BOSTON
In what Berklee College of Music President Roger Brown calls a “psychological victory for the institution,” the board of trustees recently adopted an amended mission statement for the college that acknowledges the historical contributions that African descendants have made to the development of the contemporary American musical genres on which Berklee’s curriculum and training are based.

“Founded on jazz and popular music rooted in the African cultural diaspora, our comprehensive curriculum is distinctly contemporary in its content and approach, and embraces the principal musical movements of our time,” is how the second paragraph of the revised mission statement now reads.

And apparently, the change comes none too soon.

“People have been talking about this for a long time,” says Myra Hindus, the college’s vice president of cultural diversity.

According to Brown, the Association of Faculty of African Descent has “long felt like the college needs to recognize its roots and change its behavior to accompany that recognition. AFAD came up with the notion of amending the mission statement.”

AFAD, headed by Diane Richardson, an associate professor of voice, is part of a 23-member steering committee doing a comprehensive review of the curriculum to better reflect the college’s mission.

“Our focus in that regard is to work towards making sure that we have a core course here at Berklee that teaches where the music came from,” Richardson says, adding that faculty are looking within their own departments and doing their own surveys to determine which areas can be improved.

Dr. William C. Banfield, a professor in the liberal arts department, says the curriculum initiative hopes to “bring together faculty across many disciplines, all connected to courses that focus on [the] history and … culture [behind] Black music … in the diaspora.”

Berklee’s approach that contemporary music can serve as a basis for education and training is unique among the nation’s colleges of music.

“Its ‘product,’ if you will, is quite different from most of the other conservatories,” says Michael Manderen, director of admissions at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a lecturer in guitar and lute.

Says Tom Riley, vice president for external affairs at Berklee, “No other [musical] colleges can say that they were built on the [music of] the African” diaspora.

And while the mission is changing, other things are changing, too, Hindus says, referencing the “complete parallel strategy,” that the college is implementing that “integrates diversity into every element of the school,” including enrollment, faculty recruitment, curriculum, facilities, community and resources.

With a student population of 3,800, Berklee has the highest percentage of international undergraduate students, at 26 percent, of any college or university in the United States, according to the college’s Web site. In addition, between 1999 and 2006, the college almost tripled its percentage of students of African descent, according to Brown. And over the past eight years, the domestic Hispanic student enrollment has grown from 2 percent to 14 percent.

The feeling among the Berklee community is that music and diversity are essentially inseparable.

“Music is so intricately linked to culture that if you don’t teach the cultural context of the music there’s something missing,” Brown says.

Carl Beatty, the college’s chief of staff, says it’s encouraging to work at an institution that’s trying to do the right thing.

“Every Black jazz musician I’ve run into has felt that this college has made its fortune on the backs of Black people, and to have the mission acknowledge that debt is going to be very significant.” 

Established in 1945, Berklee boasts such alums as producer/composer Quincy Jones (’51), “Tonight Show” guitarist Kevin Eubanks (’79), jazz musician Branford Marsalis (’80), singer Melissa Etheridge (’80) and guitarist/singer/songwriter John Mayer (’98).