A subcommittee of the CU board of regents is working on revamping diversity policies to present-day standards.
The subcommittee has recently started making these updates. Participating regents met Aug. 25 to discuss the policies as well as the separate issue of revising the presidential search process.
Associate Vice President Ken McConnellogue, spokesman for the CU system, says the policies are being changed for the better. McConnellogue said that no updates have been made since the last meeting.
As far as the procedure and regulations concerning the presidential search process, the matter has undergone deliberation and amendments are likely to ensue.
Several CU policies are outdated or extraneous in contemporary society. One example is a document set in 1959 barring athletic segregation even when it is a host college’s custom.
Haley Burns, a 19-year-old sophomore English major, says the university is taking is a step in the right direction.
“I feel like updating the diversity policy is important, especially since the old regulations have been around since the 50’s,” Burns said. “Since then diversity has played a huge role in this nation’s culture. I think that we’ve come a long way since then and we should show that.”
Non-discrimination policies that are specifically geared towards diversity have been reaffirmed and revised several times in the past decade, most recently in August 2008.
The statutes set by the Board of Regents include a statement reaffirming the Board’s commitment to diversity, a description of diversity and, most recently questioned, the principles for developing campus diversity plans. The lattermost will most likely undergo amendments. Principle 10 (of 11) states: “Campus plans shall be subject to periodic review and updates when the needs of the university require so,” which is exactly what is happening now.
Only one of the 13 non-discrimination rules set by CU Regents has ever been revised. Eight of those 13 date back from 1975 to 1944 and have not been modified.
Freshman Paris Clark, an 18-year-old psychology major, says CU should update policies more often, not only to stay up-to-date with the rest of the country, but also to keep students safe.
“[CU] should have modern policies by constantly revising original ones. Rules shouldn’t be outdated and people shouldn’t forget about them,” Clark said. “It’s good to look at diversity policies but I think they should look at all the policies. In a few years they’ll look at regulations about drinking, for example, because something bad happened, and think, ‘We should have revised those a long time ago.’”
Interested in seeing other Regent Policies? Click here to see policies that are currently under legal review. They were last reviewed Sept. 25, 2007.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Adrian Kun at Adrian.Kun@colorado.edu.
