a crucial stage in their development, diversity (racial, of our actions multiply as we take on ever more com- demographic, economic, and cultural) enables them to plex social problems. Many academic and professional become conscious learners and critical thinkers, and disciplines have found their very foundations radically prepares them to become active participants in a demo- transformed as they grapple with the impact of new cratic society. Students educated in diverse settings are perspectives, revolutionary technologies, and the expo- more motivated and better able to participate in an in- nential growth of knowledge. creasingly heterogeneous and complex democracy. For universities to thrive in this age of complex- We must accept as a fact of life in contemporary ity and change, it is vital that we resist any tendency America that the persistence of separation by race and to eliminate options. Only with a multiplicity of ap- ethnicity, past and present, has shaped the life experi- proaches, opinions, and ways of seeing can we hope to ences and attitudes of whites and minorities in funda- solve the problems we face. Universities, more than any mental ways. Americans of different races and ethnici- other institution in American society, have upheld the ties live in worlds that have a long history of separation ideal of intellectual freedom, open to diverse ideas that and are still, to a great extent, separate. Indeed, in many are debated on their merits. We must continually strug- regions, we are more sharply segregated than ever. gle to sustain this heritage and to become places open Too few Americans of different racial and ethnic back- to a myriad of experiences, cultures, and approaches. grounds interact in a meaningful way on a daily basis. In addition to these intellectual benefits, the inclu- A racially and ethnically diverse university student sion of underrepresented groups allows our institutions body has far-ranging and significant benefits for all stu- to tap reservoirs of human talents and experiences from dents, non-minorities, and minorities alike. Students which they have not yet fully drawn. Indeed, it seems learn more and think in deeper, more complex ways in apparent that our universities could not sustain such a diverse educational environment. Racial diversity in high distinctions in a pluralistic world society without a college student body provides the very features that diversity and openness to new perspectives, experi- research has determined are central to producing the ences, and talents. In the years ahead we will need to conscious mode of thought educators demand from draw on the insights of many diverse perspectives to 4

understand and function effectively in our own as well the source of new wealth, we will rely increasingly on as in the national and world community. a well-educated and trained workforce to maintain our competitive position in the world and our quality of life Serving a Changing Society at home. Higher education will play a particularly important Our nation’s ability to face the challenge of diver- role in this regard. For example, in the 1960s barely 1 sity in the years ahead will determine our strength and percent of law students and 2 percent of medical stu- vitality. As I mentioned at the beginning of this chap- dents in America were black. Through the use of after, our culture needs to come to grips with the fact firmative action, financial aid programs, and aggressive that those groups we refer to today as minorities will recruiting, universities were able to attract more minor- become the majority population of our nation in the ities into their professional programs, and by 1995, 7.5 century ahead, just as they are today throughout the percent of law school students and 8.1 percent of medi- world. For instance, as we enter the next century, one of cal school students were black. Hence, it is clear that three college-age Americans today is a person of color, higher education can open the doors of opportunity to and roughly 50 percent of our school children (K-12) are under-served components of our society. Our univer- African American or Hispanic American. By 2020, the sities must make special efforts to expand educational American population, which now includes 26.5 million achievement and workforce participation by minorities African Americans and 14.6 million Hispanic Ameri- and women not just because that is good social policy, cans, will include 44 million African Americans and 47 but because we cannot afford to waste their talents. million Hispanic Americans. By the late 21st century, America will need to call on the full contribution of all some demographers predict that Hispanic Americans of its citizens in the years ahead. will become the largest ethnic group in America. The truth, too, is that most of us retain proud ties to The Challenges of Diversity our ethnic roots, and this strong and fruitful identification must coexist with—indeed enable—our ability to Although American higher education has long become full participants in the economic and civic life sought to build and sustain diverse campuses, this is of our country. Pluralism poses a continuing challenge a goal that has faced many challenges. Our nation con- to our nation and its institutions as we seek to build and tinues to be burdened by prejudice and bigotry that maintain a fundamental common ground of civic val- plague our neighborhoods, our cities, and our social ues that will inspire mutually beneficial cohesion and institutions. Although we think of America as a melting purpose during this period of radical transformation of pot in which diverse cultures come together in common so many aspects of our world. purpose, in reality, most among us seek communities of like rather than diverse colleagues. All too frequently Human Resources we define ourselves in terms of our differences from others, and we have great difficulty in imagining the The demographic trends we see in our future hold world as others see it. And, although change is always some other significant implications for national eco- a difficult task for tradition-bound institutions such as nomic and political life and especially for education. universities, it has proven particularly so in the areas of Our clearly demonstrated need for an educated work- diversity. force in the years ahead means that America can no longer afford to waste the human potential, cultural The Challenge of Racism richness, and leadership represented by minorities and women. Our traditional industrial economy is shifting Prejudice and ignorance persist on our nation’s to a new knowledge-based economy, just as our indus- campuses as they do throughout our society. American trial economy had evolved from an agrarian society in society today still faces high levels of racial segregation an earlier era. Now, since people and knowledge are in housing and education in spite of decades of legis- 5 lative efforts to reduce it. Furthermore, most students and still unresolved past. Racial and ethnic groups re- complete their elementary and secondary education main separated by residence and education. There are without ever having attended a school that enrolled unfortunately few places in American society where significant numbers of students of other races and people of different backgrounds interact, learn from without living in a neighborhood where the other races each other, and struggle to understand their differences were well represented. and discover their commonality. The fundamental issue Yet, because of the distinctly different historical ex- that we face at the end of the 20th Century is to work periences of white and non-white Americans, race con- to overcome our divisions in the spirit of the venerable tinues to affect outlook, perception, and experience. For American motto, E Pluribus Unum. To build unity from example, most white Americans tend to think that race pluralism, to recognize diversity and learn from it, to has only a minor impact on the daily experiences and fashion a democracy of many voices, is still an unfin- future expectations of Americans whatever their back- ished project. Its success is vital to our nation’s future. ground and that blacks receive the same treatment as As a social institution, the university can find di- they do both personally and institutionally. Most non- rection in its history and tradition of openness. We whites, in contrast, feel that race still matters a great must set forth a vision of a more varied and tolerant deal, and considerable numbers report having experi- environment—a more pluralistic, cosmopolitan com- enced discriminatory treatment in shops and restau- munity. We have to become a community in which all rants or in encounters with the public. Whether explicit barriers to full participation of all people in the life of or more subtlety, our society continues to perpetuate our institution are removed; a place where we can all stereotypes which reinforce the idea that one race is su- draw strength from the richness of our human variety; perior to another. but also a place where we can work constructively to- Not surprisingly, new students arrive on our cam- gether as a community of scholars and as citizens of a puses bringing with them the full spectrum of these democratic society. This is the challenge before us. As experiences and opinions. It is here that many students citizens we have to reaffirm our commitment to justice for the first time have the opportunity to live and work and equality. As scholars we have to support unwaver- with students from very different backgrounds. In ingly our shared commitment to academic freedom and many ways our campuses act as lenses that focus the the pursuit of excellence. social challenges before our country. It is not easy to overcome this legacy of prejudice and fear that divides Seeing Difference Differently us. Not surprisingly, our campuses experience racial incidents, conflict, and separatism. When these occur, we We need to work diligently to transform our cam- must demonstrate clearly and unequivocally that rac- puses, encouraging respect for diversity in all of the ism on our campuses will not be tolerated. Programs characteristics that can be used to describe our human are also needed to promote reflection on social values species: age, race, gender, disability, ethnicity, national- and to encourage greater civility in social relations. It ity, religious belief, sexual orientation, political beliefs, is also critical to develop new networks and forums to economic background, and geographical origin. Yet, promote interaction and open discussion among cam- in doing so, we will have to move in two directions at pus groups. once. We have to set aside the assumption that people from groups different from ours necessarily have the The Challenge of Community same needs, experiences, and points of view that we do. At the same time, we cannot succumb to the equally In an increasingly diverse country, deep divisions pernicious assumption that “they” are all the same. persist between whites, blacks, Hispanics, Native Real barriers, experiences, and culture may be shared Americans, and other ethnic groups. There is nothing by many in a group, but that does not give us permis- natural about these divisions. They are not immutable sion to treat people as though they conform to some ste- facts of life. Rather they are a consequence of a troubled reotyped image of “white,” “gay,” or “Latino.” We seek 6

a community where various cultures and ethnicity are factor in efforts to achieve diversity or address inequi- valued and acknowledged, but where each individual ties is being challenged with great force through popular has the opportunity to find her or his own path. referenda, legislation, and by the courts. For example, At the same time, we should recognize that not ev- actions taken in several states now prohibit the consid- eryone faces the same consequences for their differenc- eration of race in college admissions. In such instances, es. The experience of an Asian American student on our it is sometimes suggested that other approaches such campus is not the same as that of an African American as admitting a certain fraction of high school graduates student or a white woman or a person with a disability. or using family income could be used to achieve the We should not forget that issues of difference are inex- same diversity objectives. Yet, the available evidence tricably intertwined with issues of power, opportunity, suggests such alternatives may not suffice. Income and the specific histories of groups and of each indi- based strategies are unlikely to be good substitutes for vidual. As we pursue a pluralistic campus, we should race-sensitive admissions policies because there are realize that equality will require effort, resources, and simply too few Black and Latino students from poor commitment to both structural change and education. families who have strong enough academic preparation We must learn to see difference differently. The multi- to qualify for admission to highly selective institutions. colored skein that would be a multicultural university Furthermore, standardized admissions tests such as the has to be woven together, becoming a tapestry, with SAT, ACT and LSAT are of limited value in evaluating each thread retaining its unique character while part of “merit” or determining admissions qualifications of all a larger design. students, but particularly for underrepresented minorities for whom systematic influences make these tests The Challenge of Change even less diagnostic of their scholastic potential. There is extensive empirical data indicating that experiences It is important not to delude ourselves. Institutions tied to one’s racial and ethnic identify can artificially do not change quickly and easily any more than do the depress standardized test performance. societies of which they are a part. Achieving our demo- Hence, progress toward diversity will likely require cratic goals of equity and justice for all often requires some significant changes in strategy in the years ahead. intense struggle, and we remain far from our goals as Unfortunately, the road we have to travel is neither fre- a nation. In confronting the issues of racial and ethnic quently walked nor well marked. We can look to very inequality in America we are probing one of the most few truly diverse institutions in American society for painful wounds of American history. guidance. We will have to blaze new trails, and create Throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, prog- new social models. ress towards greater racial equity in our society and At the University of Michigan we saw that we need- our social institutions has been made, in part, through ed both a commitment and a plan to achieve diversity. policies and programs that recognize race as an explicit We took the long view, one that required patient and characteristic. For some time, universities with highly persistent leadership, as well as the commitment and selective admissions have used race as one of several hard work of people throughout our community and factors (e.g., special athletic, artistic, scientific or leader- beyond. ship talent, or geographic origin; status as children of alumni; or unique qualities of character or experience) The Michigan Mandate in determining which students to admit to their institutions. Special financial aid programs have been de- It may be useful to consider the University of Mich- veloped to address the economic disadvantages faced igan’s experience in its effort to achieve diversity be- by underrepresented minority groups. Minority faculty cause it led to measurable progress and because, since and staff have been identified and recruited through it happened on my watch, I can describe some of the targeted programs. victories and pitfalls that occurred along the way. Like Yet, despite its utility, the use of race as an explicit most of higher education, the history of diversity at 7

