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A new study found that universities have not made much progress on faculty diversity initiatives, despite more attention and money being given to race and inclusivity issues.

The study, published by South Texas College of Law’s Hispanic Journal of Law and Policy, concluded that colleges have not seen substantial growth in the diversity of faculty between 2013 and 2017, according to Inside Higher Ed.

[RELATED: New survey reveals college diversity, inclusion efforts fail miserably]

“We wanted to test this hypothesis -- whether we in higher ed were improving diversity in those particular areas,” Julian Vasquez Heilig, one of the study’s authors and the incoming education dean at the University of Kentucky, said,  Inside Higher Ed reported. “A lot of times faculty, when we have these discussions, talk like we’re reinventing the wheel. We have these ideas and these gut feelings of what might work. But I think we need to be more empirical and data-driven on diversity.”

Overall, research-intensive schools offering doctorates showed the least progress. From 2013 to 2017 at such institutions, tenured faculty who were Hispanic and Latino only grew 0.65 percent, while African American tenured faculty increased by only 0.1 percent during the study’s time frame. Asian Americans saw only a 1.94 percent increase.

Graduate schools saw similar results, with tenured Hispanic and Latino faculty rising 0.64 percent and African American tenured faculty increasing just 0.07 percent. 

[RELATED: UMich defends multi-million dollar diversity investment. Outspoken prof doesn't buy it.]

During the four-year period, tenured male faculty decreased at doctoral and graduate schools by 1.99 and 1.76 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, tenured female faculty at these institutions respectively increased by 1.99 and 1.76 percent.

“Despite concerted efforts, we really haven’t moved the needle that much in terms of ethno-racial and gender diversity,” Vasquez Heilig said, according to Inside Higher Ed. “Especially when you consider the growing population of communities of color in the United States, you haven’t resultantly seen the growth in faculty especially at the doctoral levels. Many institutions that are making the most noise -- the brand-name institutions -- have had some of the worst progress.”

As Campus Reform previously reported, uni

Read more: https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=13471

The city of Berkeley, Calif. has dropped all gendered language from its city code by adopting a new ordinance, one that was sponsored by a recent University of California, Berkeley graduate, who attributed credit for the decision to his university experience.

“Awareness and issues of gender identity are often particularly visible on college campuses, but it’s important that it doesn’t stay there,” councilman and sponsor of the ordinance Rigel Robinson told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I’m a cisgender heterosexual male — in many ways these issues don’t affect me. I’ve gotten to know so many people for whom these issues are important, largely through the campus community.”

[RELATED: Colorado State: 'Avoid' using 'Americans,' 'America']

“Gender-neutral language creates a lot of room to acknowledge that it’s not just men running the country,” Robinson continued.

At just 23 years old, Robinson is the youngest city council member in the history of Berkeley, according to the Chronicle.

Under the ordinance, which was adopted Tuesday, words contained within the city code such as “she” and “her” will be changed to “they” and “them,” while “fireman” and “firewoman” will become “firefighter.” In addition, “manpower” will be changed to “workforce” or “human effort” and “manhole” will become “maintenance hole.” “Sorority” and “fraternity” will now be referenced as “collegiate Greek system residence,” according to Berkeleyside. 

Here is an extended list of changes, obtained from Berkeley’s ordinance.

Estimates say that it will cost $600 to get Code Publishing Company, the city’s publisher, to change the code.

[RELATED: Colorado State: Most of guide that says to ‘avoid’ using ‘America’, ‘American’ is ‘common sense’]

Robinson was the membership vice president for the Cal Berkeley Democrats and also founded the UC Berkeley Students for Bernie group. He was quoted in an article titled “Reconsidering Socialism: Younger Voters No Longer See the Label as Toxic,” which appeared in the Cal Alumni Association’s California Magazine.

The councilman suggested altering the city’s c

Read more: https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=13475

Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) called out Colorado State University on Thursday after Campus Reform reported on the school's "Inclusive Language Guide," which offered suggestions on how to "avoid" using the words "America" and "Americans."

"Wow! @ColoradoStateU's Inclusive Coms Task Force decided that America is a word so 'offensive' it should not be spoken. I'm #ProudtobeanAmerican. All Americans from all walks of life should be able to say they're proud of their country," Lamborn tweeted. 

Lamborn was the only federal lawmaker from Colorado to speak out on the topic. Campus Reform contacted each of Colorado's six other members of the U.S. House of Representatives, the state's two senators, and former Gov. John Hickenlooper (D), who is running for president, but received no responses in time for publication. 

[RELATED: Colorado State: 'Avoid' using 'Americans,' 'America']

CSU System Chancellor Tony Frank released a statement the same day as Lamborn's tweet, saying the document "was never intended for use by students" and that it is "NOT official policy or required to be read or followed by anyone." Campus Reform's initial report said the following: 

CSU states that the document listing terms and phrases to avoid is "not an official policy or required practice," but rather "is intended as a resource to help our campus community reflect our Principles of Community, particularly inclusion, respect, and social justice."

Frank also said in his Thursday statement that "the guide does not contain the item that many have described about use of the words America and American." As Campus Reform first reported, CSU's "Inclusive Language Guide" listed under "Word/Phrase to avoid" the words "American/America."

[RELATED: Colorado State: Most of guide that says to ‘avoid’ using ‘America’, ‘American’ is ‘common sense’]

Additionally, Frank said in his statement that the document was "outdated." However, Campus Reform confirmed prior to publication of the initial article that the university's Women and Gender Collaborative web page directly linked to the document in question. The page was labeled as a "living document" that is "updated periodically." The document showed it was last updated in October.&nb

Read more: https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=13473

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/us/morehouse-sexual-harassment.html?emc=rss&partner=rss

Colorado State’s chancellor said that a guide advising students not to use more than 100 terms, such as “American” and “cake walk,” is mostly “common sense” in a formal statement Thursday.

CSU system Chancellor Tony Frank made the statement regarding its Inclusivity Language Guide, following a Campus Reform report.

CSU's online guide, compiled by the school’s Inclusive Communications Task Force, lists certain words and phrases to “avoid” while providing replacements in an effort to help “communicators practice inclusive language and [help] everyone on [the school’s] campus feel welcomed, respected, and valued.”

[RELATED: Colorado State: 'Avoid' using 'Americans,' 'America']

“Statements being made on social media and in online publications are untrue and are based on an outdated document,” Frank said Thursday. “The CSU System, Colorado State University, and all of the CSU campuses do not place prohibitions on language. We consider free speech and the First Amendment the foundations of a great American public university.”

The document reads that it was last updated on October 30, 2018.

“The facts are that an informal group of CSU staff people who work with students created an internal guide on inclusive language because other staff members asked for it – it was designed as a free resource for people who were asking for help to avoid saying something unintentionally that might needlessly offend someone with whom they were working,” the Colorado State chancellor said. “Most of the suggestions in it are common sense and have been in common use for decades.”

Besides “America” and “American”, the guide also listed words such as “handicap parking,” “male,” “female,” “straight,” “war,” “cake walk,” “eenie meenie miney moe,” “Eskimo,” “freshman,” “hip hip hooray!”, “hold down the fort,” “starving,” and “policeman,” with separate explanations for why each term is not inclusive.

“[The guide] is NOT official policy or required to be read or followed by anyone; in fact, the guide itself says that in bold type at the top of the list,” the statement continued, which Campus Reform also noted in previous c

Read more: https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=13472