Diversity is everyone's business

In the four years I've been back at IU as vice president for student development and diversity, I've gotten almost as many phone calls and requests for appointments as anyone, certainly more than in my two previous offices as a campus chancellor. In some circles, as I've overheard from time to time, when students, faculty or staff have an issue or an idea that they think is related to diversity, their first response is to "call up Charlie Nelms."\nI'm grateful for the attention, and I hope I never have one of those lonely jobs where the phone never rings. But it's time to point out that diversity is not just my job -- it's everyone's. Not only do we have a large and expert staff spread across the campus who can handle everything from recruiting and retaining outstanding faculty of color to mediating student disputes to tutoring math skills, we also are trying to get a message across to everyone at the University.\nIt's a simple message: equity and excellence are intertwined. They are the same goal. In the 21st century, no university can be excellent and unrepresentative at the same time. Students cannot be prepared for the workplace of the future by only knowing the sons and daughters of the workers of the past. And the faculty cannot possibly stay on the cutting edge of knowledge if all the professors are studying the same subjects and ideas that were current 50 years ago.\nOf course the Bloomington campus is much more lively and dynamic than that. Our programs in recruitment and retention -- strategic hiring, Minority Achievers, Groups, FASE mentoring, the culture centers, the Academic Support Centers, and many more -- have made this a much more welcoming, supportive and diverse campus than it was 20 years ago. But we need to move much further, much faster than we have up to now. And that means that diversity -- equity and excellence together -- has to become a central mission for all the key administrators, faculty, students and staff, now and in the days ahead.\nThe first step is learning more about the world and the state of Indiana, as they are. Did you know, for example, that the average black family has less than a quarter of the economic wealth of a white family with the same annual income? Did you know that the fastest growing group in Indiana is Latino, and that many of its members not only have few resources, and speak little English, but that in their home countries, they might have been architects, lawyers or other professionals? How do you plan to learn more about those situations? What ways will you engage yourselves in solving those kinds of problems, in your neighborhood, and in your community? What will those facts, and others like them, mean for you as a future economic leader, employer, and community servant?\nYour work on diversity should begin here, if it hasn't already begun in high school or earlier. To paraphrase John F. Kennedy: Ask not what IU is going to do to diversify your life; ask what you can do to diversify the University. And if you want to involve a circle of others, seek help from those who are empowered, assigned and employed to solve the problem you have identified. Insist on action, not just rhetoric, from your friends, mentors and advisers. Take advantage of the opportunities in the curriculum and all over the campus that are here for you. \nThe progress we have made in the past few years has been encouraging. I'm continually moved by students, faculty and staff who point out that one of the major attractions of IU is its diversity. If each of us heeds the words of Gandhi and does our best to "become the change we want to see in the world," the IU of tomorrow will be a much more diverse -- a vibrant, national leader. We can do it together, and that's the only way.