Michigan has been complex and often contradictory. national media attention, mediation with Jesse Jackson, There have been too many times when the institution and powerful legislative political pressure before the seems to take a step forward, only to be followed by University again took a systematic look at the difficult two steps backward. Nonetheless, access and equality problems of race on campus. To put it mildly, it was a have always been a central goal of our institution. We time of ferment built on the Michigan tradition of ac- are proud that the University has consistently been at tivism. In this instance, our students recalled us to our the forefront of the struggle for inclusiveness in higher commitment and held us to our promises. education. Demands for change came not only from black stu- From our earliest beginnings in 1817, the University dents. These protests were joined by Latino students, of Michigan focused on making a university education who had been involved in the BAM struggles from available to all economic classes. This ideal was stated the beginning, but now raised their voices as a sepa- clearly by an early Michigan president, James Angell, rate group to demand greater visibility and attention to when he said the goal of the University was “to provide their agenda. an uncommon education for the common man.” At our The University had a disappointing record with re- founding, we attracted students from a broad range of spect to Native Americans, and they also began to pro- European ethnic backgrounds. In the early 1800s, the test as well. Ironically, in 1817 local tribes ceded 1,920 population of the state swelled with new immigrants acres of land to the Northwest Territory to establish the from the rest of the country and across the European “University of Michigania.” Yet the Native American continent. By 1860, the Regents referred “with partial- enrollments remained quite low, less than 0.5 percent, ity,” to the “list of foreign students drawn thither from throughout most of the University’s history. every section of our country.” Forty-six percent of our Michigan’s record is somewhat better with respect students then came from other states and foreign coun- to inclusion of Asian and Asian Americans. Historical- tries. Today more than one hundred nations are repre- ly, the University played a major role in expanding the sented at Michigan. opportunities for students from Asia. In the late 1800s, The first African American students arrived on our Michigan became one of the first universities to admit campus in 1868. In the years after Reconstruction, how- foreign Asian students. It was the first university in the ever, discrimination increased. Black students joined United States to award a doctoral degree to a Japanese together to support each other early in the century citizen. Michigan eventually became a major center for and staged restaurant protests in the 1920s. It was not Asian education. In recent years, the number of Asian until the 1960s that racial unrest finally exploded into American students has grown more quickly than any campus-wide concerted action. Although the Univer- other group, and during the protests of the 1980s Asian sity had made efforts to become a more diverse institu- Americans also made their voices heard. tion, both black and white students, frustrated by the By the late 1980s it had become obvious that the slow movement, organized into the first Black Action University had made inadequate progress in its goal to Movement (BAM) in 1970. The central administration reflect the rich diversity of our nation and our world building was occupied, and students boycotted classes. among its faculty, students and staff. As we learned Many positive advances came from this outpouring of from our minority and female constituencies, simply student solidarity. The number of African American providing access to our institution was not sufficient faculty and students on campus increased; new goals to provide full opportunity for those groups that con- and programs were established and old programs were tinued to suffer from social, cultural, and economic funded. Yet only a few years later, enrollments began to discrimination in our society. People from underrepre- fall again and funding waned. By the early 1980’s, black sented groups who did manage to find their way here enrollment began to increase but still fell short of the faced serious barriers to their success and advancement goals set a decade before. in a University (and national) culture still largely domi- It would take two more student uprisings (BAM II nated by a white, male majority. and III), several disturbing racial incidents, negative We also faced a particular challenge because of our 8

geographic location. As a state university, we draw ing widespread understanding and support inside and roughly two-thirds of our undergraduates from Michi- beyond our campus. Early drafts of the plan, in outline gan, with almost one-half of these from the metropoli- form and expressed in general terms, were circulated tan Detroit area. Unfortunately, Michigan ranks among to ever widening circles of administration and faculty, the top four states in the nation in the degree of black/ and their useful comments were incorporated. The plan white school segregation: 82 percent of black students evolved daily and was seen as organic and evolving in attend schools in all black school districts, while more such a way as to facilitate open exchange of views. The than 90 percent of white students attend schools with challenge was to construct a process that would engage a black enrollment of less than 10 percent. Further- the various constituencies of the institution, reflecting more, Detroit is the second most segregated metropoli- in the plan’s text their ideas and experiences. The plan tan area in the country (following only Gary, Indiana), would provide the framework for a continuing dia- and the rates of residential segregation in Detroit were logue about the very nature of the institution. In this higher in 1990 than in 1960. Many suburban commu- sense, we wanted to engage in a dynamic process rath- nities on the borders of Detroit have remained almost er than delivering commandments from on high. completely white despite their proximity to adjoining Over the first two years, hundreds of discussions minority-dominated city neighborhoods. Drawing a with groups both on and off campus were held. We significant fraction of our undergraduate enrollment reached out to alumni, donors, and civic and politi- from such a racially segregated environment presented cal leaders and groups and met with countless stu- a particularly serious challenge and responsibility for dent faculty and staff groups. Great care was taken to the University. convey the same message to everyone as a means of To address these challenges we knew that the Uni- establishing credibility and building trust among all versity would have to change dramatically to achieve constituencies. Meetings were sometimes contentious, diversity. Our first step was to convene a group of fac- often enlightening, but rarely acrimonious. Gradually ulty with direct experience in organizational change understanding increased and support grew. Although and multicultural environments. We drew upon the ex- the plan itself came from the administration, it would pertise of faculty from the social sciences, management, be individuals and units that would devise most of the law, and social work along with selected administra- detailed plans for carrying it forward. University publi- tors. We wanted a free-wheeling, sky’s-the-limit plan- cations, administrators’ speeches and meetings, Faculty ning group. It took more than a year of intense discus- Senate deliberations, all carried the message: Diversity sion and study to arrive at the first outline of goals and would become the cornerstone in the University’s ef- a plan for increasing diversity, which was announced forts to achieve excellence in teaching, research, and in 1987. Based on the experience of other strategic plan- service in the multicultural nation and world in which ning efforts, we knew that the plan would need to be it would exist. strategic and long term, leaving operational details to The initial planning process and early promulgation be developed through extensive consultations. The of the diversity initiative began when I served as Uni- plan was really only a road map. It set out a direction versity Provost with the full support of then President and pointed to a destination. It offered incentives for Harold Shapiro. When I was named to succeed him in achieving goals but disbursed responsibility authority 1987, I seized every opportunity to reiterate my three and accountability for many of the specific steps to be strategic goals: Make Michigan a national leader in taken by individual academic and administrative units. achieving diversity, internationalizing education and As the plan evolved, we took care to retain the difficult research, and building a knowledge infrastructure for but essential requirements of community building and a twenty-first century learning institution. I wanted to pluralism. leave no doubt about what our priorities should be in It was also essential to engage as many of our con- the years ahead. stituents as possible in a dialogue about the plan’s It was the long-term strategic focus of our planning goals and strategies with the hope of gradually build- that proved to be critical because institutions do not 9 change quickly and easily any more than do the societ- lence are complementary and compelling goals for the ies of which they are a part. It is easy to falter, to become University and to make a firm commitment to their discouraged or distracted. The University would have achievement. to leave behind many reactive and uncoordinated ef- Representation: To commit to the recruitment, sup- forts that had characterized its past and move toward port, and success of members of historically underrep- a more strategic approach designed to achieve long- resented groups among our students, faculty, staff, and term systemic change. Sacrifices would be necessary leadership. as traditional roles and privileges were challenged. In Environment: To build on our campus an environ- particular, we foresaw the limitations of focussing only ment that seeks, nourishes, and sustains diversity and on affirmative action; that is, on access, retention, and pluralism and that values and respects the dignity and representation. We believed that without deeper, more worth of every individual. fundamental institutional change these efforts by themselves would inevitably fail—as they had throughout Associated with these general goals were more spe- the 1970s and 1980s. cific objectives: The plan would have to build on the best that we already had. The challenge was to persuade the commu- Faculty recruitment and development: To substan- nity that there was a real stake for everyone in seizing tially increase the number of tenure-track faculty in this moment to chart a more diverse future. More people each underrepresented minority group; to increase the needed to believe that the gains to be achieved through success of minority faculty in the achievement of pro- diversity would more than compensate for the neces- fessional fulfillment, promotion, and tenure; to increase sary sacrifices. The first and vital step was to link diver- the number of underrepresented minority faculty in sity and excellence as the two most compelling goals leadership positions. before the institution, recognizing that these goals were Student recruitment, achievement, and outreach: To not only complementary but would be tightly linked in achieve increases in the number of entering underrep- the multicultural society characterizing our nation and resented minority students as well as in total underrep- the world in the future. As we moved ahead, we began resented minority enrollment; to establish and achieve to refer to the plan as The Michigan Mandate: A Strategic specific minority enrollment targets in all schools and Linking of Academic Excellence and Social Diversity. But it colleges; to increase minority graduation rates; to de- continued to be modified as discussions broadened and velop new programs to attract back to campus minority experience was gained. students who have withdrawn from our academic pro- The early steps in developing the Michigan Man- grams; to design new and strengthen existing outreach date were to: 1) develop a carefully designed strategic programs that have demonstrable impact on the pool process for achieving, using, and valuing diversity; 2) of minority applicants to undergraduate, graduate, and achieve a community strongly committed in philoso- professional programs. phy to our goals and objectives; and 3) allocate the Staff recruitment and development: To focus on the necessary resources to accomplish this task. Based on achievement of affirmative action goals in all job cat- strategic models from other spheres, the plan featured egories; to increase the number of underrepresented clear, concise, and simple goals; proposed specific ac- minorities in key University leadership positions; to tions and evaluation mechanisms; and reflected exten- strengthen support systems and services for minority sive interaction with and direct comment from a variety staff. of constituencies and individuals to assure responsive- Improving the environment for diversity: To foster ness of the plan. a culturally diverse environment; to significantly re- The mission and goals of the Michigan Mandate duce the number of incidents of racism and prejudice were stated quite simply: on campus; to increase community-wide commitment to diversity and involvement in diversity initiatives Philosophy: To recognize that diversity and excel- among students, faculty, and staff; to broaden the base 10

