"Chief Diversity Officer: A Qualitative Study"

During last week's class, my group discussed about the existence of different offices on our campus that address topics in diversity. Ideally, you would think every department would be included?  This post looks at the institutional policy proposed at several institutions to oversee topics of diversity: "The Chief Diversity Officer."

The article here discusses different models of the Chief Diversity Officer (CDO). The CDO "is an executive level diversity administrator who directly reports to president and/or provost, and manages, integrates, and coordinates campus diversity efforts (Williams & Wade-Golden, 2007)."

This multiple-case study explored the experiences of three CDO's at predominantly white public research institutions in the midwest (Leon, 2014).  The three participants were purposefully selected to represent the three CDO models explored in this study: 1) Collaborative Officer CDO Model; 2) Unit Based CDO Model; and 3) Portfolio Divisional CDO Model. Twenty five administrators were also interviewed for this study.

The researcher discussed that the literature on the topic overwhelmingly discuss the individual experiences of the CDO's (Leon, 2014). The study found that the success of the CDO in their position goes beyond personal traits, such as rank, supporting staff, reporting structure, and resources. Leon ends the article by stating that institutions need to reflect on their own resources, organization, as well as their diversity needs and goals in developing a CDO model. 

So back to my group conversations:

As far as UIUC is concerned, I know that OMSA and OIIR exist as two pivotal campus resources in terms of addressing topics related to diversity.  The discussion primarily based around the cultural houses (under OIIR): the lack of collaboration between the cultural houses and the cultural houses as a hubs and enclaves of groups of students from similar cultures to develop their own identity. Concerns were also brought up about the lack of cooperation and collaboration between OMSA and OIIR.

Q1: Have you been in contact with the Chief Diversity Officer position?  What are your thoughts on this institutional policy to address diversity in higher education?

Q2: Some would argue that CDO's are a band aid solution to a larger discussion that need to occur within higher ed administrators in terms of their institutions.  Do you agree? Disagree? Why/Why not?

References:

Leon, R. A. (2014). The Chief Diversity Officer: An examination of CDO models and strategies. Journal of      Diversity in Higher Education, 7(2), 77-91.

Williams, D. A., & Wade-Golden, K. (2007). The chief diversity officer: A primer for college and    university presidents. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.