• Today is the first time, in my almost-two-years as Chancellor, that I have called the UCSD community together to focus on a single topic.

• It is my strong belief that -- at this time in UCSD’s history -- the topic of diversity warrants such attention.

• We have practical and moral reasons to give our full attention to the challenge of diversifying the campus, and to transforming UCSD into a community that celebrates its diversity.

• The Diversity Commission Report may have said it best, and I quote: "Policies designed to increase diversity offset the effect of existing discrimination by race, gender, and disability in our society -- discrimination which artificially reduces the pool of talent available to us, unnecessarily limits the range of experiences and perspective to which we are exposed, and threatens to make us dangerously parochial and provincial, in an increasingly complex and cosmopolitan world."

• It is my belief that this campus must be a forum for discussion of these issues. As a university committed to diversity, we can be a force away from polarization and strife, and toward mutual respect and an understanding of the strength that comes with diversity.

• Furthermore, I believe that the people of this university have the capability of finding the paths to this goal.

• When I was inaugurated as Chancellor in 1996, I declared that one of my top goals would be the pursuit of diversity and excellence. Today, I am even more committed to this goal – but reaching it will require more aggressive outreach efforts than ever before.

• It is critical to our future as an institution, that we attract and retain the best faculty, staff, and students. I mean "best" in a broad sense.

• It is also important that all members of the UCSD community thrive, knowing that their presence and contributions are of great value.

• Those who know me well, know that I view problems as opportunities. SP1, SP2, and Proposition 209 are hard realities, but they don’t excuse us from creating a diverse university community. They do make the goal more challenging.

• It is clear that new approaches to the goals of diversity are needed. We must increase our efforts in a variety of areas both internal and external to the campus. Our focus must include K-12 outreach, campus climate, recruitment and retention, and opportunities for professional enrichment.

• These convictions led me to form the Diversity Commission last year.

• It was clear to me that UCSD had a variety of diversity programs, but little data on which programs were yielding the best results; little understanding of how these programs dovetailed with each other; and whether we were devoting appropriate resources to this goal.

• Another area that concerned me was the campus climate. I view recruitment as only the first step toward true diversity. I needed to know whether the attitude toward racial and cultural differences in our classrooms and workplace was merely tolerance, or true appreciation.

• I asked the Diversity Commission to study these issues, and to chart a future course-of-action for this campus. Under the thoughtful direction of professors Lu Sham and George Lipsitz, this committee of faculty, staff and students took a comprehensive look at UCSD’s needs and efforts, and issued a report this past February.

• The Academic Senate, and many other members of the UCSD community, subsequently commented on the report’s recommendations. The Vice Chancellors and I also explored the report during a retreat, and the Vice Chancellors discussed it within their divisions.

• This invaluable input has given us the outline for a diversity program that is unique to UCSD.

• First, I have directed that we take ten major steps, immediately. These are summarized as the 10-Point Diversity Action Plan you received as a handout.

• This 10-Point Plan is a first step toward improving our diversity efforts. But it is just the first step.

• For diversity activities to transform our community, we need strong campus leadership. The Commission recommended that a Chief Diversity Officer be named – a person of significant power and authority, who would provide leadership for all diversity efforts; shape policy; execute its implementation; and insure that our diversity efforts are successful.

• In thinking about this, I believe that I cannot find anyone more committed to this goal than me. I have, therefore, decided that I will be the Chief Diversity Officer. I do this, to unequivocally insure and signify, that diversity is a major institutional priority.

• The Commission also recommended that the Chief Diversity Officer work in tandem with a Diversity Council, which I am creating. The Council will be comprised of faculty, staff and student representation, and function as the focal point for issues and strategies; and as a catalyst for action.

• Sustained efforts to diversify the student body will proceed on several fronts:

• To insure that high achievers from all schools in our region have access to UCSD, the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Joseph Watson, and I are committed to working with the Admissions Committee on a plan to offer admission to the top 4% of UC-eligible students, from each high school in San Diego and Imperial counties. I believe that students who perform at such a high level in their high schools -- often despite inadequate educational resources -- have demonstrated that they belong at UCSD. They have the potential to soar, and UCSD can help set them on course.

• As another step in this direction, Vice Chancellor Watson and I created the Community Scholarship program last year. Through this program we’ve made scholarships available to community-service oriented, UCSD-eligible students nominated by their principals, in every high school in San Diego and Imperial counties.

• UCSD’s small scholarship pool often puts us at a competitive disadvantage when recruiting underrepresented students. To turn this around, we are setting a campus goal of annually awarding $1 million in undergraduate scholarships, by the year 2002. This will triple UCSD’s current scholarship pool.

• We also are going after private dollars to expand our graduate fellowships, and outreach and retention efforts initiated by students and faculty.

• Our goal is to increase our new underrepresented student population by 10%, each year.

• Turning to the issue of faculty, I believe that we can increase faculty diversity while simultaneously strengthening UCSD’s academic climate. Senior Vice Chancellor Marsha Chandler and I will look at successful efforts at universities nationwide, take the best of these, and use them here. Also to this end, a Distinguished Visitors Program, and the "Profiles in Diversity" project recommended by the Commission will be implemented.

• We’re attacking the goal of increasing staff diversity in several ways. First, this year we will incorporate demonstrated accomplishment toward increased diversity into performance evaluation criteria. Second, we have set an ambitious timetable to design and implement a number of efforts in the areas of staff recruitment, retention and development.

• The last Action item describes my support of CREATE – the UCSD inspired, K-12 program for increasing access to higher education. This innovative approach to diversifying our student body is a tribute to the wisdom of our faculty, staff, and students who designed CREATE, and signifies the unique commitment of this university to the schoolchildren and teachers of San Diego and Imperial Counties.

• CREATE includes many components: The Model School; research on educational practices and opportunities; partnerships with underperforming high schools and their feeder schools; teacher development; outreach and recruitment, and finally, assessment of the effectiveness of these programs.

• The Diversity Report also has much to say about the importance of the campus climate. Every year our campus devotes enormous human and financial resources to fostering a climate that nurtures scholars and scientists. We need to give increased attention to creating a climate that nurtures diversity.

• As the Report notes, few initiatives at UCSD have been more successful in this regard than the Cross-Cultural Center, and the Women’s Center. Here are places where members of our community can come together in an environment of safety and respect.

• The Commission’s report recommends increased resources for both Centers. This will be done.

• Further, the Commission recommends that we consider the creation of space for our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. This will be one of the first issues the Diversity Council considers.

• I hope that you will review this Action Plan carefully, and e-mail me or call my office, if you would like to help with any of these initiatives.

• I now ask the Vice Chancellors to say a few words about their commitment to these diversity efforts. . .

(Each VC speaks briefly.)

• Finally, the Vice Chancellors and I also have issued a point-by-point response to the entire Diversity Commission report. Copies of this document – titled the Chancellor’s Diversity Plan -- are available at UCSD Libraries, and on InfoPath.

• There will be opportunities, through a Web page, to comment on the report, our response, and on UCSD’s diversity and outreach efforts. I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity.

• As I said earlier, this is only a beginning. I want this to be a dynamic process. What works, we will nurture. What doesn’t work, we will change. For this to happen, we need creativity, discussion and enthusiastic participation from all members of the UCSD community. Together we can make this a much better place.

• And now, the Vice Chancellors and I invite your questions . . . .