When Texas A&M University launched its revised diversity plan in 2010, officials wanted to ensure that it would have an impact.
“We’ve had plans before, but this plan has more teeth to it and accountability,” says Dr. Christine Stanley, vice president and associate provost for diversity at Texas A&M. “A lot of what we had heard [with past plans] is, ‘Who is holding who accountable?’”
In addition to recruiting a diverse student body that more closely resembles the state’s multiracial, multicultural population, the plan seeks to improve the climate and equity at the top-tier research university known in Texas for its Corps of Cadets and iconic mascot Reveille, a collie.
Although everyone at the university is being held accountable, the system of accountability for diversity begins at the unit level, where leaders are expected to use data, including benchmarking, and studies to measure progress toward a more inclusive environment and submit annual reports to the President’s Council on Climate and Diversity. The Office for Diversity has a $1 million fund that is provided annually from the president and provost to reward units that are making progress in areas of the University Diversity Plan. Climate surveys measure students’ experiences on campus — including questions about perceptions based on their race and gender.
As a result, at a time when students of color at universities across the country are criticizing some administrators for not doing enough to create a welcoming climate for all, Texas A&M, which has an overall student enrollment of 59,000 on the main campus, is attempting to cultivate just that.
Today, the Hispanic student population is 19.4 percent, compared to 15.2 percent in fall 2011 at the main campus in College Station, about a two-hour drive from Houston. Over the same time period, the percentage of Asian students has increased from 4.5 percent to 5.6 percent. Black student enrollment, however, has lagged behind that of other students of color. They are 3.7 percent of the student body, up slightly from 3.4 percent in fall 2011.
The steady improvement in the recruitment of Hispanics, the largest minority in the state, has far outpaced that of African-Americans — a situation that Stanley, who received a master’s and doctorate from Texas A&M, describes as a “vexing issue.”
