STATEMENT OF CORE VALUES

The realization of multicultural community is foundational to the achievement of academic excellence--excellence requires diversity.

In an academic context, it is often assumed that the most useful knowledge is that which is already in place--the Canon . But, the Canon has been limited by primarily acknowledging and valuing only the contributions made by and/or attributed to scholars of European ancestry. A multiculturally reconceptualized Canon recognizes that current knowledge has often dismissed, displaced, and/or appropriated other knowledge and ways of knowing, thereby limiting both knowledge itself and sources of it. A mulitculturally reconceptualized Canon builds multiucultural community by requiring the revisioning of both the diverse origins of knowledge and the diverse sources of its proliferation. Being multicultural educated is then, in fact, being more educated.

The affirmation of difference is foundational to the realization of multicultural unity.

The affirmation of difference is often thought to create disunity. This is, however, a privileged perspective. Only those who have never experienced challenge to their perceptions of reality are threatened by the naming and valuation of multiplicity. For those whose entire experience has been characterized by constant reminders of their "otherness"--being measured by standards that purport to be universal and neutral but are, in fact, pre-disposed to a Eurocentric norm--recognition of divergence is understood as both second nature and, in so being, also deviant (precisely because it is an understanding contrary to the prescribed and accepted norm). Therefore, those favored by the norm that disaffirms difference as well as those excluded by it exist in contentious relation to that norm. In debunking this norm by affirming diversity, the contention is dissolved and unity emerges from the multicultural.

The university has the responsibility to include all of its members as full participants in its diverse community--full access and participation are requisite to the realization of community.

Successful border crossing to build real community requires institutional change--significant transformation of the principles, policies, procedures, practices, and protocols which guide the way in which work is done, learning is accomplished, quality is evaluated, and community is defined. It is paramount that that the university recognize that excellence comes in every kind of employment role and function and at every level of employment. Inherent in this recognition is realization that positively transformative innovation in our day-to-day local and global life circumstances can derive from the idea of an individual employed within our campus ranks. When any campus colleague has differential access to protection from harm, provision for well-being, as well as participation in campus life, we do not practice democracy.

The building of community insists on the systematic crossing of myriad borders in manners that honor and affirm both uniqueness and interconnectivity--borders which showcase collective difference based on race; color; ethnicity; geographic origin, language; socioeconomic class background; sex; gender; gender identity; sexual orientation; physical, developmental, or psychological disability; religious or spiritual affiliation; creed; age; generation; physical appearance; environmental concern; marital status; family configuration; employment status; political affiliation; among others.

The Office of Human Relations Programs has the responsibility to include all of the members of the campus community--its constituents and stakeholders--as full participants in building a diverse community.

OHRP recognizes its charge as one that must balance support and challenge in engaging all of its constituents in commitment to diversity. By providing the campus community with a range of educational experiences from which to learn about the importance of affirming diversity, OHRP effectively extends opportunities for engagement to those for whom the valuing of difference is a new concept, those for who it has become second nature, as well as those for who it is neither new, nor familiar.

Understanding resistance as well as allyship as engagement, OHRP must target indifference. By focusing on the idea of "making the 'other' 'us' and not 'them'" (Rorty, 1989), OHRP facilitates the continued evolution of diversity as a concept in which all groups are not only included, but in which every individual can see themselves represented.

[Rorty, R. (1989). Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity. New York: Cambridge University Press]

The University has the responsibility to prepare its students, faculty, staff, and administrators (regardless of academic major, discipline, role or function, or area of expertise) as principled leaders (predisposed to progressive action), and as democratic citizens (as outstanding in what they do as in who they are with respect to their commitment to furthering the tenets of equity and justice for all).

Principled leadership is best characterized by the integration of ontological, epistemological, and axiomatic elements--being leader, knowing how to be a leader, and knowing how to do the right thing (progressive action) as a leader. Because these characteristics are descriptive, not prescriptive, they may be uniquely configured in each individual.

Democratic citizenship is the attribute of an organizational body whose entire constituency not only enjoys full access to participation in the organization (outstanding in what they do), but takes full advantage of that access by fully participating in it (outstanding in who they are). Because its citizens are intrinsically compelled to participate, it is in this way, and this way only, that the organization realizes itself as truly democratic (inextricably linked to furthering the tenets of equity and justice).

The university must attend to the on-going personal, professional, and ethical growth and development of its populace. By constantly expanding the multicultural nature of its mission--showcasing it as its overarching core value and embedded in the fabric of the everyday--the university facilitates the emergence, proliferation, and dissemination of principled leadership oriented toward progressive action and democratic citizenship dedicated to furthering the tenets of equity and justice.

The Office of Human Relations Programs challenges itself to role model the practice of principled leadership and democratic citizenry.

In offering up a vision of principled leadership and democratic citizenship, OHRP presents itself as a work in progress--in process of continuous growth and development with respect to the same issues of equity and justice that challenge everyone. By putting itself forth as unfinished and imperfect, emergent and generative, OHRP strives to erode apprehension, breakthrough defensiveness, grow trust, and build community across the university--engaging with its stakeholders in the struggle to become more fully human.