Diversity
at the University of Connecticut
Defining Our Diversity
Valuing Our Diversity
Preparing Students for
a Diverse World
Non-Discrimination Statement
Diversity
at the University of Connecticut
The University of Connecticut is in the midst of profound transformation
as we move from a position of regional prominence to one of national
and international standing. 21st Century UCONN, a multiyear
1.7 billion dollar investment by the State of Connecticut in the
transformation of our buildings and laboratories, and the Diversity
Action Plan, our strategic vision for promoting diversity
in all areas of University life, power this change and poise us
to achieve unprecedented levels of excellence in our student body,
faculty, curriculum, infrastructure, and programs.
A
university is a place for expressing different opinions and holding
disparate attitudes, for learning from one another, for experimenting
and growing intellectually, socially, and physically. It provides
a context for expressing individuality within a milieu of understanding,
diversity, and support, enabling members of its community to learn
from one another.
Defining
Our Diversity
At
the University of Connecticut, we recognize that diversity is
an evolving concept that must change over time. As part of our
process in developing the Diversity Action Plan in 2002, we defined
diversity as the presence and participation of people who differ
by age, color, ethnicity, gender, national origin, race, religion,
sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, and disability status.
In addition, we include in our definition, thoughts, perspectives,
attitudes, and experiences that lie outside traditional notions
of diversity, resulting in a vision of diversity at UConn that
is rooted in a history of supporting minorities and of providing
academic experiences that embrace our unique individual qualities.
Valuing
Our Diversity
For
some fifty years, higher education has debated the meaning of
diversity. The very first diversity goal, which arose from the
civil rights movement, was to admit more minority students to
colleges and universities. Later this goal was expanded to include
retention and, later still, the recruitment of diverse faculty.
Our current conception of diversity centers on creating an inclusive
and equitable learning experience for our entire community.
The
citizens of Connecticut form a mosaic of American life and, as
the state's flagship university, UConn must reflect that diversity
in its community and values. At UConn, we believe that diversity
enriches our learning environment, the strength of our workforce,
and the lives of our entire community. As one of the nation's
premier institutions, it is our obligation to create the best
possible educational environment for our students. Diversity in
our community and educational offerings is therefore a requirement
for fashioning such an environment.
Diverse
environments feature classrooms and initiatives in which instructors,
staff, and students collaborate to make everyone feel valued,
supported, and encouraged to express her or his views. It means
regularly challenging our students by presenting them with meaningful
interactions with fellow students, course materials, and experiences
that promote greater levels of cognitive complexity and relational
abilities both within and outside the classroom. Although our
mission as a higher education institution is to create an educated
citizenry, valuing diversity does not mean indoctrinating students
to a particular ideological perspective or belief system. To the
contrary, we believe that the presence of a diverse learning environment
will open our students to a range of new possibilities beyond
the limits of their experience and education before their enrollment
at UConn.
Preparing
Students for a Diverse World
Despite
nearly 50 years of progress since the landmark desegregation case,
Brown vs. Board of Education (1954), many of our students have
limited experiences with diversity before matriculating at Storrs.
Persistent educational and residential segregation are a continuing
reality in many of our nation's schools and neighborhoods, resulting
in an experience with diversity that is limited to the media or
to superficial relationships with individuals from backgrounds
different than their own. Our aim is to create a balance between
commonalities and differences in the people who make up our community
and the educational programs that we present for each of them.
The
college classroom and campus are the best laboratories for providing
students with diverse experiences and developing skills that will
serve them well when they need to collaborate with individuals
who speak different first languages, hold divergent religious
beliefs, and maintain different gender assumptions then themselves.
More than ever before, corporate and professional communities
call on us to produce graduates who have the skills necessary
to work effectively in groups of colleagues from diverse backgrounds,
are open to new ideas and perspectives, and posses an ability
to empathize with other workers perspectives. When our campus
is diverse in perspective and membership, we are well equipped
to create and nurture these types of abilities and provide our
students with the skills necessary to live and work in a pluralistic
democratic society.
We
believe that students learn more and think in deeper and more
complex ways in diverse educational settings. When an appropriate
learning and social environment is established, college student
diversity-particularly racial diversity-provides the very features
that research has identified as the central prerequisites for
producing highly developed relational abilities, deep critical
thinking skills, and a higher propensity for engagement in civic
life. The diversity in our classrooms, residence halls, and curriculum
places students in situations and relationships that many have
not experienced before, thus stimulating rich introspection and
a broader conception of the world and its possibilities.
Transportation
and electronic networks bring the world population in regular
contact with one another, reminding us daily that we are all global
citizens with a shared responsibility to one another. UConn is
committed to playing an important role in our global village,
and through campus diversity we prepare our students to address
social problems and cultural challenges not just locally or nationally
but anywhere in the world.
Non-Discrimination
Policy Statement
The
University of Connecticut policy prohibits discrimination in education,
employment, and in the provision of services on account of race,
ethnicity, religion, sex, age, marital status, national origin,
ancestry, sexual orientation, disabled veteran status, physical
or mental disability, mental retardation, and other specifically
covered mental disabilities.
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