Encouraging diversity at Cal Poly: Two important steps to take now

In over 30 years at Cal Poly as a professor and department head, I was a strong advocate of improved diversity. My position has been strengthened in light of incidents of the recent past, leading me to conclude that implementing an effective strategy is in the interest of all Cal Poly constituencies and stakeholders. These stakeholders include students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, friends of the university, and all communities of San Luis Obispo County.

As an example of my previous involvement in this issue, I conceived and organized two Cal Poly diversity and inclusivity colloquia in 2012 and 2013. What I learned from being absorbed and focused on improving diversity and inclusivity on campus is there are a few key issues that need to be dealt with prior to achieving significant improvements.

Campus meetings, gatherings, demonstrations, marches and so on are not enough. “Preaching to the choir” does not get the job done. “Talking the talk” and not “walking it” does little. However, meaningful efforts to make the campus resemble the California population will do much to enhance diversity and inclusivity. But this has to be combined with local community support. While the initiatives the university has outlined, as articulated in Tribune articles, are admirable, there is more that needs to be done, and done quickly. I offer two solutions:

▪  Educate the surrounding San Luis Obispo County community.

▪  Admit more students of color and of other under-represented groups to Cal Poly.

Educate the surrounding community

The issue of diversity is not merely a campus issue; the larger surrounding community where people live and work is also an issue. I’ve heard many stories of people of color and other under-represented groups not feeling welcomed as students, faculty, staff — or even as community members not affiliated with the university.

Recent incidents such as the twice ripped down and then stolen “Black Lives Matter” banner at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship amount to vandalism and insensitivity. Community education would be a positive move to enhance human respect and compassion, and to reduce the occurrence of such hurtful acts.

It was my intent following the 2012 and 2013 colloquia to develop “town meetings” in each San Luis Obispo County community to bring an awareness of the positive benefits — social, economic and educational — of making San Luis Obispo County more inviting to people of all races, nationalities, religions, sexual orientations and so on.

However, the university did not particularly support this initiative that would have addressed not only practical day-to-day matters of living, but also issues of human values and philosophical viewpoints.

These town meetings would have focused on the advantages that a diverse and inclusive community brings and would have generated meaningful community input. I recommend that Cal Poly add such meetings to its diversity and inclusiveness strategies.

Admit more students of color, other underrepresented groups

There are two such groups: Under-represented applicants who may not meet Cal Poly’s rigid academic standards for admission, and applicants from under-represented groups who do meet standards but are not inclined to seek admission to Cal Poly.

My hope is that, even in the absence of affirmative action, there is a way to open the door for applicants who may not now meet Cal Poly’s rigid high school or community college admission standards because of any number of circumstances related to their upbringing or K-12 school situations. However, they may have demonstrated the potential to excel at Cal Poly through testimonials, testing and/or interviews.

How might this happen?

▪  Admit under-represented applicants with the potential to succeed based on CSU (not tougher Cal Poly) admission standards.

▪  Outreach nationally and internationally with the message that Cal Poly seeks applications from diverse groups.

▪  Establish a pool for such applicants over and above the in-state pool, as is done for out-of-state and international students.

For students who do meet admissions criteria, encourage them to apply by:

▪  Developing a statewide/national/international public awareness campaign letting people of color and other under-represented groups know that San Luis Obispo County and Cal Poly welcome them to join our community.

▪  Sending invitations to all high school and community college students who will likely meet present Cal Poly academic standards for admission. Knowing the university and local community are welcoming them will likely attract applications from the “best and brightest.”

▪  Having campaign invitations signed by the SLO mayor or county supervisors and Cal Poly president, but they must sincerely reflect the true sentiment of the San Luis Obispo County and campus communities that such applicants are desired and welcomed.

An anecdote to consider: A few years ago, I lobbied on behalf of a racially diverse applicant who had a high GPA (3.5-plus) from Cuesta College, was a Cuesta graduate, was a resident of San Luis Obispo County, was employed by San Luis Obispo’s Family Care Network and worked with foster children, and had a history of performing community service. She was even brought in once a quarter to a Cal Poly psychology class to lecture on foster-care issues, and she had lectured statewide on foster-care topics.

She was not accepted to Cal Poly, even after appealing and changing her requested major from psychology (a high-demand major) to social science (a respected though lower-demand major). If someone with such a background and credentials does not get accepted to even a lower-demand major at Cal Poly, the university will never make a dent in the diversity issue.

The issue of this prospective student is now moot, as she was accepted to another CSU campus (as a psychology major, I might add) and is graduating this May.

Cal Poly’s loss, as well as that of San Luis Obispo County, became another university’s gain.

I recall sitting in on a meeting with the former CSU chancellor when the Cal Poly presidential search had just started after Warren Baker retired. The chancellor clearly stated that one of the top agenda items for Cal Poly’s administration in the coming years was enhancing diversity. A lot of us jumped in to support that initiative.

It’s time for Cal Poly to put initiatives into effect that will truly make a difference, and that won’t be perceived by the campus and local community as “lip service.”

This story was originally published March 15, 2016 at 4:33 AM with the headline "Encouraging diversity at Cal Poly: Two important steps to take now."