DIVERSITY AND EQUITY INITIATIVE AWARDS 2003-2004
Introduction
Diversity grants were awarded in areas for outreach, recruitment, performance art, research and speaker forums. These awards were granted to campus departments and programs that initiated and implemented ideas, dialogue, and research to enhance diversity in higher education. As stated within the University of Hawai’i System Strategic Plan, Entering the University of Hawai`i Second Century:
Diversity, fairness, and equity: Society is best served by ensuring that all populations are represented equally throughout the University of Hawai`i system. Diverse perspectives contribute to the University’s commitment to root out prejudice and injustice. (Commitments and Core Values: The University of Hawai’i System Strategic Plan, 2002-2010, p.7)
Initiative funding is provided specifically to engage the university community to work towards a more diverse campus setting. Proposals that funded an outreach and recruitment project brought high school students that are traditionally underrepresented at the university for orientations with departments that are interested in recruiting Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders. Outreach activities to the broader community presented symposium and forums for university students, faculty, staff and community members discussing issues of race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, age and religion. Other smaller mini grants brought speakers or performance artists that focus on these similar diversity issues.
The Diversity and Equity Initiative provided funding for two kinds of proposals. Regular proposals request up to $5,000 and initiated programs and projects for fall and spring. These larger regular grants are accepted once when the call for proposals was initiated in October. Mini proposals receive up to $1000 and paid honorariums for speakers, lecturers and smaller projects. These mini proposals were accepted until April 2004.
All proposals are reviewed by a systemwide group, composed of faculty, staff and a graduate student from UH Manoa, West-Oahu, Leeward, Hilo, and Kauai. Members reflect diverse backgrounds and expertise. They are African American, Native Hawaiian, Filipino-Chinese, Japanese, and White. Departments represented on the committee include: Languages, Linguistics and Literature, Library Science, Microbiology, Counseling and Academic Advising, Sociology and Political Science. Participating members include Sandra Chang, John A. Burns School of Medicine, Joyce Chinen, West-Oahu , David Coleman, Leeward Community College, Ginger Hamilton, UH-Hilo, Kris Kaupalolo, UHM Graduate Students Organization, Cammie Matsumoto, Kauai Community College, Joseph O’Mealy, UH Manoa.
Forty-one proposals received diversity and equity initiative awards for projects and activities for Fall 2003 and Spring 2004 semesters. They may be categorized as follows, with an example of a funded proposal for each category.
Examples:
Native Hawaiians - 10 projects
UH Manoa Hamilton Library purchased software to display appropriate diacritical marks for viewers who do not have Hawaiian word processing fonts.
General issues or multiple areas of diversity - 9 projects
Honolulu Community College presented a legal scholar and speaker on critical race theory and public schools.
Filipinos – 7 projects
Leeward Community College and UH Manoa American Studies presented readings of Filipino-American author and playwright.
Students with Disabilities – 4 projects
Systemwide Commission on Disability Access organized a workshop of key stakeholders from all ten campuses to address the unmet, emerging and complex needs of college students with psychiatric disabilities.
African Americans – 3 projects
UH Hilo Department Theater and Dance presented 16 independent film documentary and discussions on the state of contemporary cinema from a Black American and African perspective.
Chinese – 2 projects
UH Manoa Women’s Center and English Department Manoa Journal presented a performance about three generations of Chinese women and explored issues on cross-cultural understanding, dislocation, assimilation, gender equity, and intermarriage.
Single diversity projects from other campuses include Muslim girls, Jewish holocaust memorial day, Pacific Islanders, hate crimes and other violence related issues.
General Comments
Faculty, staff and students from all campuses continue to submit more proposals than can be funded. Last year fifty-six proposals were submitted and forty-one received awards. More effort must be made to obtain proposals from all campuses for projects that focus on sexual orientation, disability, gender, age, and religion, as well as projects that include Samoans and other Pacific Islanders, Laotian, Vietnamese and African Americans. The committee was pleased that a number of the projects served multiple campuses and their local communities. The committee will review its outreach efforts and develop specific plans and actions to improve outreach to all campuses and diversity groups.
These funds help campuses meet strategic plan goals by providing critical funding support to students, faculty and staff for curriculum development and research, increased representation and participation of under-served or underrepresented populations, and campus climate diversity.
