The report released findings of a study that measured the quality and quantity of diversity efforts on campus from January 2010 through October 2015.
Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Multicultural Affairs James C. Wimbush specifically named student recruitment and retention as a key area of focus when appointed to the position in 2013.
Since then, the office has increased its scholarship funding and increased retention rates. In 2014, the Groups Scholars Program expanded to provide over two hundred undergraduate students financial assistance for up to four years.
Retention increased among full-time African-American, Hispanic and Native American students in the 2014 incoming class.
Despite the improvements, minority students have shown signs of dissatisfaction. In December, African-American students sought to raise awareness about campus racial issues through the Black IUnity march.
In November, a town forum hosted by Dean of Students Harold “Pete” Goldsmith left some feeling disillusioned.
The study found student organizations created many of the events which focused on specific minority groups on campus.
Wimbush said the data collected from the assessment will help the office take appropriate steps to effectively address retention rates and improve the campus’ cultural climate.
“I didn’t want to just haphazardly say, ‘we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do that’ without completely understanding what we have,” Wimbush said.
The study was conducted by Halualani and Associates, a consulting group that specializes in assessing diversity within institutions of higher education.
The consulting group collected data from Internet searches, surveys and information provided by OVPDEMA to identify diversity efforts. A diversity effort was defined as any activity or program that actively appreciates or unifies people based on characteristics including gender, socioeconomic class, political perspective, race and ethnicity.
The report also noted OVPDEMA needed stronger mechanisms to measure diversity efforts on campus.
Elizabeth Blevins, assistant vice president for marketing and communications for OVPDEMA, said the cultural centers began reporting data relating to student success in the past several months as a result of a change in leadership. She said the cultural centers had not reported any kind of data prior to that point.
Halualani and Associates is expected to finish a retention and recruitment report by the end of this summer. It will conclude its study by analyzing OVPDEMA’s internal structure.
