From the Executive council
September 13, 2000

Diversity enriches the educational experience of each and every student and faculty member. We therefore consider increasing diversity a College priority. Providing our students a more diverse learning environment will better prepare them for personal and professional success in an increasingly global, multicultural society.

There are many ways to define diversity, and Grinnell values many types of diversity. To prioritize commitments of time and energy, we suggest initially narrowing the immediate definition of diversity to reflect our view of pressing current needs. We intend to focus our present efforts on increasing the representation of African-American, Latino, Native American, and Asian Americans. (1) Accordingly, for the remainder of this document, our use of the term "diversity" signifies membership in one of these groups.

For many years, the College has sought to increase faculty diversity. We understand that establishing a sustainable process for increasing faculty diversity is itself an ongoing process. To that end, this paper seeks to document current initiatives and to suggest others that will enhance the processes for obtaining a more diverse faculty. This document represents an initial attempt at establishing long-term sustainable procedures to increase faculty diversity, as well as several short-term initiatives aimed at creating a "critical mass" to catalyze the long- term process.

I. Faculty Recruitment

Sustainable diversity recruitment must take place in the context of long-term curricular planning that includes both College and departmental needs. Our goal is to develop a more broadly focused faculty recruitment system that includes a consideration of diversity within the context of the College's overall academic needs.

A. Defining Positions

At present, whenever a department seeks to retain or add a regular faculty position, it prepares a memorandum for the Executive Council, the Dean, and, the President. This memorandum covers the curricular needs of the department, both present and longer term, as well as a discussion of the department's contributions to such all-college needs as tutorials and concentrations. In addition, enrollment pressures are frequently a focus in these documents.

In the future, each such memorandum should also include a discussion of how a proposed position relates to the College's goals of increasing diversity. For example, departments might choose to discuss how the subject matter relevant to their search might be broadened or delineated with different alternatives, so as to attract a larger pool of candidates. Departments are encouraged, where possible, to structure position descriptions in a manner that may attract a more diverse applicant pool without seriously compromising curricular needs. In these memoranda, departments could also discuss the availability of diversity candidates in the relevant pool, broadly defined, as a way of indicating the likelihood of success in attracting a diversity candidate. In this regard, the Diversity Officer could help departments in obtaining the necessary information.

Implicitly, a discussion of diversity in these memoranda will permit the Executive Council to consider diversity as one of the factors in making recommendations to the President regarding the allocation of faculty lines.

Because sustainable diversity recruitment must take place within the context of long- term curricular planning that includes college, departmental, concentration, and general education needs, we propose an initial series of discussions relating these needs to diversity considerations. More specifically, we propose the following:

1. The Executive Council and department chairs, or departmental representatives, would participate in a seminar with senior visiting facilitators who have expertise in various relationships between college curricula and diversity.

2. The participants in this seminar, and others, would then bring similar discussions regarding long-term goals and curricular planning to their departments, divisions, and then to faculty fora. These discussions would ultimately form the basis of Executive Council and Curriculum Committee deliberations, to be followed by full faculty discussion.

B. The Recruitment Process

1. Job Announcements

We propose rewriting the standard language describing the College that is used at the bottom of all job announcements to help the College attract a larger and more diverse pool of applicants. More explicit language regarding diversity would also indicate a stronger commitment to it and might increase the number of diversity applicants.

2. Targeted Recruitment

a. Conferences

Academic conferences may provide opportunities to identify potential diversity candidates for open or anticipated positions. We suggest that departments may wish to consider the following:

i. Sending a member of the department to relevant academic conferences specifically to identify potential diversity candidates that the department may wish to recruit; and

ii. Initiating preliminary contacts with potential diversity candidates during academic conferences with the specific objective of creating an interest in Grinnell.

iii. Hosting a reception at meetings for candidates to which Grinnell alums, former Minority-Scholars-in-Residence, and former CSMPs would be invited.

Since it is possible that the appropriate conference for such recruiting activities is not one that department faculty members would choose as their professional meeting for the year, the administration is prepared to underwrite such targeted recruiting trips.

b. Targeted Job Announcements

With the assistance of the Diversity Officer and the administrative support staff, departments should:

i. Contact foundations such as the Ford or Mellon Foundations, to identify graduates of their scholarship dissertation programs and advanced graduate students;

ii. Send job announcements with a personalized invitation to relevant members listed in the Minority Scholars Directory and/or to their advisors;

iii. Send job announcements to former CSMPs and Minority-Scholars-in-Residence soliciting their application and/or asking them to provide the names of other possible diversity candidates;

iv. Send job announcements with a personalized invitation to Grinnell graduates who would increase diversity at the College and who might be appropriate applicants for the position;

v. Involve specific Grinnell College alumni in helping identify and recruit potential diversity candidates; and

vi. Advertise the position on the appropriate listservs, including those of professional organizations in the discipline that explicitly serve potential diversity applicants (for example, the Society of Latino/a Anthropologists). Alternatively, personal invitations to apply could be sent to members of these organizations.

3. Other Initiatives

Obviously, departments are free to develop additional strategies for identifying and recruiting diversity candidates.

4. Assessment

At the end of the academic year, departments should submit a short report to the Dean on the success or failure of these targeted efforts. This would allow us to evaluate which initiatives were successful and worthy of being continued.

