``For almost 50 years, it's been someone else's problem — they don't want to come here to a rural university or they don't want to study veterinary medicine or whatever,'' Darcy said. ``The truth is, this university has not been a resource for African-American Oklahomans the way it has been for others, and that's got to change,'' Darcy said.
The university welcomes any information the faculty study may produce, said Cornell Thomas, OSU's vice president for institutional diversity.
``The information they pull together will be beneficial for us,'' Thomas said. ``We have the same goals. I don't see any disagreement with it.''
OSU President David Schmidly hired Thomas last year out of concern with the university's low minority numbers, said OSU spokesman Gary Shutt.
``We're like the faculty. It's definitely something we're concerned about and that's one of the reasons Cornell Thomas was hired,'' Shutt said.
In the seven months Thomas has been on the job, he has led the development of a diversity plan that focuses on improving the numbers of minority faculty and students.
``The primary reason is that we want to provide all our students the opportunity to live and work in a more global society,'' Thomas said.
— Associated Press
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
