Embracing modest successes and bemoaning perceived failures on the part of the UW-Madison administration and student community, students and faculty shared experiences, observations and tears at the sixth annual Plan 2008 campus forum on diversity.
The day-long event, which kicked off with speeches from Chancellor John Wiley and Provost Peter Spear, was intended to stimulate discussion of race issues on campus and promote a new campaign, entitled \Creating Community,"" a theme expected to be the centerpiece of Plan 2008 for the 2005-'06 school year.
Early in the day, enthusiasm for the new motif swelled, as each round table in the Great Hall filled with minority and white students and faculty. Later in the afternoon, however, the ranks diminished to around 50. The upbeat mood dissolved and the open-mic session took on an elegiac air as frustrated students and faculty lambasted the low attendance, perceived indifference of the campus and generally poor reputation of UW-Madison as a school friendly to minorities. Several speakers cried, and some angrily scorned Plan 2008's strategy, arguing there should be more concrete plans to diversify.
""Plan 2008 has made strides,"" said UW-Madison senior Remi Aregbesola, member of Alpha Phi Alpha, a fraternity that presented at the event. ""It can improve by having more concrete programming and having more programs like Posse and PEOPLE [Pre-College Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence] up here.""
Posse and PEOPLE, two of the most structured programs to emerge from Plan 2008, concern the sponsorship and recruitment of students from inner-city Milwaukee high schools and their retention at UW-Madison.
""I know the university wants to use Plan 2008 to motivate student organizations and departments to have their own initiatives, but someone in the administration must find it in themselves to actually implement more programs of retention,"" Aregbesola added.
One bright spot of the initiative is the retention rate, which has leapt a dramatic 10 percent from 2001 to 2003, aspiring to equal the retention rate for non-minority students.
However, graduation rates for minority students still lagged by as much as 25 percent, according to information presented by Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Climate Bernice Durands.
Plan 2008's future was cast in doubt briefly last year with the sudden absence of Paul Barrows, the defrocked Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs who formerly directed the program.
Despite obstacles, members the highest levels of administration say they are cautiously optimistic.
""There are areas where we are making steady progress. Not as fast as anyone would like, but steady progress,"" said Wiley, who praised the closing of the retention gap and expressed disappointment in national funding for higher education. ""There are other areas where we are not, or we are falling short, and we need to rethink our strategies.""
