However, CDOs can expect to dodge bullets in what Ervin called the ‘politics of diversity.’
Dr. Micheal J. Tate, vice president of student affairs, equity and diversity at Washington State University, noted the importance of CDOs creating diverse streams of funding to ensure their work continues, particularly in tough budget times like those currently besetting higher education.
“This work costs money,” said Tate, noting that 75 percent of his budget is not state-funded, coming instead from student fees, grants and donations. “I spend 40 percent of my time in development,” he added.
Dr. Shirley Ramirez, vice president of institutional planning & community engagement at Lafayette College, said diversity work is an emerging field at private colleges, noting a group of CDOs at private colleges she helped found went from four members to 20 in a short period of time.
Ramirez said diversity has to be integrated into the core veins of the institution so that “it is not to be ignored” or considered “the topic of the day.”
“We have expertise, not just in diversity issues,” said Ramirez, whose responsibilities include overseeing her institution’s reaccreditation. She said the conversation over the role of the CDO should be reframed in the context of how to incorporate diversity into the “traditional ways in which the academy has functioned.”
The NADOHE conference, held concurrently with the 91st annual American Council on Education convention at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., concludes Wednesday.
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