of diversity initiatives; to assure the compatibility of If so, resources will be made available to recruit that University policies, procedures, and practice with the person to the University of Michigan. goal of a multicultural community; to improve commu- From the outset, we anticipated that there would be nications and interactions with and among all groups; many mistakes in the early stages. There would be set- and to provide more opportunities for minorities to backs and disappointments. The important point was communicate their needs and experiences and to con- to make a commitment for the long range and not be tribute directly to the change process. distracted from this vision. This long-range viewpoint A series of carefully focused strategic actions was was especially important in facing up to many ongoing developed to move the University toward these objec- pressures, demands, and demonstrations presented by tives. These strategic actions were framed by the values one special interest group or another or to take a par- and traditions of the University, an understanding of ticular stance on a narrow issue or agenda. This was our unique culture characterized by a high degree of very difficult at times as one issue or another each be- faculty and unit freedom and autonomy, and animated came a litmus test of university commitment for inter- by a highly competitive and entrepreneurial spirit. nal and external interest groups. While these pressures The first phase of the Michigan Mandate from 1987 were understandable and probably inevitable, the plan to 1990 was focused on the issue of increasing the rep- would succeed only if the University leadership in- resentation of minority groups within the University sisted on operating at a long-term strategic rather than community. Primarily our approach was based on pro- on a short-term reactive level. It was essential to keep viding incentives to reward success, encouragement of our eyes firmly focused on the prize ahead resisting the research and evaluation of new initiatives, and support temptation to react to every issue that arose. Commit- for wide-ranging experiments. The plan very emphati- ment and support within and outside the University cally did not specify numerical targets, quotas, or spe- community were necessary ingredients for success, but cific rates of increase to be attained. as the University had learned over the past two de- To cite just one highly successful example, we es- cades, it would take more than this to succeed. It was tablished what we called the Target of Opportunity essential to have a strategy, a plan designed to guide Program aimed at increasing the number of minority institutional change. faculty at all ranks. Traditionally, university faculties Over the next several years, through this and many have been driven by a concern for academic specializa- other programs, the diversity of the campus changed tion within their respective disciplines. This is funda- dramatically, with the numbers of underrepresented mentally laudable and certainly has fostered the excep- minority students and faculty members roughly dou- tional strength and disciplinary character that we see in bling. But increasing the numbers was the relatively universities across the country; however, it also can be easy part of the plan. Institutions can have a great constraining. Too often in recent years the University many different people living in the same locale, work- had seen faculty searches that were literally “replace- ing side-by-side, going to the same classes, but that will ment” searches rather than “enhancement” searches. not mean that one has a community. Just increasing the To achieve the goals of the Michigan Mandate, the numbers and mix of people will not provide one with a University had to free itself from the constraints of this sense of mutual respect and a cohesive community. To traditional perspective. Therefore, the central adminis- achieve this, the University faced the challenge of creat- tration sent out the following message to the academic ing a new kind of community—a community that drew units: be vigorous and creative in identifying minority on the unique strengths and talents and experiences of teachers/scholars who can enrich the activities of your all of its members. And this was felt to be the important unit. Do not be limited by concerns relating to narrow challenge of the second phase of the Michigan Man- specialization; do not be concerned about the availabil- date. More specifically, it was recognized that the tra- ity of a faculty slot within the unit. The principal crite- ditional institutions of our society—our communities rion for the recruitment of a minority faculty member and neighborhoods, our churches and public schools, is whether the individual can enhance the department. our business and commerce—all had failed to create a 11 sense of community or to provide the models for cre- The Michigan Agenda for Women ative interactions that were needed to build a new kind of society based on a general mutual dependence, trust, While we pursued the goals of the Michigan Man- and respect. It was recognized that in America today it date, we could not ignore another glaring inequity in is on our college campuses that many students come campus life. If we meant to embrace diversity in its full together for the first time with students of other races meaning, we had to attend to the long-standing con- nationalities, and cultures in an environment in which cerns of women faculty, students, and staff. We had not they are expected to live, work, and learn together. It succeeded in including and empowering women as full was therefore not surprising that in our existing uni- and equal partners in all aspects of the life and leader- versity structure there was a good deal of tension and ship of the University despite many promises and con- frequent separatism among groups. It may take more tinuing struggle. than one generation to ease this situation. Michigan takes pride in the fact that it was one of By 1995 Michigan could point to significant progress the first large universities in America to admit wom- in achieving diversity. By every measure, the Michigan en. At the time, the rest of the nation looked on with a Mandate was a remarkable success, moving the Uni- critical eye. Many were certain that the “experiment” versity far beyond our original goals of a more diverse would fail. The first women who arrived in 1870 were campus. The representation of underrepresented stu- true pioneers, the objects of intense scrutiny and resent- dents, faculty, and staff more than doubled over the de- ment. For many years, women had separate and un- cade of the effort. But, perhaps even more significantly, equal access to facilities and organizations. Yet, in the the success of underrepresented minorities at the Uni- remaining years of the nineteenth century, the Univer- versity improved even more remarkably, with gradua- sity of Michigan provided strong leadership for the nation rates rising to highest among public universities, tion. By 1898 the enrollment of women had increased to promotion and tenure success of minority faculty mem- the point where they received 53 percent of Michigan’s bers becoming comparable to their majority colleagues, undergraduate degrees. and a growing number of appointments of minorities These impressive gains were lost during the early to leadership positions in the University. The campus part of the twentieth century and even more with the climate not only became far more accepting and sup- returning veterans after World War II. The representa- portive of diversity, but students and faculty began to tion of women in the student body declined precipi- come to Michigan because of its growing reputation tously. It only began to climb again during the 1970s for a diverse campus. And, perhaps most significantly, and 1980s and, for the first time in almost a century, as the campus became more racially and ethnically di- once again exceeded that of men in 1996. During the verse, the quality of the students, faculty, and academic past several decades, the University took a number of programs of the University increased to their highest steps to recruit, promote, and support women staff and level in history. This latter fact seemed to reinforce our faculty, modifying University policies to reflect their contention that the aspirations of diversity and excel- needs. Yet true equality came slowly and great chal- lence were not only compatible but, in fact, highly cor- lenges remained. related. In conclusion, while the Michigan Mandate has been The Challenges a success, it should be made clear that no plan, no commitment, no goal, and no action could have brought us In faculty hiring and retention, despite the increas- to this point, without the help and support of literally ing pools of women in many fields, the number of new thousands of faculty, students, staff, alumni, and sup- hires of women had changed only slowly during the porters. They are the ones who made change possible, late twentieth century in most research universities. In and they continue to work for it today. some disciplines such as the physical sciences and engi- Michigan is always a work in progress. neering, the shortages were particularly acute. We also continued to suffer from the “glass ceiling” phenom- 12

