Graduate School to reinstate diversity dean position following complaints

The University is in the process of reestablishing a dedicated deanship position within the Graduate School to deal with issues of diversityfollowing complaints voiced by graduate students, faculty members, trustees and alumni.

A job description for the position of associate dean for diversity and inclusion was posted on the University's website on Nov. 19.

The Graduate School had announcedin October that the position of associate dean for academic affairs and diversity would be phased out and replacedby two lower-level positions, an assistant dean for student life and diversity and a student life and diversity coordinator, leaving no formal representation of diversity efforts among the senior administration of the School. Graduate student leaders, faculty, trustees, and alumni immediately voiced concerns in response about the changes.

In anop-edpublished in The Daily Princetonian last month, the student leaders Colin Watson GS, president of the Black Graduate Caucus, Vlad Medenica GS, president of the Latino Graduate Student Association, and Janeria Easley GS, president of the Graduate Women of Color Caucus, wrote that the original restructuring plan “simply introduces more persons of color with less influence.”

In addition, a letter of support was circulated among faculty members protesting the changes. Medenica said that the authors of the op-ed had had several conversations with interested trustees, and several alumni had reached out to him.

Dean of the Graduate School Sanjeev Kulkarni announced late last month that in place of the two new positions, the University would reintroduce a dean for diversity, reversing his previous decision.

“One of the points Dean Kulkarni made to us … is that he felt he couldn’t succeed without student support, and I think that’s one of the things he got 100 percent right,” Medenica said.

Kulkarni declined to comment.

“We’re kind of back to where we were last semester. I do think it’s a step back in the right direction, but a lot of the issues we were talking about when we wrote the editorials were going on even when Dean Weaver was here,” Medenica said, referring to the former dean of diversity and academic affairs who resigned at the end of last year.

The Graduate School has a reputation for being a “chilly environment” for students of color, Easley said.

“There is very little community. There are very few students of color. There are very few faculty of color,” Medenica added. “There is no program in African-American studies or ethnic studies.”

Areportpublished last year by a trustee ad hoc committee concluded that the University was not doing enough to create a “diverse and inclusive campus climate.”

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“It’s a solid first step,” noted Medenica. “But that’s all it is; a first step.”

According to the posting, the new associate dean will collaborate with groups within the Graduate School as well as the Office of the Provost, academic departments and programs, to promote diversity and inclusion at the University. The associate dean will also focus on increasing the access, retention and success of students that have been historically underrepresented in graduate education, including racial and ethnic minorities, women, first-generation students, low-income students, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, people with disabilities and others.

Qualifications for the position, the description says, include a Ph.D. and at least five years of administrative experience in higher education, as well as documented experience working with underrepresented students in higher education.