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wed WHAT'S rasspf: News 2« Opinions 4A Life ib Classifieds 3a Sports 5 s; Etcetera D £ lEWSs Air filters cause students to become ill page 2 Students reflect on diversity at Stetson page lb © iversi _»© Open forum will discuss diversity as core value ofthe university, as well as goals to promote it By Liz Erlenbach NEWS EDITOR n Wednesday, Oct. 22, the university will hold a town meeting on diversity in the Elizabeth Hall chapel. The meeting will be an open forum moderated by Dr. Leonard Nance, Diversity Council chair. Dr. Douglas Lee, president of the university, said, "My immediate goal [of the meeting] is to raise the level of awareness within the campus community that diversity and in- clusiveness are core values of the institution." Classes on Wednesday will be canceled in order to promote student attendance at the meeting, which will take place from ten o'clock a.m. until noon. "To cancel classes is a very controversial decision. It was.recommended by the Diversity Council, and was approved by the council of deans then was brought to the president's staff for approval... It was an attempt, once again, to reaffirm what we did in 1960 and in 1987, the centrality of diversity and inclusiveness as a core value of the institution," said Lee. The university prides itself on its efforts to promote diversity. It was the first private university in Florida to integrate, in 1960, and the first to graduate a Native American student. "That was more than a symbol, that was a commitment on the institution's part to the values of diversity and inclusiveness," said Lee. Since 1960, the university has taken many steps to promote diversity, such as electing trustees from diverse backgrounds, establishing the Howard Thurman lecture series in 1996, and establishing the Values Council in 1998. "We began in the late 80's a commitment to figure out how we were going to put both diversity and inclusiveness as central core values of the institution, and we have been working on it ever since," said Lee. Rita Nethersole conducted a climate study of the university's commitment to diversity in 1998 to evaluate the university's success in making the university a welcoming place for students from diverse backgrounds. This study-showed the administration where improvements were needed. Nethersole's study, named three stages of diversity. These stages were the symbolic stage, the periphery stage, and the integrated stage. Lee said, "She didn't say that ev- jReporter C ORRECTIONS "Stetson-only Thursdays criticized," LIFE, Issue 5. A quote was misattributed to Damaris. Del Valle. C ONTACT U S 421 N. Woodland Blvd. #8409 DeLand, FL 32720-3751 386.822.7224 FAX 386.822.7233 reporter^ stetson.edu reporter_news"&'s tetson.edu opinions ;7f stetson.edu [email protected] e tec tera(i?; stctson.edu sports'wjs tetson.edu online^! stetson.edu advertise(i_vstetson.edu ?s«>\ •>'..>:; ■•>»'■*■ "■***. ' - iV s^5* *** **?""> V 'A ■HiA7MfWt ■«>S.~-?* ^ 4.-3 .^ '. ^ >"* &*- A '> - ^ *■ ' "" X .5 £•• • \A. - H-«i "•'• .'.-.'vvissta af.-«^J.<»-A*J»CTi^i5. ^»A, MEETING: Drs. Doug Lee and Leonard Nance discuss plans for Oct. 22's town meeting on diversity, photo by liz erlenbach erything we had done was symbolic, but she did say that diversity and inclusiveness are still on the periphery, and gave us a list of things to work on." Several years later. Nethersole came back to the university and did a follow-up .evaluation. "At that moment in time, she applauded us greatly on our accomplishments, but also said that we had fundamental issues to deal with in bringing diversity and inclusiveness into the very core of the institution," said Lee. Nethersole recommended several actions to the university. The first was to increase the raw numbers of students from diverse backgrounds, as well as increasing the number of faculty and support staff from these backgrounds. The second suggestion was to pay careful attention to the climate for students from diverse backgrounds, and ensure that support systems are in place for them. Additionally, Nethersole expressed concern with the university's academic quality initiative. Lee said, "Her interpretation, and many other people interpreted it this way, is that we were elevating the SAT to be a primary target for measuring academic quality, at a time , when research had demonstrated that it was a culturally flawed instrument, and placed students from diverse back grounds at a disadvantage for becoming enrolled at Stetson." The Nethersole report has not been the only indicator that diversity is an issue at the university, however. According to Nance, reports from students have also led to the conclusion that changes must be made. "What those students were telling us is that there are problems. We do a wonderful job of presenting our commitment to them and attracting them to the university, but we don't always have the necessary structures in place that are designed to support that commitment in a way that makes them feci the most comfortable and the most welcome," said Nance. Both Nance and Lee hope that the town meeting will help to achieve this goal and open the lines of communication about the issue of diversity to the entire school. "I