enon, that is, because of hidden prejudice women were due in part to the pipeline effect of inadequate numbers unable to break through to the ranks of senior faculty of women at lower ranks, this absence of senior women and administrators though no formal constraints pro- was also due to the degree to which senior men faculty hibited their advancement. The proportion of women and administrators set the rules and perform the evalu- decreased steadily as one moved up the academic lad- ations in a way—whether overt or unintended—that der. Additionally, there appeared to be an increasing was biased against women. Old-boy networks, cus- tendency to hire women off the tenure track as post- toms, and habits abounded. Women felt that in order to doctoral scholars, lecturers, clinicians, or research sci- succeed, they had to play by the rules previously set up entists. The rigid division among various faculty tracks by the men in their fields. As one of our women faculty offered little or no opportunity for these women to members put it, “My profession is male-oriented and move onto tenure tracks. very egalitarian. The men are willing to treat everyone Retention of women faculty was also a serious con- the same as long as you act like a man.” cern. Studies suggested that women were less likely At the same time, we faced serious challenges in the than men either to be reviewed for promotion or rec- staff area. There was a concern that in higher education, ommended for promotion at the critical step between we simply did not do an adequate job of placing wom- assistant professors and associate professors. Women en in the key staff positions to get them ready for senior faculty, like men, came to the University to be schol- assignments. Women were not provided with adequate ars and teachers. Yet because of their inadequate repre- stepping stones to senior management, and many be- sentation in our institutions, our women faculty were lieved they were all too frequently used as stepping clearly stretched far too thinly by committee respon- stones for others. We also needed to rethink our phi- sibilities and mentoring roles. While this was true for losophy of staff benefits. There was a need to move to women faculty at all ranks, it took the greatest toll on more flexible benefits plans that could be tailored to the junior faculty. employee’s particular situation (e.g., childcare in addi- The period of greatest vulnerability in promotion tion to dependent health care). Furthermore, we need- and retention of women is in the early stage in their ed to aim at providing equal benefits for equal work academic careers, when they are assistant professors at- that were independent of gender. tempting to achieve tenure. Women faculty experienced Many of our concerns derived from the extreme con- greater demands for committee service and mentoring centration of women in positions of lower status and of women students; inadequate recognition of and sup- power—as students, lower level staff, and junior fac- port for dependent care responsibilities; and limited ulty. The most effective lever for change might well be support in the form of mentors, collaborators, and role a rapid increase in the number of women holding posi- models. The small number of women at senior levels tions of high status, visibility, and power. This would was due in part to early attrition in the junior ranks. not only change the balance of power in decision-mak- Women faculty at all ranks described their difficulties ing, but it would also change the perception of who and in juggling teaching, research, formal and informal ad- what matters in the university. Finally we needed to vising, departmental and University-wide committee bring university policies and practices into better align- service, and family responsibilities. Many female facul- ment with the needs and concerns of women students ty did not feel that these difficulties arose from overt or in a number of areas including campus safety, student systematic discrimination, but rather from the interac- housing, student life, financial aid, and childcare. tion between a system that was becoming increasingly Over the longer term it was essential that we draw demanding and competitive and their personal lives, more women into senior faculty and leadership roles which were often more complex than those of their if we were to be able to attract top women students. male colleagues because of dependent care responsi- We also needed to do more to encourage and support bilities. women in fields of study where they had been discour- While the low participation of women in senior fac- aged from entering for decades. Our colleges and uni- ulty ranks and among the University leadership was versities were far from where they should be—from 13 where they must be—in becoming institutions that pro- University. Academic units varied enormously in the vided the full array of opportunities and support for degree to which women participated as faculty, staff, women faculty, students, and staff. Despite the efforts and students. What might work in one area could fail of many committed women and men over the past sev- miserably in another. Some fields, such as the physi- eral decades, progress had been slow and frustrating. cal sciences, had few women represented among their Women deserved to be full members and equal part- students and faculty. For them, it was necessary to de- ners in the life of our universities. While most women sign and implement a strategy which spanned the en- faculty, students, and staff succeeded admirably in a tire pipeline, from K-12 outreach to undergraduate and variety of roles within higher education, they nonethe- graduate education, to faculty recruiting and develop- less struggled against subtle pressures, discrimination, ment. For others such as the social sciences or law, there and a still-common feeling of invisibility. Removing already was a strong pool of women students, and the barriers and encouraging women’s participation in the challenge became one of attracting women from this full array of university activities would transform the pool into graduate and professional studies and even- University, creating a community in which women and tually into academe. Still other units such as Education men shared equal freedom, partnership, and responsi- and many departments in humanities and sciences had bility. strong participation of women among students and junior faculty, but suffered from low participation in the The Plan senior ranks. There also was considerable variation among non- It was clear in the 1990s that our university had sim- academic administrative areas of the University, with ply not made sufficient progress in providing women many having little or no tradition of women in key with access to the full range of opportunities and ac- management positions. To accommodate this variation, tivities in the institution. Not that we ignored these is- each unit was asked to develop and submit a specif- sues. Hundreds of dedicated members of the Univer- ic plan for addressing the inclusion of women. These sity community, women and men, had worked long plans were reviewed centrally, and the progress of each and hard for women’s equity. But our actions, while unit was then measured against their plan each year, as motivated by the best of intentions, had been ad hoc, part of the normal interaction associated with budget lacking in coherence and precise goals and strategy, too discussions. The challenge here was to create a process independent of one another, and providing no assur- that both permitted central initiative and preserved ance of progress or accountability for falling short. Here the potential for local development of unit-specific ac- again we knew Michigan needed a bold strategic plan tion plans. The Michigan Agenda for Women aimed at with firm goals for recruiting and advancing women building a working and learning environment in which at every level and in every arena. Programs could be women could participate to their fullest. This plan rep- tested against these goals, and our progress could be resented a beginning, the sketch of a vision and a plan accurately measured and shared with the broader Uni- that would evolve over time as it was shaped through versity community. the interaction with broader elements of the University To this end, the University developed and executed community. a strategic effort known as the Michigan Agenda for Considerable progress has been made in the years Women. While the actions proposed were intended to since the Agenda for Women was proposed. More than address the concerns of women students, faculty, and half of the students in professional schools are now staff, many of them benefited men as well. Just as the women. Women now serve in key administrative, ex- Michigan Agenda required a commitment from the en- ecutive, and management roles. These advances are the tire University community, so too did its success benefit foundation for continued progress until full equity is us all, regardless of gender. achieved. In developing the Agenda we knew that different strategies were necessary for different parts of the 14

The Distraction of Political Correctness universities have been closed, faculty and students have been jailed or killed, and libraries have been burned. In As colleges and universities struggle to become others, rigid political or religious orthodoxy governs more inclusive of people, they can never lose sight of education and research. Why? The answer seems obvi- our commitment to preserve diverse views in academic ous. Free and open inquiry simply cannot be tolerated discourse. We have a fundamental obligation to protect by tyrants, ideological zealots, inflamed mobs, or nar- the expression of diverse ideas and opinions in class- row interest groups seeking advantage. Not all threats rooms, research, and public forums. Our academic free- to the academy are so obviously destructive or mali- doms are always at risk. While our campuses struggled cious. Many of the threats we experience today are mo- to become more inclusive of people, there were those tivated by the best of intentions. Often they are no more within and without our walls determined to limit or ex- ominous than a new regulation to achieve a laudable clude ideas and discourse with which they disagreed. goal or even an incentive to stimulate the right behavior Today as in earlier times, various forms of extrem- promulgated by federal or state bureaucrats. But these ism on and beyond our campuses threaten academic efforts are sometimes myopically focused on a short- freedom and our capacity to meet our responsibility as term goal and mindless of the longer-term erosion of teachers and scholars. Recently, universities have been intellectual and institutional autonomy that may result. criticized for tolerating on our campuses a particular By and large, academic freedom has survived and form of extremism known by the popular but mislead- prospered over hundreds of years. This is due to the ing term “political correctness,” defined as an effort to inherent value of our contribution to society. It has also impose a new brand of orthodoxy on our teaching, our called upon the courage of scholars the world over who scholarship, and even our speech. Those who attack the guard their autonomy and freedom; who resist tyrants; university on the political correctness issue portray it as and who uphold free, scholarly inquiry. Eventually threatening not only the quality of our educational pro- they win society’s understanding, however grudging, grams but the very values which undergird the acade- because society has long ago learned that if it wishes to my itself: freedom of expression and academic freedom. educate its young to be civilized citizens of the world In reality, extremist threats to our fundamental values and to advance learning to serve its interests, then it come from all points along the political spectrum. must grant freedoms to scholars and their institutions. Still, we can never be complacent about our autonomy Assaults on the Academy and our freedoms. Our compact with society is a deli- cate one. Like all liberties, freedom of inquiry requires Threats to academic freedom and institutional au- eternal vigilance. Excesses and violations invite inter- tonomy are hardly new, nor are conflicts within our vention from external authorities. We must not abuse ranks about our direction and purpose. Over the cen- academic freedoms or take them for granted. What is turies, there have been persistent struggles for the heart at stake here is not just the loss of our particular insti- of the academy. There have been attacks from religious tutional freedoms and values but the erosion of one and political forces bent on capturing learning for their of humanity’s finest and most enduring institutional own purposes. The American university is no stranger achievements. to periodic ravages from all sorts of zealots and op- portunists who would impose a particular belief or or- The Political Correctness Debate thodoxy on scholarship and teaching. These historical experiences caution us that when academic freedom is Critics who assail us for imposing a new orthodoxy, threatened, the stakes are high for individuals as well a single standard of “political correctness” aim at many as for the intellectual life and integrity of our institu- disparate targets. Some decry efforts to incorporate the tions. study of other civilizations as an added part of the tra- Threats to academic inquiry unfortunately are alive ditional curriculum. Others object to affirmative action and well in our world today. Indeed, in some societies, efforts to build a more inclusive institution. Still oth- 15 ers criticize new modes of disciplinary inquiry or what ers and scholars, it is on values that we must stand and they see as an undermining of traditional values and debate with our academic colleagues and with our crit- received tradition or they single out more philosophical ics. issues such as what they describe as the dominance of relativism over absolute moral values. What Exactly Do the Critics Charge? Of course, many of those who criticize political correctness are themselves extremists and polemicists The term “political correctness” is just a code word with their own opportunistic political agenda. Much of for a range of concerns about the university: what is being written on this issue is often depressingly The Insistence on “Correct” Language: Many on superficial, factually incorrect, and wildly overstated. our campuses have argued that, as a supposedly civil Some of it is pure ideological guerrilla warfare. A great and increasingly diverse community, we must strive to deal of the criticism represents yet another chapter in be aware of the preferences and sensitivities of those the contemporary media debasement of public dis- who have suffered from past exclusion and discrimina- course about important social issues through hype, tion. Some urge that we regulate and enforce language sound-bite simplification, and pandering to fads and codes. The fact remains that it is one thing to encour- base prejudices. Some of these folks are always on the age people to be sensitive and considerate and quite lookout for a sensational new lightening rod for public another to require this behavior. The critics maintain dissatisfaction and frustration. During the past several that censoring speech, allowing or disallowing partic- years, it is the university that is taking the heat. Part of ular words or phrases, however well-intentioned, can this anti-PC agenda is familiar, old-fashioned reaction- have effects that range from truly damaging to merely ary stuff. It resorts to polemic to try to stop the greater embarrassing. There is a kind of sententious self-righ- inclusiveness of people and ideas, to hold on to the sta- teousness about much of the language policing that oc- tus quo at whatever price, to protect unearned privi- curs on campuses, and this repulses people more than lege. it persuades them. At the same time, we have to face the painful truth Sensitivity Training: As a civil community, should that the critics of the politically correct do not lack ex- we not try to be more sensitive to one another? Isn’t amples of destructive, even ludicrous, extremism and it reasonable that as we become more inclusive, we zealotry on our campuses over the past decade or so. should learn more about one another and learn skills Political correctness is a real phenomenon. The left, like that will help us to work and live together? But here its rightward critics, exhibits its share of stridency, in- again, it is one thing to educate and quite another to tolerance, and extremism. Proponents of politically cor- impose a single “orthodox” point of view upon our stu- rect views have taken strongly ideological stances and dents, faculty, and staff. The critics argue that as teach- in some cases have attempted to constrain or eliminate ers and employers we can require certain standards of entirely the expression of opposing viewpoints. While civil behavior, but we cannot require “right” thinking such foolish or destructive behavior is by no means without compromising our own values. rampant on our college campuses, those instances that Harassment: In a similar vein, there are critics who have occurred have seriously undermined important assail codes or policies that prohibit racial and sexual academic values and served as a lightening rod for crit- harassment. This particular criticism raises very diffi- ics of academia. Thus, we should heed the basic mes- cult and volatile issues about which there is strongly sage of those who criticize this new form of extremism divided opinion. There is no denying the potential for on our campuses. What they are saying is that some in abuse of such policies any more than we can deny the the academic community ideologically do not accept or abuses that led to the codes in the first place. Such ha- have lost touch with our most fundamental missions rassment and intimidation cannot be understood out- and values. Their actions have struck a deep vein of side of the historical framework of violence and fear public discontent with academia. Since the real issue that has surrounded racial prejudice and discrimina- concerns our commitment to our own values as teach- tion. What is merely intimidating to one group can be 16

