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

A 50 Year History of Social Diversity At the University of Michigan James J. Duderstadt The Millennum Project The University of Michigan Copyright © 2015 The Millennium Project, The University of Michigan All rights reserved. The Millennium Project The University of Michigan 2001 Duderstadt Center 2281 Bonisteel Boulevard Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2094 http://milproj.dc.umich.edu 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 A 50 Year History of Social Diversity at the University of Michigan 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.

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