think what we have now are pockets of conversations across campus around the various values, and around the various issues, but we never have come together as a community to genuinely and honestly talk about these issues. That's the purpose of the town meeting, to provide an opportunity for us to bridge that gap and bring all those pockets together, so that we can more effectively begin to fashion the best path for us as a university to take," said Nance. The meeting will start with an introduction by Nance, followed by several two to three minute speeches by panelists including faculty and students. They will attempt to answer the questions, "Is diversity a core value here at Stetson University?" and "Should it be?" from their own perspectives and experiences. Nance said, "We hope that from those various presentations, ideas, questions and responses will be generated within the larger community to the point where we can begin to have an honest conversation about it." After the presentations, anyone who has a view will be able to state it and discuss the issue. Microphones will be provided, even in the overflow seating area in Elizabeth Hall, room 315. "My guess is that people are going to reflect personally on their experience," said Lee. While both Nance and Lee caution that the university has not yet attained their goal of integrating diversity into the core of the university, they are hopeful that the town meeting will help address students' concerns and allow the university to improve their commitment to diversity and inclusiveness. "The capacity for change appears to be so much greater here than at other places. It may be that we have seen what we can become by virtue of all of the good things that have been accomplished, and there's an element of frustration that we're not moving forward more quickly. We know that we can do it, we know that the desire among the members of the community is there for that to happen. But there's something that hasn't quite happened that has allowed us to make that leap towards change," said Nance. "The culture has changed, but it certainly has not changed to the point where we feel like we have achieved our goals," said Lee. Contact Liz Erlenbach at [email protected]. pra o if®™ati©in By Liz Erlenbach NEWSEDITOR Career Services, in conjunction with Phi Alpha Delta, the university's pre-law fraternity, presented the university's first Law School Expo on Wednesday night, Oct. 8, in the Carlton Union Building's Stetson Room. Schools from all over the country attended, including Stetson University College of Law, University of Florida's Levin College of Law, Hofstra University School of Law, Florida International University College of Law, Barry University School of Law, Florida Coastal School of Law, Franklin Pierce Law Center, Mercer University School of Law, University of Miami School of Law, Regent University School of Law, and Samford University's Cumberland School of Law. "This is the first year that we've had just the law expo. For the last five or six years; we've had the law panel, where we've had 6 or 7 law schools come and discuss a specific subject. But this year we decided to have a big, open fair, where everyone could come and enjoy themselves, have a —„ snack to eat, and get their information," said Jane Cordray-Brandon, director of Career Services. "By pooling our resources with Career Services, ______ we've been able to ... attract a lot more schools from around the country and state," said Youssef Benkhatar, senior political science, major and president of Phi Alpha Delta. "There's no other time when you can talk face to face with an admissions rep and get such great information." and students by allowing schools to make themselves more public, while giving students valuable insights on applying and getting in to law school. "We're a new school, so we want to get our name out there and let people know that , we're around. We also like to be here to discuss accreditation issues and make sure the students realize that we are provisionally accredited," said Sheri Lagomarsino, direc- tor of admissions at Barry University School of Law. "Stetson University College of Law is part of Stetson University. We want to promote the law school as just a continuation of the Stetson experience The expo benefited both institutions because we would really like to see as many Stetson undergrads come to the law school as possible. We know the caliber of students we're getting at the law level, because Stetson students are challenge students and they do very very well," said Emily Attridge, financial aid director for Stetson University College of Law. Additionally, attending the event allows law schools to get an idea of the caliber of students who are applying. "By coming here and other universities like Stetson, the thing we'll find is that this is how you find the best students in the state. You don't necessarily find them at the huge university, or the small university. They're going to be everywhere. So you have to go to all the universities to find the best of the best," said Louis Hutchinson, director of admissions at University of Florida's Levin College of Law. see LAW SCHOOL, page 2a *«l®^_mi» * ia§_ mm _^fe^i mmm _@q@h& ®ti^&$s$$$%