History

In the Summer of 1993, Lesley University received a generous grant from a private donor to promote diversity and multicultural education. The Lesley University Diversity Council was formed with these funds. At the heart of the Diversity Council is the goal to create a campus living and learning environment to prepare Lesley students to become positive forces for diversity in their professional lives and within their communities.

Lesley University President Margaret McKenna appointed a Special Assistant to the President for Affirmative Action, to coordinate The Diversity Council and promote strong campus-wide support. An executive committee composed of staff, faculty, and administrators, combined with the chairs of six action committees form the steering committee that has developed the desired outcomes and action plans for The Diversity Council. Each committee was designed to focus on specific needs within the community such as recruitment and retention, curriculum and instruction, institutional assessment, quality of life, diversity training and development, and student diversity issues.

In 1995, The Diversity Council contracted a private consulting firm to conduct an institution-wide culture audit. This cultural audit included reviewing recruitment and retention documents and statistics, holding discussions with focus groups from all areas of the community as well as conducting personal interviews. The outcomes of this audit helped us to clearly see where we stood around issues of diversity and what further efforts were needed.

To directly reach Lesley students, the Diversity Council examined curriculum. Since the Summer of 1994, Lesley has periodically offered curriculum development workshops and stipends for faculty to revise or create courses and curricula that incorporate diverse and multicultural perspectives. Particular attention has been paid to pedagogy, assessment, and attitudinal change. By reforming the curriculum, Lesley helps prospective teachers, human service professionals and managers become more aware and effective in our increasingly diverse world.

In efforts to effect change within the culture of the Lesley community, The Diversity Council offered several workshops to core and adjunct faculty, staff and administration. These workshops explored such topics as claiming our cultural identity, exploring cultural patterns in the workplace and hiring practices, managing with a diverse perspective, and creating a multicultural environment.

One of the obvious ways that any community can create immediate, tangible change is to examine and revise policy. In October 1996, after a year of research and discussion, Lesley University announced a new Spousal Equivalency Policy. This policy seeks to promote equity related to sexual orientation by acknowledging same-sex relationships and offering equal health, dental and tuition remission benefits.

Lesley made recruitment and retention of faculty, staff, administration and students of color a priority. A 1994 study at Lesley shows that people of color made up 17% of all Lesley employees compared to 5% in 1987. Undergraduate students of color have also increased dramatically from 7.5% in 1987 to 15.9% in 1994. These figures clearly reflected success and persistent commitment toward creating an ethnically diverse community.

In their meetings, the six committees generated ideas and action plans to carry out the work of the Diversity Council. Projects developed include: compiling a film library that reflects multicultural perspectives, training of trainers to lead workshops on multicultural and diversity awareness, examining accessibility to the University for people using wheelchairs, and expanding diversity training for adjunct faculty and diversity training for new employees.

The Diversity Council is striving to ensure that Lesley University reflects the increasing multiculturalism of this country. As a result, Lesley University hopes to become an increasingly safe, more inviting community not only for people of color, but for people of all cultures, lifestyles, and abilities.