Levin pledges to deliver tenure diversity plan

JULIA TIERNAN/YH PATRICK MCGARVEY/YH Although the Administration claims that the recent tenure of women such as MB&B Professor Jennifer Doudna (top) and Psychology Professor Marianne LaFrance did not result from a change in policy, President Levin pledged new reforms to students at a meeting on Thurs., Jan. 21.

In an unexpected move, President Richard Levin, GRD '74, said on Thurs., Jan. 21, that he will soon announce a new policy to set target initiatives for the number of minority and women professors at Yale.

The news came at a meeting with seven members of the Tenure Action Coalition (TAC) and the Student Coalition for Diversity (SCD). Levin informed the groups that he is working with Provost Alison Richard on a proposal to be released in the next few weeks. The same students had previously discussed tenure reform with Levin on Thurs., Nov. 19. During that meeting, Levin promised a counterproposal to the group's demands.

SCD moderator Lee Wang, BK '00, said Levin explained at Thursday's meeting that the upcoming statement would mark "the beginning of a series of initiatives that will involve setting targets for the number of tenured female and minority professors in departments."

According to Wang, Levin's decision to change current tenure policy represents a shift in the University's strategy to increase diversity on campus. "[Levin] thinks that Yale has been undertaking a quiet campaign," Wang said. "He's now convinced that it is necessary to make a public statement due to his discussions with student groups like TAC and other influences."

In remarks made earlier in the week, Dean Richard Brodhead, BR '68, GRD '72, confirmed that Yale had made no substantial policy changes when it recruited and tenured five new professors--an unusually high number of whom are women and minority scholars. "Although the recent appointments correspond to current student interest, they are the results of normal faculty reviews," Brodhead said. "They were all very strong cases."

In addition, early in the week, Nina Glickson, special assistant to Levin, supported Brodhead's remarks about the recent tenure appointments. "This has been an issue of great concern for longer than people realize," Glickson said. "But Yale has certain procedures to follow."

SCD member Issa Colson, MC '99, a former advisor and treasurer of the Black Student Alliance at Yale (BSAY), took a cautious approach to Levin's proposal. "His public statement would be better if backed by a concrete plan of action," Colson said. "Since we haven't seen the initiative, it would be in our best interest to be wary of any statements or supposed initiatives to be made because these things have a propensity to represent more of appeasement than change."

Eunice Cho, CC '99, student director of the Women's Center, also voiced skepticism at Levin's proposal. "We're really glad that student awareness and action has gotten to the point where President Levin is listening to us," Cho said. "While this is a positive step, we also have to realize that, quite frequently, administrative proposals don't result in real action."

Amanda De Zutter, PC '01, an SCD member who serves on the executive boards of the Association of Native Americans at Yale (ANAAY) and BSA, viewed Levin's proposal as a symbol of the University's increased willingness to shoulder responsibility for faculty diversity. "From what I understand, it's a public declaration to the Yale community trying to show his administrative commitment towards addressing the problem," DeZutter said. "It's a statement of commitment that will supposedly set goals for how Yale can better recruit a more diverse faculty."

At Thursday's meeting, students asked Levin whether Yale's latest move was a reaction to a diversity initiative recently proposed at Princeton by President Harold Shapiro. According to De- Zutter, Levin said that he was out of town when Princeton had made this announcement. She noted that Levin's response seemed to suggest that Yale's initiative had been in the works for a while.

Cho said that it would be important to keep Levin's recent statements in perspective in the continuing struggle to ensure diversity at Yale. "Implementation of policies that lead to diversification will take a long time. [Levin's proposal] is just one statement made by the Administration; it's very important to stay aware and engaged in what's going on."

Colson seconded Cho's wariness. "[Levin's proposal]
in no way represents an end to our battles," Colson
said. "Even if everything we proposed is implemented, it still would not represent the absolute balance in div-
ersity, particularly diversity in thought, that we should
be aiming for."

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