experienced as a threat of violence by those who have includes attempts, however well meaning, to impose been victimized by discrimination. Our best hope is to a test of political orthodoxy in grading or hiring and improve the campus climate to the point that the issue professional advancement decisions. It is clear that we is moot. in academia have no business in silencing any view or Required Courses on Diversity: Many campuses any person. The test of an idea must be on its merits, have concluded that it is reasonable or even impera- not who propounds it or whether we like it or agree tive that our students—and, of course, we ourselves— with it or not. be educated about the culture and experience of other Censorship of Campus Speakers or Groups and groups in our own pluralistic society and in an increas- Individuals: Some members of our community have ingly interdependent world. They believe it critical that argued that given all of the potential for conflict and all of us understand in some comparative perspective sensitivity, certain people or views should be declared more about the nature of group relations and interac- off-limits, that certain controversial speakers should tions in a world that is rampant with divisions of race, not be invited at all or at least should be prevented from class, caste, belief, and nationality—divisions that affect being heard. Apparently these people seem to feel that all of us and threaten our very existence as a society. free speech is for them, but not for those with whom At the same time, there are many and various ways to they disagree. There is a certain irony to this behavior, provide education about diversity. since the surest way to call attention to individuals is to The critics rightly question whether academics can attempt to disrupt or prevent their presence on a uni- in good conscience require students to take any course versity campus. that presents a single orthodox view of a subject, such Curriculum “Correctness”: Universities are assailed as the value of diversity. Like many other important from the right and the left by radical traditionalists curriculum issues, these must be openly and widely and by radical radicals about curriculum reform. Some debated. Fortunately, at Michigan we have a well-es- would confine our curriculum to a fixed and narrow tablished framework and tradition of faculty autonomy set of “great books” that represent the great traditions for these faculty discussions. We have had many public of western civilization. Others would discount any debates that serve as models of the civility and intellec- work by “DWEMs”—dead white European males. Is it tual seriousness that should surround such discussions wrong to adapt our teaching to include a broader range and demonstrate that we can discuss these matters and of experience and expression from across time and make progress. around the world? Clearly, we must prepare our stu- Censoring and Intimidating of Professors: Critics dents to live in a world in which the majority of people point to a dangerous form of intolerance in which pro- come from very different backgrounds and beliefs. But fessors who teach “incorrect” subjects, teach their sub- does this have to mean that we abandon or denigrate jects from an “incorrect point of view,” or do research in the learning that is the foundation of our tradition? Af- “incorrect” areas are intimidated by extremist groups. ter all, many of our most profound concepts are derived Clearly, it is important to challenge ideas with which from the heritage provided by western civilization: our we disagree, but can we ever tolerate intimidating at- faith in rationalism, in knowledge and science, and the tacks on those with whom we differ? To our discredit, notion of human progress itself. To abandon the study intimidation and reckless charges seem to have been of the foundations of our culture is to abandon the un- accepted by many of us at times on our campuses, by derstanding of what made us who and what we are. students and faculty alike, as appropriate behavior. We Ethnic and Gender Studies: There are those who cannot accept those who would shout down a person question the development of new academic programs or an idea or who think that opinions should be im- such as ethnic and gender studies. Of course, a truly posed on others by intimidation or that ideas should be vigorous and rigorous scholarly institution will always judged by the number of their adherents rather than on give rise to new fields, new ideas and insights, and new whether or not they are worthwhile. paradigms along with the structures to accommodate Perhaps in a more subtle form this intimidation them. That is one of the great virtues of the research 17 university. Fortunately, if traditional and rigorous aca- ing debate concerning fundamental issues of our future demic standards are used, excesses or deficiencies that and a renewal of our mission and a response to change. develop in any new fields will be scrutinized and sub- Today, our universities are attempting to deal with stantively debated. From this perspective new ideas some of the most painful, persistent, and intractable or fields are no more of a threat than entrenched ones. problems in human experience. In our efforts to deal Neither should be exempt from the time-honored test with racism and sexism, we are combating centuries of whether they are intellectually worthwhile, whether of prejudice and discrimination that have robbed the they help us to understand our world and ourselves. world of precious cultural wisdom, human talent, and Affirmative Action: Much of the criticism aimed at leadership. At the same time, we are contending with political correctness is actually aimed at affirmative ac- an intellectual revolution, striving to incorporate inter- tion programs in our institutions. Critics claim that affir- disciplinary, comparative and international perspec- mative action actually promotes increased segregation, tives and experiences into our intellectual framework. balkanization, and separate and unequal educational We are scrambling to keep up with the breathtaking services. These programs are seen as undemocratic, di- advances in knowledge that are transforming the acad- visive, and ultimately a disservice to those whom they emy and our society. are meant to serve. The key here is the concern raised To address the intellectual and practical issues of about “preferential treatment” of groups who have his- our time we must be open to new paradigms, new torically been subjected to discrimination. Throughout theories, new combinations of knowledge. While many our long history, one of the most important distinguish- in society may prefer to ignore or deny that changes ing characteristics of higher education has been our are taking place, as teachers and scholars we cannot re- attempt to serve all of our society and to treat human sponsibly do so. The university frequently will be in the characteristics such as race, gender, or socio-economic uncomfortable position of being a vanguard of change. background as irrelevant to academic ability. It is my Possibly, the intensified criticism swirling about uni- belief that affirmative action programs are important versities these days is in part a manifestation of the age- tools in achieving this goal. Having said this, it is im- old practice of blaming the messenger for the message. portant to state as well the importance of allowing the Some may actually hold us responsible for social trans- debate over the merits of affirmative action programs formation now underway. In a sense, I suppose, they to be heard. We in higher education have a strong case are right. After all, we are educating our students for to make, but it can only be heard in an open dialogue a changing world, and we are producing much of the that tolerates all viewpoints. If there is a better way to knowledge that drives the change. achieve our goals, a more effective or a more just way Little wonder then that some are threatened and for us to proceed, then we need to hear about it. that many are unsure and concerned. Little wonder that with our growing influence on society, we have become Adhering to Academic Values an arena of special interest conflict. We are riding the tiger of a profound transformation of our society. As we consider the arguments of our critics, it be- We have touched on a number of forces at work comes apparent that an important part of the criticism that threaten our ability to debate important questions and counter-criticism of higher education is about the and that undermine our teaching and research mission. pace, scope, and direction of social and institutional These pose dangers, but we are by no means helpless change. Much of it is about the struggle for greater in the face of them. Our best protection lies in the cen- inclusiveness, for more openness to ideas and people. turies old traditions and values that preserved and ex- Much of it is about the intellectual challenge of what we tended the fundamental principles of free scholarly in- have called the new age of knowledge that character- quiry. Universities survive and they thrive because they izes our time. We must not become overly reactive to represent the application of reason to human affairs what is superficial or transitory or opportunistic in the and the free pursuit of truth through reasoned inquiry. criticism at the expense of the more important continu- These are the key principles upon which the university 18

can confidently stand. nation; both are shifting constantly. We move ahead, Over the centuries we have found that our objec- knowing we can never simply rest. tive of seeking truth and our means for seeking it have stood the test. We have not achieved perfection, but we do have a way of considering questions and problems that yields insight and lights the way to new and better questions. What binds us together then is the search for truth, the tested methods, the principles and values of scholarship. Society supports these values because universities over the centuries and around the globe have managed to teach successive generations a respect for the pursuit of truth and an ability to take up the quest themselves. Our methods and principles have succeeded in increasing our store of knowledge and our understanding. Society has granted us our academic freedoms in recognition, however reluctant at times, of our essential role in society. The most effective protection for all of academia in the face of critics is to be steadfast in guarding the integrity of our teaching and research. Our fidelity to this primary mission is our best defense against the critics. It is what we do best to serve humanity. In this regard one thing is certain and unchanging: We cannot perform our primary mission of teaching and research properly, we cannot produce what society most needs from us, without the freedom to pursue truth wherever it takes us. This is fundamental. In summary, through my experience at Michigan I have become convinced that excellence and diversity are not only mutually compatible but also mutually re- inforcing objectives for the 21st Century university. In an ever more diverse nation and world, the quality of a university’s academic programs—its very relevance to our society—will be greatly determined by the diversity of our campus communities. After all, our social contract is with all of the society that sustains and supports us, not just with the privileged few. Beyond our social obligation, it is also clear that diversity contributes directly to the intellectual vitality of our scholarship. Social diversity provides different ways of conceptual- izing and addressing intellectual issues that give new vitality to our education, scholarship, and communal life. Higher education in America is far more diverse today than it was fifty years ago or even ten years ago. Yet the university is not monolithic and neither is discrimi- 1

Appendix E Diversity Management in American Universities Berlin, Germany, October 21, 2010

