WHEREAS        cultural, ethnic, racial, gender, and sexual diversities
                                enrich the educational process and we learn from those
                                whose experiences, beliefs, and perspectives are
                                different from our own, and these lessons can be taught
                                best in a richly diverse intellectual and social
                                environment; and

    WHEREAS       diversity promotes personal growth and healthy society
                                and challenges stereotyped preconceptions; diversity
                                encourages constructive critical thinking and it helps
                                students learn to communicate effectively with people of
                                varied backgrounds; and

    WHEREAS       diversity strengthens communities and the workplace;
                               education within a diverse setting prepares students to
                               become good citizens in an increasingly complex,
                               pluralistic society; it fosters mutual respect and
                               teamwork; and it helps build communities whose
                               members are judged by the quality of their character and
                               their contributions; and

    WHEREAS       diversity enhances America's economic competitiveness,
                                sustaining the nations' prosperity in the twenty-first
                                century will require us to make effective use
                                of the talents and abilities of all our citizens, in work settings
                                that bring together individuals from diverse backgrounds
                                and cultures; and

    WHEREAS       President Roselle and Provost Schiavelli have made it
                                known that diversifying the faculty is the highest
                                University-wide personnel priority; and

    WHEREAS        the Commission to Promote Racial and Cultural Diversity
                                has made diversification of the faculty its major focus for
                                the 1997-1998 year; and

    WHEREAS       for twenty years the number of African heritage faculty
                                has remained at 2 percent to 3 percent; and

    WHEREAS       there are thirty-four searches currently underway for
                                faculty vacancies; and

    WHEREAS       financial exigency has not been given by the
                                administration as a reason for adopting internal search
                                procedures to fill faculty vacancies; and

    WHEREAS      the University has recently reaffirmed its commitment to
                               its standing affirmative action policy; and

    WHEREAS      diversity and excellence are understood as intertwined
                               and inseparable goals of faculty recruitment at this
                               University; be it therefore

    RESOLVED     that for all current and future searches to fill vacancies,
                               extraordinary efforts be instituted to identify outstanding
                               minority candidates; and be it further

    RESOLVED     to recruit faculty, where appropriate, who can teach on
                               diversity issues, non-western culture and topics related
                               to domestic and international ethnic diversity in addition
                               to narrow and specialized subject matter, all searches to
                               fill permanent faculty vacancies be national and international in
                               scope.