C. Hiring Procedures

This section documents current on-campus procedures for filling an approved faculty line and proposes steps to enhance efforts at hiring highly qualified candidates and increasing the number of diversity faculty on campus.

1. Selecting candidates to bring to campus

Under current procedures, departments discuss the most qualified candidates from the pool with the Dean and the Diversity Officer in order to select candidates for on-campus interviews. It is college policy to invite appropriate diversity candidates to campus.

2. The on-campus interview

Departments could consider making the interview schedule flexible to permit candidates to explore their interests while at Grinnell. For example, schedules could include social hours; time to meet potential colleagues outside the hiring department but in the candidates' areas of interest, or opportunities to explore the City of Grinnell.

3. Interview with Executive Council Representative(s)

As part of the interview process, one or more Executive Council members meet every candidate. Based on this interview, these Council members write an evaluation of the candidate and make a recommendation to the department and to the Council. In their recommendation, Council members should consider diversity.

4. Departmental Recommendation

At present, departments submit memoranda in which they make hiring recommendations to the Executive Council. In these memoranda, departments should discuss the relative quality of the applicants and the contributions they can make to the College, including possible contributions to diversity.

5. Confidentiality

All documents and discussions related to specific candidates are confidential to protect the privacy rights of individual candidates.

II. Diversity Enhancement through Additional Faculty Lines

A. CSMP Program

The Consortium for a Strong Minority Presence ("CSMP") is a joint initiative designed to promote interest among members of traditionally underrepresented groups in undergraduate liberal arts teaching. Grinnell participates in this program along with twenty-one other schools. It is recommended that the College continue, and even enhance its leadership role in the CSMP Program.

1. Number

This program has been funded at the approved level of two CSMP fellows a year. We recommend that whenever more than two departments successfully identify fellows with a reasonable prospect of success here or elsewhere at liberal arts colleges, funding be provided to support additional CSMP Fellows.

2. Teaching and Mentorship Assignments

As with all other new faculty, the CSMP Fellows should have a non- departmental mentor. In addition, CSMP Fellows should also have a departmental mentor. Mentors should provide a regular avenue of support and information about the College and help the CSMP Fellow find a full-time position, preferably at a liberal arts institution, at the end of the Fellowship.

3. Conversion

As a general rule, CSMP Fellowships do not mature into regular tenure-track positions at Grinnell. In circumstances when a department wishes to argue that a CSMP Fellow be hired into a tenure track or term position, a convincing case must be presented that addresses both the curricular needs of the department and/or the College, as well as the quality of the applicant.

Initially, the department should discuss the feasibility of making a convincing case for conversion with the Dean.

The department should then, prepare a memorandum for Executive Council setting forth the following: 1) the department's current curriculum, including its contributions to the College; 2) the department's short-, intermediate-, and long-term plans; and 3) the department's proposal for using the CSMP Fellow to fulfill departmental and college-wide needs. As with any hire, the department must also discuss the professional quality of the CSMP candidate as reflected in both his/her teaching at Grinnell and scholarship.

Whenever a CSMP position is successfully converted, the relevant position is not advertised on the market. In lieu of providing a position description, the Dean, in consultation with the department chair, should produce a memorandum for the candidate which explicitly sets out areas in which he/she will be expected to teach in order to meet departmental and/or College needs.

B. MSIR Program

The MSIR Program has been an integral component in our efforts to create an environment of intellectual and cultural diversity at Grinnell. As with the CSMP program, we should discuss how to weave this successful program into our comprehensive plans at creating a culture of diversity at Grinnell. This may include discussions regarding how we might attempt to retain some of the scholars who visit Grinnell under the MSIR program, although as with CSMP Fellows, this process would entail an explicit demonstration of both the individual strengths of the candidate and his/her curricular contributions to the college.

C. Opportunity Hires

If there is a diversity candidate who interests a department, the department chair, in consultation with the Dean and the Diversity Officer, is encouraged to examine and consider the curricular needs of the College for the purpose of exploring the possibility of creating an additional faculty line. In so doing, they should consider possibilities such as: 1) a primary appointment in one department with specified contributions by the candidate or the relevant department to other departments, concentrations, or general education and 2) a hire that would partially or completely leave-proof a department. While appointments are normally made at the entry level, the College should also consider appointments at a higher level when a relevant candidate is already tenured elsewhere.

III. Other Additive Faculty Positions

Consideration should be given to innovative recruitment for and creation of additional lines which will meet both departmental and college needs. Positions for diversity candidates will be created from time to time. In this regard, any department may present the Dean with proposed position descriptions or identified diversity candidates who could meet departmental and college needs which are not met by existing positions or pending appointments approved by the Executive council. Since additional faculty lines are a limited resource, departments must take care to present a strong case for both the quality of the applicant and the contribution of the position to the College's curricular needs. Additional money will be set aside for departments to attract and recruit such candidates.

The procedures can be found in a separate document from the Office of the Dean

IV. Overall Assessment

After a reasonable period of time, the Executive Council will evaluate the success of these initiatives in increasing the diversity of the faculty and meeting our curricular needs.

(1) The Executive council intends to include South Asians, Southeast Asians, East Asians, and Pacific Islanders within the category of Asian-Americans.