Plan to increase campus diversity still in early stages

One of Elon University's most emphasized priorites is establishing a diversity plan, which is currently in its earliest stages after a summer committee of the Presidential Diversity Council and senior staff members worked to write the first drafts.

The plan will essentially expand on the first theme of the "Elon Commitment, which is an unprecedented commitment to diversity and global engagement."

Brooke Barnett, the senior fellow for diversity and global engagement in the Office of the President, said she and President Leo Lambert have shared the plan with academic and staff councils and will begin to get feedback from other groups on campus throughout the fall.

"This plan builds on Elon's longstanding commitment to community and creating a community that warmly welcomes all fully into the life of the university," she said.

While the plan is not fully in place yet, Kenn Gaither, associate dean of the School of Communications and a member of the Presidential Diversity Council, said a number of initiatives are underway and some are already in practice.

As part of the plan, the council is not only looking at what other institutions have done, but what it needs to do to increase diversity and ensure it is diffused throughout the Elon experience.

One way the council is doing this is through research, surveys and focus groups in order to help them find out what the experience is like for an Elon student.

But Gaither said they are looking at diversity in a broad term.

"It's not just a black and white issue," he said. "It's about students who are underrepresented at Elon, like students with different religious backgrounds, students with disabilities and first-generation college students. We are looking broadly at all of these to makethebest experience we can."

Gaither also stressed the plan cannot work solely from the top down, but it has to be something that involves the whole community. The council encourages all faculty, staff and students to get involved in the discussions that will be held in the upcoming year. Even though the discussion topics may be challenging, they are important in moving forward because diversity is such an important part of being an Elon student, according to Gaither.

"Diversity is tied to a worldview when lenses are wide enough to understand and appreciate differences, and that is a fundamental part of the Elon education," he said.