Committee on Institutional Diversity and Equity Report - 6/01
The members of the Committee on Institutional Diversity and Equity, originally known as the World Cultures Initiative Committee, firmly believe that Dartmouth College has the potential to provide educational leadership as this nation grapples with the complexities of increasing diversity and global interconnectedness. As such, we have focused our efforts on those recommendations that will enable the College to better align its core resources with the goal of incorporating interactive pluralism as one of the central elements of the educational experience. When possible, we have offered practical suggestions and we hope that this document might provoke new insights as well. A summary listing of the committee's recommendations is provided in Appendix C.
We affirm the sentiment offered in the 1993 Roman Report (p. 26) admonishing that "[a]ll should understand that there is no simple solution that will resolve all Dartmouth's issues with regard to ... diversity and community. Progress here, like progress in the larger society of which we are a part, comes slowly and by means of hard, tenacious, and committed work. Part of the solution rests in the process of examination and study itself." The campus environment is more than the sum product of interactions between individuals, but it is the steady accumulated effort of individuals that will lead to the long term improvements that we seek. Members of the committee intend to do their part and expect to contribute to the follow up work recommended in this report.
Those individuals vested with responsibility for leadership have an important role to play. Others have critical roles to play as well, in arenas large and small alike, building on an attitude of open-mindedness and respect. Learning to celebrate our diversity will sometimes require momentary discomfort. Most important things in life do. Education most certainly does. That is the challenge, the unfinished work, that we have inherited and which we must carry forward for the benefit of those to whom we will someday turn, asking them to play their part in advancing these efforts.
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