The Value of Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education

Rutgers hosts scholars at key moment to discuss research and issues surrounding diversity and inclusion on campuses nationwide

Scholars will gather at Rutgers University the first weekend in October to share the latest diversity and inclusion-related research, scholarship and best practices.

Rutgers University-Newark Chancellor Nancy Cantor and Rutgers University-Camden Chancellor Phoebe Haddon are keynote speakers, along with Khalil Gibran Muhammad, professor of history, race and public policy at Harvard University. Scholars will share innovative national studies, examine existing challenges, opportunities and explore current findings at the Oct. 6-7 conference, Framing the Value of Diversity & Inclusion in Higher Education: Setting the Research Agenda.

More than 200 faculty from across the U.S. will cover new research in areas including gender and STEM disciplines; gender spectrum and transgender health care; LGBTQA critical professional transitions; diversifying the professoriate; diverse males in leadership; recruitment and retention of faculty; promoting diversity in academic departments; online courses; race and racialization; constitutional rights and law; and international scholarship.

We talked with Isabel Nazario, associate vice president for Strategic Initiatives in Rutgers Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, about why Rutgers is the right place at the right time to welcome scholars studying diversity and inclusion at colleges and universities and about the issues they will tackle together.

What are some of the key questions and topics that researchers are focusing on around diversity and inclusion at colleges and universities? 

Nazario: Researchers are focusing on issues surrounding undocumented immigrants, restrictive bans on visas affecting researchers, and a divide (nationally) between students and professors on freedom of expression. Proposed cuts in federal funding for research in higher education are also a major concern. Most recently, the hateful language and violence witnessed in Charlottesville, Virginia, has emerged as a major topic of discussion, along with the concerted assaults through the federal courts upon minority advancement in secondary and higher education and on women’s reproductive rights.

The need for pipeline programs at universities and colleges to increase faculty of color and diverse backgrounds is another major area of study. Gender spectrum health care issues as it pertains to transgender matters and LGBTQA critical professional transitions are front and center, too.

Why is this a key time to bring together hundreds of faculty from across the U.S. to discuss the future of diversity and inclusion at universities?

Nazario: We’ve had a range of emotional and controversial social issues come into focus at Rutgers and on university campuses across the country. Threats to undocumented immigrants, restrictive bans on visas, divisive debates over freedom of expression and the future of research funding are among issues that spotlight our broader educational mission at Rutgers, and we are finding these critical issues are also priorities for colleges and universities throughout the nation.

The Trump Administration’s recent decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is another reason the conference is well-timed.

Why is Rutgers University the prime place to host an academic conference on diversity and inclusion in higher education?

Nazario: Rutgers is one of the most diverse universities in the country. Over 60 percent of our student population is diverse—ethnically, racially, culturally and in gender and economic profile. As a member of the Big Ten Academic Alliance, Rutgers-New Brunswick participates in strategic academic planning and is playing an important role in broadening the conversation on diversity and inclusion within the diversity division of the Big Ten Academic Alliance.

Rutgers continually examines the meaning of diversity and how it is unfolding in our community and in our daily interactions. For example, beginning in 2016, each chancellor assembled committees to study various aspects of diversity within each university community. At Rutgers University-Newark, Chancellor Cantor created a Commission on Diversity and Transformation composed of faculty, students, and staff to generate suggestions regarding curriculum, scholarships and initiatives. At Rutgers University-Camden, Chancellor Haddon convened a Committee on Institutional Equity and Diversity, composed primarily of faculty members, to engage in research, advocate for various constituencies, act as a resource for faculty hiring, and advise the chancellor on ways to improve faculty diversity. A group comprised of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty members and senior administrators to advise on the climate of inclusion and racial discourse at Rutgers-New Brunswick led to establishing the Committee on Disenfranchised and Enslaved Populations in Rutgers History, which issued a report, Scarlet and Black. The book documents and confronts the history of the university’s founders’ participation in the slave trade, and tells the stories of the many enslaved men and women consigned to build Rutgers and the university’s role in displacing the Lenni Lenape.

This year, as part of the university’s response to the Scarlet and Black report, the Board of Governors approved the renaming of three spaces at Rutgers-New Brunswick to reflect our history: the Sojourner Truth Apartments at The Yard; the James Dickson Carr Library on Livingston Campus, named for Rutgers’ first African-American graduate; and Will’s Way at the Old Queens Building, which honors an enslaved man who laid the foundation for the heart of the New Brunswick campus.

Will members of the academic community who are unable to travel to New Brunswick be able to participate in the conference?

Nazario: Yes. The conference will be streamed live and can also be followed on social media with the hashtags #RUdiversity and #DiversityinHigherEd. Virtual participants will not be able to ask questions nor interact, but will be able to view the conference live here. This year we are also taping concurrent panel sessions to integrate them into our website.   

Livestream link: https://livestream.com/rutgersitv/DiversityandInclusioninHigherEd

For more information on the conference and speakers, go to the National Academic Conference Fall 2017 website.