Middlebury College Trustees Adopt
Statement on Diversity - Recognizes Work of Human Relations
Committee, and Links Diversity to Quality Education
The board of trustees of Middlebury
College has unanimously adopted a statement on diversity affirming
that diversity is crucial to the quality of education offered
by the College, and reflecting the board’s commitment to maintaining
a “community that recognizes the dignity of every human being.”
The statement, which responds to a report on campus diversity
issued in March of 1999 by the College’s human relations committee,
was adopted at the September meeting of the board. In issuing
the statement, the board expressed its gratitude to the members
of the committee for its “informed engagement of the issue
of diversity on the Middlebury campus.”
Before submitting its report last
spring, the human relations committee conducted several months
of discussions on campus, visited other institutions, and conferred
with faculty, staff, and students. The report included an assessment
of the current campus climate in regard to diversity issues, and
listed a series of recommendations for action in more than a dozen
areas of College operations including admissions and financial
aid, faculty recruitment, and student residential life.
According to Middlebury College
President John M. McCardell, Jr., the trustees’ statement is significant
because it places an obligation on all members of the Middlebury
community to become more fully aware of cultural differences,
and to actively embrace diversity in all its forms, and at all
levels. “It is vital that the excellent work of the human
relations committee be ratified by action,” said McCardell.
“By issuing this statement, the board of trustees demonstrates
that Middlebury’s commitment goes beyond words. It calls on us
all to act on what we say we believe,” he said.
The one-page trustee statement
notes evidence of the College’s historic commitment to diversity,
cites its international student body as an example of cultural
diversity, and acknowledges the need to build further on these
achievements.
The statement says that “all
those who seek association with Middlebury College will be expected
to bring to that association a mind free from prejudice and a
willingness to engage diversity in all its forms.”