Social diversity has always been both a great as- As it has throughout our history, immigration con- set, as well as a considerable challenge, for the United tinues to change the ethnic character of the United States. A nation built by wave after wave of diverse im- States. Demographers project that by 2050, America’s migrant populations, from the early European settlers minority population will rise to 42% of our population. to African slaves and their descendants, Asian work- Already several of our states, including our largest ers, and more recently dominated by immigrants from state, California, no longer have a population with an Latin America (both legal and illegal). With each mi- ethnic majority. And this is likely to be the case for my gration, America has been reshaped in demographics nation in the later half of this century. and in culture, but always growing in prosperity and The increasing diversity of the American popula- strength. In fact, the United States is today, and always tion with respect to race, ethnicity, and national origin has been, a nation of immigrants benefiting immensely has long been perceived as one of my nation’s great- from their energy, talents, and hope. est strengths. A diverse population gives us great vi- A personal comment is appropriate here. In case you tality. A diversity of perspectives and experiences is might be wondering why your speaker, who is, after all, also vital to sustaining an innovation-driven economy, named after a German city, Duderstadt, is speaking in perhaps the United States’ most significant core com- English, it is because I, like most Americans, am a mon- petency in a global, knowledge-driven economy. And, grel when it comes to national heritage. Although my of course, such diversity helps us to relate to a highly grandfather came from Germany (the Goslar region), diverse world. However, today it is also one of our the surnames of my other grandparents were Johnson, most serious challenges as a nation since the challenge Bramhall, and McCleary – English and Irish! And that, of increasing diversity is complicated by social and eco- of course, is the case of most Americans. Almost none nomic factors. Far from evolving toward one America, of us have a pure national ancestry! our society continues to be hindered by the segregation But this leads to another important characteristic of and non-assimilation of minority cultures, as well as a the United States today. At a time when aging popula- backlash against long-accepted programs designed to tions, out-migration, and shrinking workforces are seri- achieve social equity (e.g., affirmative action in college ously challenging the productivity of developed econo- admissions). mies throughout Europe and Asia, the United States Our schools, colleges, and universities have played stands apart because of immigration. Immigration is a major role in assimilating each wave of immigrants. expected to drive continued growth in the U.S. popula- A distinguishing characteristic and great strength of tion from 300 million today to over 450 million by 2050, American higher education is its growing commit- augmenting our aging population and stimulating pro- ment over time to serve all segments of our pluralistic ductivity with new and younger workers. In fact, over society. Higher education’s broadening inclusion of the past decade, immigration from Latin America and talented students and faculty of diverse ethnic, racial, Asia contributed to 53% of the growth in the United economic, social, political, national, or religious back- States population. ground, has allowed our academic institutions to draw 2

Addressing the rectors of German universities on diversity 3 on a broader and deeper pool of talent, experience, and the strategic issues and approaches used by Ameri- ideas than more exclusive counterparts in other places can higher education and, more generally, address the and times. This diversity invigorates and renews teach- challenges and opportunities presented by an increasing and scholarship in American universities, helping ingly diverse and rapidly changing society. It will also to challenge long-held assumptions, asking new ques- consider the manner in which these efforts are both de- tions, creating new areas and methods of inquiry, and manded and challenged by society. generating new ideas for testing in scholarly discourse. Our institutions have benefited immensely from their contributions, challenged by their needs and The Case for Diversity strengthened by their energy and talent. Indeed, the world-class leadership of United States research uni- In both the narrow and broader sense, it is impor- versities today is due in no small measure to the ex- tant to set out a compelling rationale for seeking diver- traordinary talent of European refugees fleeing the sity in higher education. Of course, first and foremost, persecution and conflict of the World Wars and later, the case for diversity in higher education rests on moral the Cold War. But just like our nation, our universities responsibility and democratic ideals, based on our so- have also faced very considerable challenge, both in- cial contract with society. Furthermore, our campuses ternally in developing mechanisms to achieve diverse have a unique opportunity to offer positive social mod- campuses and externally in lack of public acceptance els and provide leadership in addressing one of the of their aspirations for diversity across a broad range of most persistent and seemingly intractable problems of social characteristics. human experience—overcoming the impulse to fear, re- For example, today, minorities comprise 44% of the ject, or harm the “other.” Millennial generation of students entering our uni- Nevertheless, universities are social institutions of versities (those born between 1990 and 2003). Yet, the the mind, not of the heart. While there are compelling minorities comprising the most rapidly growing com- moral and civic reasons to seek diversity and social eq- ponents of our population have traditionally had the uity on our campuses, the most effective arguments in lowest levels of college attainment, for example, Black favor of diversity to a university community tend to be and Latino students attain college degrees at only one- those related to academic quality. third of the rate of white and Asian students. Further- more, since most current immigrants are arriving from 1) Educational Quality developing nations (i.e., Latin America) with weak educational capacity, new pressures have been placed on Perhaps most important in this regard is the role di- U.S. schools for the remedial education of large num- versity plays in the education of our students. We have bers of non-English speaking students. an obligation to create the best possible educational en- Clearly our schools, colleges, and universities will vironment for the young adults whose lives are likely not only have to dedicate a much greater effort, but to be significantly changed during their years on our also develop new paradigms capable of serving rapidly campuses. Their learning environment depends on the growing ethnic minorities still burdened with inad- characteristics of the entire group of students who share equate K-12 preparation, impoverished backgrounds, a common educational experience. Students constantly and discrimination. American higher education will learn from each other in the classroom and in extracur- also have to face a changing political environment ricular life. The more diverse the student cohort, the that increasingly is challenging in both the courts and more opportunities for exposure to different ideas, through voter referendum long-accepted programs perspectives and experiences and the more chances to such as affirmative action and equal opportunity aimed interact, develop interpersonal skills, and form bonds at expanding access to higher education to underrep- that transcend differences. resented communities and diversifying our campuses. There is ample research to suggest that diversity My presentation this morning will review both is a critical factor in creating the richly varied educa- 4

tional experience that helps students learn. Since stu- tality. We must come to grips with the fact that those dents in late adolescence and early adulthood are at groups we refer to today as minorities will become the a crucial stage in their development, diversity (racial, majority population of our nation in the century ahead, demographic, economic, and cultural) enables them to just as they are today throughout the world. The truth, become conscious learners and critical thinkers, and too, is that most of us retain proud ties to our ethnic prepares them to become active participants in a demo- roots, and this strong and fruitful identification must cratic society. Students educated in diverse settings are coexist with—indeed enable—our ability to become more motivated and better able to participate in an in- full participants in the economic and civic life of our creasingly heterogeneous and complex democracy. country. Pluralism poses a continuing challenge to our nation and its institutions as we seek to build and main- 2) Intellectual Vitality tain a fundamental common ground of civic values that will inspire mutually beneficial cohesion and purpose Diversity is similarly fundamental for the vigor and during this period of radical transformation of so many breadth of scholarship. Unless we draw upon a greater aspects of our world. diversity of people as scholars and students, we cannot hope to generate the intellectual vitality we need to 4) Human Resources respond to a world characterized by profound change. The burgeoning complexity and rapidly increasing rate Today, higher education’s capacity to serve the ed- of change forces us to draw upon a broader breadth ucational needs of a diverse population has become and depth of human knowledge and understanding. even more important as our world has entered a period For universities to thrive in this age of complexity and of rapid and profound economic, social, and political change, it is vital that we resist any tendency to elimi- transformation driven by a hypercompetitive global nate options. Only with a multiplicity of approaches, economy that depends upon the creation and appli- opinions, and ways of seeing can we hope to solve the cation of new knowledge and hence, upon educated problems we face. Universities, more than any other people and their ideas. It has become increasingly ap- institution in American society, have upheld the ideal parent that the strength, prosperity, and welfare of a of intellectual freedom, open to diverse ideas that are nation in a global knowledge economy will demand a debated on their merits. We must continually struggle highly educated citizenry enabled by development of a to sustain this heritage and to become places open to a strong system of tertiary education. It also requires in- myriad of experiences, cultures, and approaches. stitutions with the ability to discover new knowledge, In addition to these intellectual benefits, the inclu- develop innovative applications of these discoveries, sion of underrepresented groups allows our institutions and transfer them into the marketplace through entre- to tap reservoirs of human talents and experiences from preneurial activities. which they have not yet fully drawn. Indeed, it seems The demographic trends we see in our future hold apparent that our universities could not sustain such some other significant implications for national eco- high distinctions in a pluralistic world society without nomic and political life and especially for education. diversity and openness to new perspectives, experi- Our clearly demonstrated need for an educated work- ences, and talents. In the years ahead, we will need to force in the years ahead means that America can no draw on the insights of many diverse perspectives to longer afford to waste the human potential, cultural understand and function effectively in our own as well richness, and leadership represented by minorities and as in the national and world community. women.

3) Serving a Changing Society The Michigan Mandate

Our nation’s ability to face the challenge of diversity Although the University of Michigan sustained its in the years ahead will determine our strength and vi- commitment to diversity throughout the 20th century, 5 its progress reflected many of the challenges facing our larly serious challenge and responsibility for the Uni- society during the years of discrimination based upon versity. race, religion, and gender. Many were the times we Yet, there are other significant ethnic challenges. took one step forward toward greater diversity, only to Another Michigan community, Dearborn, has the high- slide two steps back through later inattention. The stu- est concentration of Arab-Americans in the nation. At dent disruptions of the 1960s and 1970s triggered new the same time, the historic openness of the University efforts by the University to reaffirm its commitments to Jewish students, particularly from large eastern cities to affirmative action and equal opportunity, but again such as New York, coupled with our institution’s size progress was limited and a new wave of concern and (42,000 full-time students), gives Michigan the largest protests hit the campus during the mid-1980s, just prior enrollment of Jewish students in the nation. Hence, we to the appointment of our administration. also experience many of the ethnic tensions now char- By the late 1980s, it had become obvious that the acterizing the Middle East. And the list goes on… University had made inadequate progress in its goal to It was apparent that although the University had reflect the rich diversity of our nation and our world approached the challenge of serving an increasingly among its faculty, students and staff. Of course, here diverse population with the best of intentions, it sim- we faced many challenges: prejudice and ignorance ply had not developed and executed a plan capable of persist on our nation’s campuses, as they do through- achieving sustainable results. The University would out our society. American society today still faces high have to leave behind many reactive and uncoordinated levels of racial segregation in housing and education in efforts that had characterized its past and move toward spite of decades of legislative efforts to reduce it. In a more strategic approach designed to achieve long- an increasingly diverse country, deep divisions persist term systemic change. Sacrifices would be necessary between Europeans, African-American, Hispanics, Na- as traditional roles and privileges were challenged. In tive Americans, Asians, and other ethnic groups. particular, we foresaw the limitations of focusing only There is nothing natural about these divisions. They on affirmative action; that is, on access, retention, and are not immutable facts of life. Rather, they are a con- representation. We believed that without deeper, more sequence of a troubled and still unresolved past. Ra- fundamental institutional change these efforts by them- cial and ethnic groups remain separated by residence selves would inevitably fail. and education. There are unfortunately few places More significantly, we believed that achieving our in American society where people of different back- goals for a diverse campus would require a very ma- grounds interact, learn from each other, and struggle jor change in the institution itself. Hence, we began to to understand their differences and discover their com- think of the challenge of diversity as, in reality, the chal- monality. lenge of changing an institution in a very fundamental We also faced a particular challenge because of our way–not an easy challenge for university leaders in an geographic location. As a state university, we draw institution where change tends to occur “one grave at a many of our students from the metropolitan Detroit time!” Our diversity agenda would be, in fact, a major area, a region with an unusually large black popula- exercise in institutional transformation. tion (90% of Detroit public school students) resulting The challenge was to persuade the university com- from the Great Migration of the descendents of slaves munity that there was a real stake for everyone in seiz- to the northern cities during the early 20th century. In ing the moment to chart a more diverse future. More fact, Detroit is the second most segregated metropolitan people needed to believe that the gains to be achieved area in the country. Many suburban communities on through diversity would more than compensate for the the borders of Detroit have remained almost complete- necessary sacrifices. ly white despite their proximity to adjoining minority- The first and most important step was to link diver- dominated city neighborhoods. Drawing a significant sity and excellence as the two most compelling goals fraction of our undergraduate enrollment from such a before the institution, recognizing that these goals were racially segregated environment presented a particu- not only complementary but would be tightly linked 6

