UM system receives diversity recommendations

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - The University of Missouri system will need to make a sustained commitment in both funding and personnel to improve its diversity and inclusion efforts, which in the past have lacked direction and a clear plan, a task force said in a report issued Wednesday.

A 21-page report by the UM System Diversity, Equity and Inclusion task force made specific recommendations for each of the campuses in Columbia, Rolla, Kansas City and St. Louis and the system headquarters, including such things as emphasizing diversity and inclusion in hiring and recruiting, improving communication throughout the system and instituting a way to keep track of accountability as it relates to standards. The report was in response to a 164-page audit issued Wednesday by the IBIS Consulting Group.

The Missouri Board of Curators commissioned the campus studies in November 2015, after former system President Tim Wolfe and R. Bowen Loftin, the former chancellor of the Columbia campus, resigned under pressure because of student protests over racial problems there.

Task force members said in the report that at the institution, "there had often been a lack of direction and a clear plan to ensure that (diversity, equity and inclusion) is integrated throughout the university. The success of each has often been predicated upon the commitment of a few dedicated individuals sprinkled throughout the university."

The report said system administrators and campus leaders will have to make a sustained commitment in funding and personnel to improve the diversity situation.

"Diversity, equity and inclusion efforts have been underfunded and under resourced and often viewed in isolation apart from other critical areas of the university," the report said. "With the hiring of (a Chief Diversity Officer for the system) along with renewed attention and a coordinated effort at system level in partnership with each of the campuses, it is expected that will no longer be the case."

Interim President Mike Middleton said in a news release the audit was part of the system's efforts to create "sustainable solutions" to problems implementing diversity, equity and inclusion.

"We have made significant, tangible progress on the initiatives established one year ago by the Board of Curators, and (Wednesday's) release of the audit and recommendations for the university based on the audit's findings, represent another important step forward," Middleton said in the release.

The task force's recommendations for the Columbia campus include revising promotion and tenure standards to show that inclusion and diversity are valued; developing better mentoring programs for faculty, staff and students; making diversity, equity and inclusion recruitment and hiring goals part of the university's strategic plan; and supporting a Center for Teaching and Learning to offer training and support of faculty and administrators to define what diversity and inclusion means in the curriculum.

The task force also suggests establishing an oversight council and establishing incentives for diversity training and education.