Legg, department chairs, tackling diversity challenges

by Mark McGowan

Reports on the diversity issues facing NIU faculty and their leaders are due this week on Provost Ivan Legg’s desk, containing what he expects are snapshots of current situations in each academic department and plans for improvement.

But the university-wide appraisal of NIU’s faculty and staff diversity – and the ensuing recommendations to make the environment for minority faculty here more welcoming – will take time.

“The civil rights movement changed the laws,” Legg said, “but it did not change the hearts. That’s a much, much more difficult challenge. The changing of the souls and the hearts of people is not something you can assess very easily.”

Legg gathered in March with 31 of NIU’s 41 academic department chairs for a day-long diversity workshop, an initiative that grew out of his semi-annual retreats with the seven deans.

He is sure it raised the level of consciousness of the chairs present and of their awareness of the need for understanding and sensitivity.

“It is a primary mission of a university to deal with the growing need to have students who are prepared to work in a world that is progressively growing more diverse. You have to understand the complexity of all these cultures and backgrounds to function effectively. I’m pleased to note that the student body at NIU has very rapidly grown more and more diverse, at least 25 percent now,” Legg said.

“Yet I note the faculty is much less diverse than the student body,” he said. “If you read the literature in this area, you will learn quite rapidly that one of the key issues in addressing this challenge has to deal with the retention of the diverse faculty once you recruit them by understanding the challenges and needs in an environment that’s predominantly white, and white male.”

Lois Self, chair of the Department of Communication, called the event “productive.”

“It raised a lot of awareness, and certainly indicated that we still have a lot of progress to make in recruiting a diverse faculty and retaining them by improving the climate, particularly for minority faculty,” Self said. “This is a really important commitment of the university and something most chairs, given resources and support, are very eager to move forward on. The workshop helps launch a university-wide effort in this regard, but it won't end of the process.”

To help them understand the feelings of minority faculty in a predominantly white male environment – including, indeed, most of the chairs – Legg brought minorities from various corners of the university to share their experiences.

One faculty member spoke of being the lone black in a mostly white neighborhood who often finds himself corralled by police asking him what he is doing there.

“We don’t understand how frustrating that is, to be stopped and singled out,” Legg said.

“There’s a lot of denial, too – white people who would say, ‘Oh, that’s not happening.’ There were some embarrassing moments, times we felt uncomfortable. The very challenge of dealing with race has to get to that stage,” he added. “Unless you get into the heart and soul of the issue you’re dealing with, which means getting personal, you don’t make progress. We cannot be afraid to share our insecurities and our problems – and our protests, if it means you want to say, ‘I don’t think we have a problem.’ ”

Legg also hired keynote speaker Lee Mun Wah, a nationally acclaimed lecturer and trainer on diversity issues. Wah, executive director and founder of StirFry Seminars, has led workshops for the U.S. Navy, the Pentagon and the U.S. Postal Service as well as major corporations and universities.

Wah, who has made a number of documentaries dealing with race relationships, showed one of his videos and stimulated discussion afterward on such interactions.

Self has led a dialogue since with fellow humanities chairs from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

“We talked a little bit about the obstacles we face in increasing faculty, and strategies and ideas for overcoming them,” Self said. “We do face significant obstacles here, in some disciplines, with the available people in the national pools and our budget resources. We all have to work on the front end also, with grad students and mentoring of prospective faculty..”

The ultimate goal, Legg said, is to make all of NIU similar to the College of Law, a place known for welcoming people of color.

LeRoy Pernell, dean of the law school, chair of the President’s Commission on the Status of Minorities and a workshop participant, said his predecessor, James Alfini, planted the seed of diversity at the law school.

Pernell has made sure it blossomed.

“One of the most important aspects was the commitment of the faculty to not just having numbers but also commitment to the professional success of a wide range of faculty, including faculty of color and women,” Pernell said.

“One of the things that caused me to accept the offer as dean was that I was impressed by what I felt was a genuine commitment on the part of the faculty to the reality of diversity. That was the starting point, and what we were able to do was build on that,” he added. “With the clear backing of the faculty, I was able to personally become involved in the hiring of new faculty by encouraging faculty of color to come to NIU and to impress upon them that we were serious. Certainly, it helped to be a person of color myself.”

Equally important, Pernell said, is a commitment to fostering the professional success of faculty by making their tenure a priority. From the moment a new faculty member arrives, the school works hard to ensure whatever resources are available to help someone achieve in teaching, research, writing and public service are offered.

Within the College of Law, he said, there is also a strong link between recruiting and retaining diverse students and the retention of diverse faculty.

“This workshop was the first step in what was hoped will be some ongoing efforts to involve, in a consistent way across the university, departments in achieving the diversity goals of the university and the individual colleges,” Pernell said.

“As a participant in that workshop, I hope the type of honesty and frankness that was evident in much of the discussion forms the basis of very concrete plans of action that will improve not only the hiring but the success of faculty of color.”

5-27-03