in the multicultural society characterizing our nation and creative in identifying minority teachers/scholars and the world in the future. As we moved ahead, we who can enrich the activities of your unit. Do not be began to refer to the plan as: The Michigan Mandate: limited by concerns relating to narrow specialization; A Strategic Linking of Academic Excellence and Social do not be concerned about the availability of a faculty Diversity. slot within the unit. The principal criterion for the re- The mission and goals of the Michigan Mandate cruitment of a minority faculty member was whether were stated quite simply: the individual could enhance the department. If so, resources will be made available to recruit that person to 1. To recognize that diversity and excellence are the University of Michigan.” complementary and compelling goals for the Univer- Note there was another shoe to drop in this effort. sity and to make a firm commitment to their achieve- Since we did not have any new resources to launch this ment. program, instead we simply established a debt against future resources each time we authorized a new faculty 2. To commit to the recruitment, support, and hire under the Target of Opportunity program. At the success of members of historically underrepresented end of the year, we would then add up these debts and groups among our students, faculty, staff, and leader- subtract the total off the top of the next year’s budget, ship. whatever the amount. In effect, this budget strategy amounted to shifting dollars away from those academ- 3. To build on our campus an environment that ic units that sat on their hands on diversity initiatives seeks, nourishes, and sustains diversity and pluralism to reward those who embraced the goals (e.g., it took and that values and respects the dignity and worth of Internal Medicine several years to realize that their every individual. inactivity in recruiting diverse faculty candidates was transferring a chunk of their budget each year to ag- A series of carefully focused strategic actions was gressive programs such as English Language and Lit- developed to move the University toward these objec- erature!). tives. These strategic actions were framed by the values Of course, because of the top-down management and traditions of the University, an understanding of culture of American universities, we were also able to our unique culture characterized by a high degree of take a few actions that would not be possible in Euro- faculty and unit freedom and autonomy, and animated pean universities. For example, we included diversity by a highly competitive and entrepreneurial spirit. The achievement (such as enrollments or graduation rates) strategy was both complex and all-pervasive, involving as a factor in determining the salaries of our key aca- not only a considerable commitment of resources (e.g., demic leaders, deans and department chairs. Further- fully-funding all financial aid for all minority graduate more, on several occasions, we actually removed and students) as well as some innovative programs. replaced several senior officers who stubbornly resisted A good example here was our Target of Opportunity change (including our director of admissions). program for recruiting minority faculty. Traditionally, The Michigan Mandate was one of those efforts that the faculty appointments of American universities have required leadership on the front lines by the president, been driven by a concern for academic specialization since only by demonstrating commitment from the top within their respective disciplines. Too often, in recent could we demand and achieve the necessary commit- years, the University had seen faculty searches that ments throughout the institution. During the startup were literally “replacement” searches rather than “en- phase, I met with hundreds of groups both on and off hancement” searches. To achieve the goals of the Mich- campus, not only giving speeches, but more important- igan Mandate, the University had to free itself from the ly, listening carefully to their concerns and ideas. To constraints of this traditional perspective. encourage buy-in, every so often we would redraft and Therefore, the central administration sent out the redistribute the documents describing the Michigan following message to the academic units: “Be vigorous Mandate to demonstrate we were not only listening to 7 the campus community, but using their ideas in shap- Student Study, 1994 to the present). For the past 25 ing the evolution of the effort. (I numbered these docu- years, we have accumulated data on student attitudes ments like computer software, e.g., 1.1, 1.2. There was and experiences from entering students, graduating never a final document. The last one I can recall was students, and alumni. In fact, this substantial project numbered 13.8!) (Web-links to the Michican Mandate has led to nine PhD dissertations over the past two de- can be found at: http://milproj.dc.umich.edu/). cades. This effort has not only been critical for guid- By 1995, Michigan could point to significant prog- ing our diversity efforts in a changing world of legal ress in achieving diversity. By every measure, the challenges, ballot initiatives, budget crises, shifting de- Michigan Mandate was a remarkable success, moving mographics, and changing workforce needs, but it has the University far beyond our original goals of a more also proved essential in defending diversity both in the diverse campus. courts (e.g., the Supreme Court cases) and to the body The representation of underrepresented students politic. and faculty more than doubled over the decade of the Some of the key conclusions from the studies have effort. Minority student enrollments rose to one-third been: the majority of students agree with the key prem- of our enrollments, reflecting levels in the more gen- ises that social diversity creates a stimulating and chal- eral American population. For example, increasing lenging environment that benefits the learning of ALL African-American student enrollments to 9.5%. In fact, students; that it prepares students for participation as when I stepped down as president, 5 of the University’s citizens and leaders in our increasingly diverse nation 10 executive officers were African American, including and interconnected world; and that it fosters prepara- my successor. tion for citizenship in our democratic society, a goal that But, perhaps more significantly, the success of un- is not irrelevant to our education goals! Most groups derrepresented minorities at the University improved were also in support of the methods used to achieve even more remarkably, with graduation rates rising to diversity, including affirmative action (although in- the highest among public universities, promotion and terestingly enough, this support tended to decline as tenure success of minority faculty members becoming students moved through their academic programs and comparable to their majority colleagues, and a growing later life). There was also strong disagreement that the number of appointments of minorities to leadership po- emphasis on diversity fosters division and disunity on sitions in the University. The campus climate not only campus but rather was a significant influential aspect became far more accepting and supportive of diversity, of the college experience. Almost all alumni felt that but students and faculty began to come to Michigan be- the diversity on campus enhanced their ability to work cause of its growing reputation for a diverse campus. effectively across racial and ethnic differences and to And, perhaps most significantly, as the campus became understand the multiple perspectives from which peo- more racially and ethnically diverse, the quality of the ple view the world, skills that were viewed as essential students, faculty, and academic programs of the Uni- to their later careers. Reports on the Michigan Student versity increased to the highest level in history. This Study can be found at: latter fact seemed to reinforce our contention that the aspirations of diversity and excellence were not only http://www.oami.umich.edu/mss/research/incompatible but, in fact, highly correlated. dex.htm

Studies of the Impact of Diversity on the Educational Experience The Michigan Agenda for Women

Since Michigan has long had great strength in the Even while pursuing the racial diversity goals of the quantitative social sciences, early in our efforts we be- Michigan Mandate, we realized we could not ignore gan rigorous efforts to measure the impact of increasing another glaring inequity in campus life. If we meant diversity on the educational experience (The Michigan to embrace diversity in its full meaning, we had to at- 8

