Is the University of California Committed Enough to Diversity?

James Taranto in the Wall Street Journal recounts the almost endless ways that UC is focussed on "diversity." AT UC San Diego they have the:

.... Chancellor's Diversity Office, the associate vice chancellor for faculty equity, the assistant vice chancellor for diversity, the faculty equity advisors, the graduate diversity coordinators, the staff diversity liaison, the undergraduate student diversity liaison, the graduate student diversity liaison, the chief diversity officer, the director of development for diversity initiatives, the Office of Academic Diversity and Equal Opportunity, the Committee on Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Issues, the Committee on the Status of Women, the Campus Council on Climate, Culture and Inclusion, the Diversity Council, and the directors of the Cross-Cultural Center, the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Center, and the Women's Center.

Apparently in this time of tight budgets, that's not enough commitment. The school

...is creating a new full-time "vice chancellor for equity, diversity, and inclusion."

Meanwhile the budget for academics is being slashed.  Now, if only UC San Diego could get rid of its students, life would be perfect for its administration.

Could we outsource them?

UC San Diego promotes “diversity” with such single minded ferocity that if I were of college age and a white, male Midwesterner I would be fairly sure that I would not fit in. 

Dr. Sandra Daley tells me that I would belong because

“Our commitment to a diverse educational experience is something that extends to all students. No matter how you identify yourself, there is a place for you to feel comfortable, to challenge the status quo, and to grow and learn as an individual at this prestigious and innovative university.”

Does the average high school graduate thinking about going to college seek a “diverse educational experience” or a good education that he can afford?  It’s a fact that universities have priced themselves out of reach of the average family.  Graduates are leaving college with staggering debt loads and a job market that has nearly half of the graduating class unemployed or waiting tables.

It’s not something that Dr. Sandra Daley has to worry about.  She’s Associate Chancellor and Chief Diversity Officer, and Chair of the Board of The Preuss School.

Here are the opportunities that the student getting that diverse educational experience can take advantage of:

At UC San Diego the most accomplished students from the U.S. and 80+ other nations challenge one another to explore beyond the boundaries of academic departments and majors. Here’s a sampling of the dynamic, multi-disciplinary UCSD programs that explore diverse peoples and insights.

• AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES …
• CALIFORNIA CULTURES IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE …
• CLAH (CHICANO/A~LATINO/A ARTS AND HUMANITIES) …
• CRITICAL GENDER STUDIES …
• DIMENSIONS OF CULTURE …
• ETHNIC STUDIES …

Let’s wander over to one of the “Campus Community Centers” where we  …. “build and sustain a socially just campus.”  We can pick and choose among at least three:

·         CROSS-CULTURAL CENTER offers art, social, and educational

programs and workshops, student internships, and creative

venues for enhancing social consciousness and equity. We are a

campus home for many underrepresented students, staff, and

faculty. Chill at “The Cross,” use our kitchen, meet with friends,

take a nap, check out a book or video from our lending library, or

absorb the local art at ArtSpace. ccc.ucsd.edu

·         LGBT RESOURCE CENTER is a proud home for the entire LGBT

community. We provide a visible presence on campus and

enhance a sense of connection and community. We encourage

you to get involved by becoming one of our interns or student

staff, participating in one of the student groups, helping our peer

support groups, joining the Umbrella Group, or volunteering.

·         WOMEN’S CENTER fosters the educational, professional, and

personal development of diverse groups of women. Relax in our

cozy living room, study in our library, attend a program, or join

one of the many student, staff, and faculty groups that meet here.

We provide education and support on gender issues as well as

information and referrals on a wide variety of topics.

Interesting, there is no center for me.  In times past these three centers might have been called ghettos where people shut themselves away in enclaves to be surrounded by people just like themselves.

And then there’s “SPACES” …

The work done at SPACES (Student Promoted Access Center ForEducation And Service) is student-initiated, student-run, and student-led. Our mission is to empower students to work for greater educational equity. This encompasses equal access to higher education, undergraduate retention and graduation, and matriculation to graduate and professional schools.

 

Reading between the lines, the demand for equal access to retention, graduation and professional schools seems like a demand that actually studying, learning and passing your courses is on the way out at UC San Diego.

 

Moving on to UC San Diego’s “student orgs.”  Their website could well be a parody of political correctness.  You can’t make this stuff up; no one would believe you.

 

Under the umbrella of the STUDENT AFFIRMATIVE ACTION COMMITTEE, we find …

·         APSA for Asian and Pacific-Islanders

·         BSU for Black/African-Americans

·         KP for Pilipinos

·         MEChA for Mexicans (“la raza”)

·         NASA (no, its not the space agency) for Native Americans

·         QPOC for (I’m not making this up) “queer-identified people of color”

And let’s not forget The Collective Voice …

 

The Collective Voice is UCSD’s progressive newspaper that promotes social unity, justice, and awareness across the many communities on campus. We provide underresourced students the empowering opportunity to protect the representation of their identities and beliefs, and report alternative news not otherwise covered by mainstream media.

The Left always portrays itself as the powerless minority under siege.  The Collective Voice is the perfect example of that.  In reality, there has never been so many resources thrown at them and people like them in the history of civilization.  In fact, if your view of UC San Diego depended on their website, you would think that you were in a third world country. 

Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

 

And here's our UC San Diego Diversity Team



The Chancellor’s Diversity Office leads the campus diversity strategic planning initiatives, facilitates the building of new institutional diversity infrastructures, interfaces with institutional accountability systems, and manages the diversity initiatives that are sponsored by the 11 Staff Associations, Diversity Council and the Chancellor’s Advisory Committees.

The Chancellor’s Diversity Office comprises Associate Chancellor / Chief Diversity Officer Sandra Daley, Assistant Chancellor for Diversity Glynda Davis, Executive Assistant to the Associate Chancellor/ Chief Diversity Officer Nadia Tapia, and the Campus Community Centers. Irma Velasco coordinates campus diversity efforts with the Chancellor’s targeted activities both on campus and in the San Diego community. The three Campus Community Center Directors — Emelyn dela Pena of the Women’s Center, Edwina Welch of the Cross-Cultural Center, and Shaun Travers of the LGBT Resource Center — also serve as Diversity Officers. Diversity Officers, as defined by the American Council of Education, play a key role as integrators, collaborators, and coordinators of campus partnerships for institutional diversity efforts. The Centers have a long history of serving in these capacities and have the unique ability to bring together historically disenfranchised communities and then link them to the larger university community and to affinity groups in the San Diego region.

It may surpise you to learn that these diversity Czars are simply the diversity crew of part of the university.

Here's  Jeanne Ferrante is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Faculty Equity 

UC San Diego has 8 Faculty Equity Advisors 

And no, I don't know what their "advisory" job entails or if they get paid extra for it.

 

I could go on mining the UC San Diego websites for more comedy gold ... or the tears of parents and taxpayers who are shelling out for this tribute to academic empire building.

 

Glenn Reynolds has introduced a phrase into the public discourse "Academic Bubble."  If there is a university that can act as a poster child for the academic bubble and the wounds that academia has willfully inflicted on itself it would be UC San Diego.