A new page on the Office of the President’s website will allow the Illinois State University community to follow the progress of suggestions made by the Campus Climate Task Force.
President Larry Dietz appointed the Campus Climate Task Force in the summer of 2016. The 24-member team, gathered from faculty, staff, and students across campus, worked to develop recommendations for furthering diversity and inclusion at the University.
After a year of working sessions, the Task Force submitted a series of short-term and long-term suggestions. In an effort to tie accountable action to the suggestions, President Dietz also appointed an Implementation Team to construct achievable goals and projects based on the Campus Climate Task Force reports. The Team meets throughout the semester to provide updates on the projects.
The new website includes copies of the suggestions, as well as how the Implementation Team is responding to them.
“We want people to know that the University is taking these suggestions seriously, and there are teams of people exploring ways to make them a reality,” said Vice President of Student Affairs Levester Johnson, who co-chairs the Implementation Team along with Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Jan Murphy.
Murphy noted the website provides a new vehicle for transparency. “We’ve had task forces for diversity before, and actions were taken, but people did not know about them,” said Murphy. “This website is a way for anyone to know where we are in achieving our goals.”
The page is designed similarly to the suggestion reports issued by the Task Force—listing areas of focus, with drop-down menus that contain specific suggestions. The actions of the Implementation Team will be updated several times a semester.
The Campus Climate Task Force page is available here: http://illinoisstate.edu/president/campus-climate-taskforce/
