12/5/01

Bob Lowry, 334/844-9999

AUBURN TO EXPAND MINORITY STUDIES, TOLERANCE & DIVERSITY TRAINING

AUBURN -- Auburn University is moving quickly to expand its course offerings for spring semester in minority studies and will continue tolerance and diversity training for its faculty, staff and students in the new year, Interim President William F. Walker announced Wednesday.

"The events of the past month have sharpened our focus on the need for continued education," said Walker. "This is a time for us to do what we do best. That is to educate ourselves, and all of our students, faculty and staff about the values that this university embraces."

Issues of diversity and tolerance were raised on Nov. 5 when photographs of white Auburn fraternity members dressed in attire offensive to members of the university community were posted on the Internet.

"We are now moving on to the greater task at hand -- attacking, through whatever effective means we can, the apparent lack of sensitivity and understanding that resulted in this incident," said Walker. "I decided at the outset that this would be a positive opportunity for Auburn University to reaffirm its position on issues of diversity and tolerance, and to embody that position in loud and clear public statements of policy.

"I see this educational process playing out not only through the policy statements, but also through public convocations and forums in which we can talk with one another and draw on experts to help inform our discussions."

The president directed Provost John Pritchett to expand course offerings on tolerance and diversity in Auburn's curricula, concentrating on mandatory courses in the core curriculum. Vice President for Student Affairs Wes Williams' office is working on co-curricular material.

The university, for example, is considering expanding its offering during spring semester of Sociology 3500, a course dealing with the "sources and uses of minority representations in the United States addressing inequalities such as race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation."

"We're going to redouble our efforts to diversify," said Walker.

Walker has also appointed a task force to look into the establishment of a multicultural center on campus.

In addition, the Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center's Tolerance.Org has agreed to assist AU in the coming year.

Tolerance.org conducted a program at AU on Nov. 14 called "Education and Tolerance at Home (turning HATE around through education and tolerance)" for Auburn students, faculty and staff.

Walker said he is committed to sustaining the momentum Auburn gained during the fall semester when it enrolled a record number of African-American freshmen students.

Auburn had a 24 percent increase in its enrollment of African Americans in its freshman class this fall, but African-Americans make up only 7.2 percent of the overall enrollment of 22,469. Over the past five years, the number of African-American faculty increased by 29 to 47 out of a total of 1,100 faculty members.

"Our overall African-American enrollment is a great improvement from where it was just a few years ago," said Walker. "But that's not good enough. We must strive toward a number that is more reflective of Alabama's population. We're going to have to work even harder to attract African-American students to our campus.We're going to have to look at a variety of measures to enhance our efforts.

"We understand we have a long ways to go and some high hurdles to leap at Auburn to reach our goals of diversity, but we are prepared and dedicated to become a diverse and open campus," he added.

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