EUGENE, Ore.
Faculty and students at the University of Oregon are reviewing a new “diversity plan” for the campus, after the first stab at creating such a blueprint drew a firestorm of complaints.
The university, which has struggled alongside other Oregon schools to attract diverse students and professors, also recently lost its first diversity chief, who abruptly left for a job in Texas.
Charles Martinez, the UO’s interim vice provost for institutional equity and diversity, said the new diversity plan is a blueprint to ensure that the university can appeal to an increasingly diverse state and nation.
But the recent search for a new law school dean hasn’t helped matters. After a Mexican American withdrew from the running, law school faculty complained that he was treated differently from other candidates and questioned whether race was a factor. Two professors have since announced they’ll be taking leave from the university next year in protest, and are not sure they will be returning.
The law school dust-up is the latest in a series of events that has heightened tensions over ethnic diversity at the university.
Last May, students and faculty at the College of Education held rallies to urge the administration to address perceptions of cultural bias and insensitivity in the classroom. The university has since hired a consultant to help the college address concerns.
