Making headway

This just out from Carl Lovitt -- It is a step in the right direction, and one to be applauded. But let's not lose sight of the fact that the institution HAS fallen short and immediate remedies are needed. The Fourteenth Amendment is still in the Constitution, at least as of this posting.



Still, kudos for stepping into the right direction. Finally -- something beyond protecting Rowan and Co., as if theirs are the only rights to be protected.







Dear Colleagues,
Beyond the outrage occasioned by the Recorder’s publication of the offensive cartoon, I share with many others a deep concern about the implication that CCSU is not sensitive to racial diversity and respectful of difference and that it does not provide a safe environment for those who work and study here. These are serious allegations. Our mission statement explicitly states that “We foster a welcoming environment in which all members of our diverse community receive encouragement, feel safe, and acquire self-confidence.” If our institution has fallen short of meeting this essential responsibility to our community, then I believe it is our collective responsibility to take decisive steps to improve our environment.
Much has been made of the steps that our laws and Constitution prevent us from taking in response to the present situation, but there are clearly actions available that will allow us to make headway in becoming a more welcoming and supportive environment. I'd like to take a moment to outline some of the academic initiatives that I propose we pursue to this end.
As so much of the conflict at CCSU in the past year has centered on the student newspaper, an important first step will be to implement the recommendation from the Task Force on Journalistic Integrity to develop a proposal for a journalism major. Offering a journalism major will not only ensure the availability of more knowledgable and responsible journalists to staff our student newspaper but also lead to improvements in the quality of the Recorder's journalism. To that end, Dean Susan Pease has invited Dr. Susanne Shaw, Executive Director of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, which is the premier accrediting body for journalism programs, to visit the CCSU campus in March, to which she has tentatively agreed; she has also indicated that she will invite the former Dean of the Indiana University School of Journalism to accompany her. We look forward to supporting our faculty's efforts to develop a journalism proposal in the coming months, which we can review with our distinguished campus visitors in the spring.
I have also been especially sensitive over the past week to suggestions from several members of our community that we must do more to educate our students about the value of cultural sensitivity and respect for difference. Suggestions have included requiring all students to complete a course on diversity and introducing a diversity "module" in first-year experience courses. These suggestions are certainly worth considering, and there may be other viable curricular and pedagogical options that have not yet been proposed. Given our institution's mission, such academic initiatives should certainly be part of the solution. To this end, I propose to appoint an ad hoc committee of diverse faculty members, students, and alumni to develop recommendations for proposed curricular, co-curricular, and pedagogical initiatives to improve our students' sensitivity to diversity and respect for difference. I will consult with the University Senate and the AAUP concerning the committee's membership and charge, and I propose that the committee's recommendations be forwarded to the Curriculum Committee for review and action.
Finally, I would like to build on Jane Fried's recent assertion about the importance of experiential learning by suggesting that a proven approach to increasing our students' cultural sensitivity is to engage them in meaningful ways with diverse populations in our local community. Such efforts would make an important contribution to our university's commitment to community engagement. To this end, we have made arrangements with other institutions from the Hartford Consortium for Higher Education to offer an introductory workshop on "Service Learning" at CCSU on January 29, 2008. Following that workshop, we will invite CCSU faculty to submit proposals for service learning projects and courses, which will be funded with a generous grant from the Center for Public Policy and Social Research.
I thank you for considering these suggestions, to which I invite your response. I look forward to supporting all of your efforts to make CCSU a more welcoming and nurturing environment for everyone who works and studies here.
With good wishes,
Carl