tend to the long-standing concerns of women faculty, discrimination policies to encompass sexual orientation students, and staff. Here, once again, it took time–and and extended staff benefits and housing opportunities considerable effort by many women colleagues (includ- to same-sex couples (and more recently, to transgender ing my wife and daughters)–to educate me and the rest students). We had become convinced that the univer- of my administration to the point where we began to sity had both a compelling interest in and responsibility understand that the university simply had not succeed- to create a welcoming community, encouraging respect ed in including and empowering women as full and for diversity in all of the characteristics that can be used equal partners in all aspects of its life and leadership. to describe humankind: age, race, ethnicity, national- Many of our concerns derived from the extreme con- ity, gender, religious belief, sexual orientation, political centration of women in positions of lower status and beliefs, economic background, and geographical back- power—as students, lower-pay staff, and junior faculty. ground. The most effective lever for change might well be a rapid increase in the number of women holding positions The Battle Continues of high status, visibility, and power. This would not only change the balance of power in decision-making, 1) Legal Challenges but it would also change the perception of who and what matters in the university. Finally, we needed to But, of course, this story did not end with the suc- bring university policies and practices into better align- cessful achievements of the Michigan diversity efforts. ment with the needs and concerns of women students Beginning first with litigation in Texas and then success- in a number of areas including campus safety, student ful referendum efforts in California and Washington, housing, student life, financial aid, and childcare. conservative groups began to attack affirmative action Like the Michigan Mandate, the vision was again policies, such as the use of race in college admissions. simple, yet compelling: that by the year 2000 the uni- Perhaps because of Michigan’s success in the Michigan versity would become the leader among American Mandate, the University soon became a target for those universities in promoting and achieving the success of groups seeking to reverse affirmative action with two women as faculty, students, and staff. Again, as presi- cases filed against the University in 1997, one challeng- dent, I took a highly personal role in this effort, meeting ing the admissions policies of undergraduates, and the with hundreds of groups on and off campus, to listen to second challenging those in our Law School. their concerns and invite their participation in the ini- Although I had stepped down as president by that tiative. Rapidly, there was again significant progress on time, I was still named personally as a defendant in one many fronts for women students, faculty, and staff, in- of the cases, although I had little influence on the strate- cluding the appointment of a number of senior women gies to defend both cases to the level of the Supreme faculty and administrators as deans and executive offi- Court, aside from giving several days of depositions cers, improvement in campus safety, and improvement and having all records of my presidency digitized, ar- of family care policies and childcare resources. Getting chived, and posted publicly by our university history women into senior leadership positions was critical – library. appointing the first women deans of LS&A, Rackham, At Michigan, it was important that we “carry the and the Vice Provost for Health Sciences, leading to the water” for the rest of higher education to defend the appointment of Michigan’s first woman provost and value of diversity and the actions necessary to achieve later its first woman president. it. Throughout our history, our university has been committed to extending more broadly educational op- Other Areas of Diversity and Social Justice portunities to the working class, to women, to racial and ethnic minorities, and to students from every state The university also took steps to eliminate those fac- and nation. It was natural for us to lead yet another tors that prevented other groups from participating ful- battle for equity and social justice. ly in its activities. For example, we extended our anti- Although the Supreme Court decisions were split, 9 supporting the use of race in the admissions policies of ally declining from 1996 to 2002 by almost 25% over- our Law School and opposing the formula-based ap- all and by as much as 50% in some of our professional proach used for undergraduate admissions, the most schools (Law, Medicine, Business). Although there was important ruling in both cases was, in the words of the an effort to rationalize this by suggesting that the pub- court: licity given the litigation over admissions policies was discouraging minority applicants, there is little doubt “Student body diversity is a compelling state inter- in my mind that it was the dismantling of the Michigan est that can justify the use of race in university admis- Mandate that really set us back. sion.” Since the Supreme Court decision, many American universities have begun to back away from programs “When race-based action is necessary to further a aimed at recruitment, financial aid, and academic en- compelling governmental interest, such action does not richment for minority undergraduate students, either violate the constitutional guarantee of equal protection eliminating entirely such programs or opening them up so long as the narrow-tailoring requirement is also sat- to non-minority students from low-income households. isfied.” Threats of further litigation by conservative groups have intensified this retrenchment. As a consequence, Hence, the Supreme Court decisions on the Michi- the enrollments of under-represented minorities are gan cases reaffirmed those policies and practices dropping again in many universities across the nation long used by those selective colleges and universities (including Michigan). throughout the United States. But more significantly, I must say that after the years of effort in building a it reaffirmed both the importance of diversity in higher diverse campus at Michigan and successfully defend- education and established the principle that, appropri- ing our actions all the way to the Supreme Court, it ately designed, race could be used as a factor in pro- would be tragic indeed if the decisions in the Michigan grams aimed at achieving diverse campuses. Hence, case caused more harm than benefit to the cause of di- the importance of diversity in higher education and the versity. Imagine our frustration in fearing that rather affirmation of methods to achieve it was firmly estab- than advancing the cause of social justice, our efforts lished by the highest court of the land. We had won. Or have simply empowered the lawyers on our campuses so we thought… to block effective efforts to broaden educational opportunity. Yet, while an important battle had been won with the Supreme Court ruling, we soon learned that 2) Voter Action the war for diversity in higher education was far from over. As university lawyers across the nation began to A different challenge first appeared in California ponder the court ruling, they persuaded their institu- with the passage of a public referendum banning af- tions to accept a very narrow interpretation of the Su- firmative action. The groups pushing the California preme Court decisions as the safest course. Actually, ban soon broadened to attack diversity policies in other this pattern began to appear at the University of Michi- states. In 2006, Michigan voters approved a constitu- gan during the early stages of the litigation process. tional referendum to ban the use of affirmative action in Even as the university launched the expensive legal public institutions similar to that of California’s Propo- battle ($20 million) to defend the use of race in col- sition 209. This referendum prevents Michigan colleges lege admissions following my presidency, it throttled and universities from using the narrowly tailored pre- back many of the effective policies and programs cre- scriptions of the 2003 Supreme Court decision. ated by the Michigan Mandate, in part out of concern these might complicate the litigation battle. As a conse- 3) Financial Shifts quence, the enrollment of underrepresented minorities began almost immediately to drop at Michigan, eventu- In the United States, the primary responsibility for 10 providing educational opportunities to the nation’s di- The Road Ahead verse population has rested with the public universities supported by state governments. In fact, it has been The key device many institutions have utilized to the strong support of the state universities through tax achieve diversity is “affirmative action”, that is, giving revenues that has enabled their capacity to enroll stu- a slight edge to minorities in key university decisions– dents of modest economic means and underrepresent- student admission, staff hiring, faculty promotion. (In ed minority populations. Yet today, as the global reces- the case of racial diversity, this is sometimes relabeled sion has deepened, state after state began to project tax as “racial preference”!) Yet, it is clearly the case that revenue declines and warn their public universities of many today believe that despite the importance of di- deep budget cuts in the range up to 20% to 30%. This versity, racial preferences are contrary to American val- retrenchment is on top of two decades of eroding tax ues of individual rights and the policy of color-blind- support of public universities as the states have strug- ness that animated the Civil Rights Act of 1964. gled with the shifting priorities of aging populations. Richard Atkinson, former president of the Univer- We now have at least two decades of experience that sity of California, suggests that we need a new strategy would suggest that the states are simply not able—or that recognizes the continuing corrosive force of racial willing—to provide the resources to sustain growth in and ethnic inequality but does not stop there. We need public higher education, at least at the rate experienced a strategy grounded in the broad American tradition in the decades following World War II. In many parts of opportunity because this is a value that Americans of the nation, states will be hard pressed to even sustain understand and support. Put another way, we need to the present capacity and quality of their institutions. shift to strategies and methods that make it clear that all There is a growing sense that the balanced financial of society has a stake in ensuring that every American model that has sustained American higher education has an opportunity to succeed. for the past several decades is beginning to fray. Tra- Let me suggest two such themes that might suggest ditionally, the support of American higher education such a strategy. has involved a partnership among states, the federal government, and private citizens (the marketplace). In 1) Lifelong Learning as a Civil Right the past, the states have shouldered the lion’s share of the costs of public higher education through subsidies, As noted earlier, today we have entered an age of which keep tuition low for students, enabling access knowledge in a global economy, in which educated peo- while the federal government has taken on the role of ple, the knowledge they produce, and the innovation providing need-based aid and loan subsidies. As state and entrepreneurial skills they possess have become support has declined, public universities have not only the keys to economic prosperity, social-well being, and become increasingly dependent upon student fees (tu- national security. Moreover, education, knowledge, in- ition) but furthermore, they have enrolled increasing novation, and entrepreneurial skills have also become numbers of out-of-state or international students sub- the primary determinants of one’s personal standard of ject to much higher tuition. For example, at both the living and quality of life. University of California and the University Michigan, Hence, one can argue that today, democratic soci- in-state students now pay tuition of $12,000 a year while eties–and state and federal governments–must accept out-of-state students pay $36,000 a year, essentially the the responsibility to provide all of their citizens with tuition characterizing private institutions. And the re- the educational and training opportunities they need, sult has been a sharp decline in both the economic and throughout their lives, whenever, wherever, and how- ethnic diversity of the students enrolling in these public ever they need it, at high quality and at affordable institutions. It has become painfully clear that without prices. Hence, we could include diversity as a key to strong state support, the achievement of diversity will achieving a vision for the nation’s future that provides require a new paradigm for financing public higher citizens with the lifelong learning opportunities and education. skills they need to live prosperous, rewarding, and se- 11 cure lives in this world. The theme would be a univer- life in a global, knowledge-driven world. Indeed, in sal life-long educational opportunity as a fundamental an increasingly inter-dependent and diverse world, it right – a CIVIL right – to all Americans, not a privilege is hard to imagine how a nation can flourish without for the fortunate few. tapping the talent, the wisdom, the experience, and the Actually, several years ago, we managed to per- cultures of all of our citizens. suade our colleagues on the Spellings Commission to However, the achievement of diversity in higher include this as one of our major recommendations. But education requires major institutional change – indeed, the Bush administration largely ignored it. Fortunately, it is a major exercise in university transformation. the Obama administration seems more inclined to pay As with any major change in higher education, there attention! will be strong resistance from within. But it will also face significant resistance from outside, both through 2) Innovation and Creativity public acceptance and political reaction. Hence, this requires both a comprehensive strategic plan and sus- There is a growing recognition in our country that tained effort over an extended period. the United States’ most important competitive advan- Yet, speaking as a former leader of diversity efforts tage in the global, knowledge-driven economy may, in a major university, let me caution that defending in fact, be its social diversity. As the noted columnist principles such as diversity, equity, and social justice Tom Friedman puts it, “We live in an age when the can be hazardous to one’s health, not to mention one’s most valuable asset any economy can have is the abil- career. Not only are they usually controversial, but ity to be creative — to spark and imagine new ideas, be they also frequently demand strong leadership at the they Broadway tunes, great books, iPads or new cancer helm of the institution. This is one of the efforts that not drugs. And where does creativity come from? To be only requires strong and determined leadership, but it creative requires divergent thinking (generating many requires leading the troops into battle, rather than issu- unique ideas) and then convergent thinking (combin- ing orders far behind the front lines. This is perhaps the ing those ideas into the best result). And where does reason why so few institutions make progress in com- divergent thinking come from? It comes from being ex- plex areas such as social diversity. posed to divergent ideas. It comes from the sheer cre- My own experience suggests that the political threats ative energy that comes when you mix all our diverse to being a leader in diversity can be challenging, such people and cultures together.” as when our state’s conservative political party attempt Friedman also cautions that, “the resistance to di- to target me for removal because of the Michigan Man- versity is not something we want to emulate. Coun- date. Or when our state’s governor and legislature tried tries that choke themselves off from exposure to differ- to deduct from our funding an amount corresponding ent cultures, faiths and ideas will never invent the next to the funds we were spending to provide health-care Google or a cancer cure, let alone export a musical or to the partners of same-sex university couples. (In this body of literature that would bring enjoyment to chil- case, we ever so politely filed suit against state govern- dren everywhere.” ment to demonstrate that our constitutional autonomy prohibited this funding cut. Actually, throughout our Lessons Learned history, our University has sued state government rather frequently to protect our autonomy.) One can even At the University of Michigan, we remain absolute- find oneself as a defendant before the Supreme Court in ly convinced that there is a very strong linkage between a landmark case on diversity and social justice. academic excellence and social diversity. We have both There is an old saying among university presidents demonstrated and fought to sustain this principle. A cautioning them to take great care in choosing the ditch similar conclusion can be suggested for the dependence where they fight from, since that battle may be their of a nation’s prosperity and security upon social diver- last. Yet, I also believe today that I would choose to sity and broad representation in all aspects of American fight in this ditch again, even knowing the likely per- 12

sonal toll it would take. There are few causes that are clearly worthy of such sacrifices. Diversity, equity, and social justice are certainly among them. 1

UM Ann Arbor Minority Enrollments

Total Enrollments From 1975 to 2013

A Graphical Presentation 2

UM Ann Arbor Minority Enrollments

Enrollments by School and College From 1975 to 2013

A Graphical Presentation 2