Central Connecticut State University

Senate Diversity Committee Report

2006-2007

Dear Colleagues,

In terms of diversity, 2006-2007 has been a difficult year for our university. Originally, the committee had decided to focus this year on religious diversity, because since the beginning of the decade, we have seen increased stereotypical portrayals of Muslims, and the resurgence of old Jewish stereotypes. The committee put together a series of lectures on this topic with several world-renowned scholars.  However, issues much closer to home ended up taking precedence.

We started the year under the cloud of confusing tenure and promotion decisions that many people believed were evidence of gender discrimination by the current administration, an event that set the tone for much of the year.  President Miller requested that the committee conduct a basic study of general issues related to gender discrimination. Dr. Carolyn Fallahi volunteered to conduct the study, and her full report is attached to this report. Her main conclusions, however, are as follows:

• There is some statistical evidence of gender discrimination in tenure and promotion in the last few years, but most of the variance is explained by the 2006 decisions.
• There is a very significant difference in starting salary between men and women. The mean starting faculty biweekly salary for women is $1,945, whereas for men is $2,104.  For management, the differences are even greater. The mean initial biweekly salary of females is $2,811.09, whereas for men is $4,822.
• There is no significant gender difference in teaching load or number of students taught, but female faculty have a higher number of non-teaching load credit hours than males. We do not have enough data at the moment to explain this difference.

In addition to the already discouraging situation of women at CCSU, In February the student newspaper “The Recorder” published an infamous op-ed titled “Rape only hurts if you fight it” that put our campus on the national news. The fact that the writer and publisher of “The Recorder” were able to publish such an offensive and misogynistic piece without having to pay any serious consequences, helped cement the image of CCSU as a place that is unwelcoming to women.

As chair of the diversity committee, I received numerous complaints from many of the faculty and staff at CCSU about the unwelcoming climate for minority groups at Central, and the lack of genuine efforts on the part of the administration to foster diversity. For instance, the Latin American Association at Central has complained for several years that in the last two years of his administration, President Judd systematically fired or demoted every Latino in top administrative positions. This resulted in CCSU being the only institution of higher education in Connecticut without a single Latino above the level of assistant dean. In spite of explicit promises by the current Miller administration two years ago, The LAAC has complained that this situation has still not being corrected.

The African American Caucus has documented dozens of instances of prejudice and discrimination against Black faculty and staff, including racist messages and E-mails, unfair treatment, and discrimination in promotion and hiring. They complain that in the past two years, there has not been any serious effort to address this bias.

Members of our Gay/Lesbian and Bisexual community have been the targets of hate speech and aggressive messages, some in public fora like the university E-mail list-serve or “The Recorder.” They too complain of a lack of intervention on the part of the Miller administration.

Because of these complaints, the Committee decided to conduct a short Diversity Climate Survey for faculty and staff, which is included as Attachment B. In total, 121 faculty and staff members completed the survey. The results confirm the general perception that many members of ethnic and sexual orientation minority groups already have: there is a clear climate of prejudice and discrimination on campus, coupled with a lack of intervention by the administration. Some highlights:

- While 64% of White/European respondents said they never have experienced prejudice by colleagues, only 14% of African Americans and 9% of Latinos responded similarly.

- 100% of the African American respondents reported being victims of discrimination by supervisors (86% often, 14% occasionally). 73% of Latinos reported likewise. In comparison, only 8% of White/Europeans reported experiencing discrimination often and 18% occasionally.

- 29% of members of sexual orientation minorities reported experiencing discrimination by colleagues often. Only 14% of other respondents reported at the same level.

- About 70% of all respondents found the climate for tolerance and diversity to be medium or low. However, 86% of African Americans and 46% of Latinos responded that it was low.

- Overall, there is a general consensus that the administration is not doing enough to foster diversity and tolerance. Only 12% of respondents believe that the Administration is definitely doing enough to reduce prejudice and discrimination. Furthermore, 0% of African Americans and Latinos responded at the same level!

RECOMMENDATIONS

There is no question that there is an urgent need to address the issues of discrimination and prejudice on this campus. The administration should take firm action by promoting programs that foster and actively seek diversity. The faculty should move without delay to include diversity as a major component of general education. One way to promote effective programs and send a clear message against prejudice and discrimination, would be to upgrade the current position of coordinator of multi-cultural affairs to a position of Vice-president for Diversity, following the model of universities like Texas A&M, University of Virginia, or University of Washington, with a clear, proactive mandate to fight prejudice and promote diversity in our campus.

In any event, it is clear that CCSU is right now in an intolerable position and I call on the Faculty Senate of this institution to exhort the administration to take firm steps to resolve a problem that has, by all objective means, reached a crisis proportion.

Respectfully Submitted

Moises F. Salinas

Chair

Diversity Committee