BFC approves diversity statement

After working on a Statement of Diversity for over a year, the Bloomington Faculty Council made an approval during their meeting Tuesday.\nThe statement focuses on the benefits of diversity in the learning environment for the student body, faculty and staff. It can be found at the BFC Web site, and has already been sent to the chancellor for approval.\n"(The statement) originally came up in the context of the University of Michigan case," BFC President Dave Daleke said. "We initiated discussion in the Affirmative Action and Diversity Committee. At the same time, the Strategic Planning Committee was coming up with a campus mission statement, so we decided to work on a Diversity Statement as well."\nThe faculty council spent many hours working on the statement last year, but was unable to get it finished, so it was pushed off until this year for final approval. The University of Michigan affirmative action case made the BFC realize that IU lacked a Statement of Diversity, and the Affirmative Action and Diversity Committee began working on the original draft. \n"Universities across the U.S. wanted to validate that they value diversity," said Kathy Gilbert, head of the Affirmative Action and Diversity Committee. "It is a general statement of philosophy for the Bloomington campus."\nAn important element of the discussion on the statement focused on the fact that no policy was involved, and that the statement was not meant to set any sort of guidelines, Daleke said. Charlie Nelms, vice president for student development and diversity, was in attendance for the BFC meeting, and discussed what would make the statement work.\n"The statement, at the end of the day, is not what is going to make Indiana University a different and more responsive institution, it's what we do, individually and collectively," Nelms said.\nThe purpose of the statement was to simply acknowledge the fact that IU values a diverse environment, Gilbert said. That type of environment benefits both teachers and the students. \n"Let's be careful not to over invest in the statement, and let's try to make some commitments, and keep those commitments," Nelms said. "And what we are talking about there is creating an America, a University, where all people can enjoy the fruits of what it means to be an American citizen and what it means to live in a democracy."\n-- Contact staff writer Brian Janosch at bjanosch@indiana.edu.