Daryl G. Smith - Diversitys Promise for Higher Education: Making It Work

Diversitys Promise for Higher Education

Making It Work

THIRD EDITION

Daryl G. Smith

2009, 2015, 2020 Johns Hopkins University Press

All rights reserved. Published 2020

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Smith, Daryl G., author.

Title: Diversitys promise for higher education : making it work / Daryl G. Smith.

Description: Third edition. | Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020. | Second edition published 2015. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019045794 | ISBN 9781421438399 (paperback : acid-free paper) | ISBN 9781421438405 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: MinoritiesEducation (Higher)United States. | Minority college studentsUnited States. | MulticulturalismUnited States.

Classification: LCC LC3727 .S65 2020 | DDC 378.1/982dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019045794

A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.

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I see the significance of diversity everywhere. And, perhaps because I have devoted my professional career to higher education as an administrator and faculty member, I believe that higher education must play a critical role if we are to achieve the promise of our democracy: developing a pluralistic society that works. Although few of us have lived or worked in such a setting, this is one of the foremost challenges of our day. This book is an attempt to bring together several large bodies of research, along with lessons from the field of practice, to reflect on the status of diversity in higher education and, more centrally, on what we are learning about the conditions necessary for developing effective and sustainable strategies that work. In this third edition, tables and figures have been updated and areas such as gender identity and transnational efforts regarding diversity have been strengthened. This edition also underscores the continuing changes for diversity in terms of language, elaborates on the imperative of embedding diversity as the core of excellence in the mission of an institution, and describes the urgency to build capacity in leaders and leadership development programs for developing diverse teams that work.

Today, diversity is no longer a projectionit is a reality. The challenge is that while the historic issues of diversity, which have occupied many in higher education over the past fifty years, have grown in their urgency, new issues are emerging. The context for diversity is shifting, and the rhetoric about diversity is increasing. As a result of the research done in preparing for this book, it is now clear to me that understanding the conditions under which diversity works and addressing them institutionallysomething we can now doprovides an opportunity to confront the unfinished business of the past even as we address the newer issues of today.

Indeed, the demographic shifts of our society and the patterns of immigration around the world create a critical opportunity. Our institutions will become more diverse. Arguing about the merits of diversity and defending its existence (as if there were a choice) may be necessary and, indeed, have been the starting point for a great deal of important research in higher education. But at the core, our challenge is to achieve the benefits of diversity for our institutions and for society. Simply acknowledging diversity will not be sufficient. We can see the difficulties inherent in creating truly diverse communities that work well. Fortunately, a reasonably robust body of knowledge from research and practice now exists and can help illuminate the conditions under which diversity works and the implications for colleges and universitiesas institutions.

I have learned, however, that reframing diversity to focus on building institutional capacity and the relationship of diversity to excellence is not an easy transition. Understanding the notion of building capacity requires a clear picture of the stakes for institutions concerning diversity. Here I want to suggest, as I do at greater length in , a useful parallel with the imperative of campus efforts to build capacity for technology. Several decades ago, as technological shifts began, campuses all across the country understood that their viability as institutions would rest on building capacity for technology and indeed understood that without continuing development in technology, the institution could not be excellent.

Technology was understood to be central, not marginal, to teaching and research. But more critically, technology was seen as central to the viability and excellence of every educational institutionthat is, how the institution communicated, built infrastructure, spent money, and went about hiring. Because technology has been continually changing, institutions, almost without question, have been continually adapting as new technologies are introduced. Technology is now part of everyday life and every corner of institutional life. On some campuses, a new position has been created for a chief information officer, whose task is to develop strategies for incorporating future technological developments, for allocating resources, and for coordinating campus efforts. Building technological capacity has required that institutions develop adequate human, physical, fiscal, knowledge, and cultural resources.

We are now at a time when we must understand that diversity, like technology, is central to higher education. Will institutions be credible or viable if diversity is not fundamental? I believe not. Locating diversity as central to institutional effectiveness, excellence, and viability frames the orientation of this book. The diversity imperative goes far beyond student success, though student success remains critical. The issue today is fundamentally whether and how institutions are building the capacity to function in society in a way that is appropriate to their mission. In the next generation of diversity work, student success will be a necessary but not sufficient indicator of institutional effectiveness and excellence. Capacity will also be centered at the institutional levelthat is, how diversity is embedded in every core function including research, hiring, competencies required, and serving the public good.

As I developed the approach I wanted to take in this book, it became apparent that I needed to focus on the concept of identity as well. While identity is a common framework for human development approaches to diversity, it is also essential in understanding diversity institutionally. More significantly, current research on the concept of identity and how it functions in both institutional and social contexts is extraordinarily useful for thinking about the conditions under which diversity can be established as a strength rather than encountered as a barrier in developing healthy institutions.

The book is organized into four parts. seeks to establish that the significance of diversity in higher education is linked to many compelling issues in the world and in the United States, including immigration, continuing inequities, the formation of nation-states, histories of injustice, and creating effective work-places. I hope it provides a convincing argument that diversity offers both powerful opportunities and serious challenges. These opportunities and challenges can no longer be framed in terms of pursuing diversity or not pursuing it.