More than 300 members of the Johns Hopkins community
— including faculty and staff from all nine
university divisions — convened Nov. 1 on the
Homewood campus for the Johns Hopkins Diversity Leadership
Council's inaugural diversity conference.
In his keynote address, John B. Slaughter, a
distinguished education leader and engineer, challenged the
audience to look at diversity in its broadest sense.
"True diversity requires going beyond the composition
of the students enrolled. It requires diversity at all
levels: students, faculty, staff, administrators, governing
board and, ultimately, alumni," he said. " Furthermore,
diversity should not be seen as the goal; it should be seen
as the means to achieving equity and pluralism. As a goal,
given the resources and intellectual capacity at our
disposal, it falls short of what we are capable of
achieving."
In his luncheon address, President William R. Brody
emphasized that diversity is not a single goal, or even a
set of goals. "It is an ongoing process that requires we
continuously re-examine our outlook, our hiring practices
and our culture," he said. "We want all people of talent to
be valued at Johns Hopkins. We want their best work, and we
want them to feel ownership.
"I believe we have gotten better at articulating that
goal," he continued, "and more consistent in saying it
often enough that people both within and outside the
university begin to understand it is a core value.
Responding to the positive feedback from attendees,
Ray Gillian, associate provost and director of the Office
of Equal Opportunity and
Affirmative Action Programs, said that this year's
half-day format may be expanded to a full day next November
to allow more time for the workshops."
The full text of Slaughter's remarks will be posted on
the Diversity Leadership Council's Web site,
www.jhu.edu/~dlc.
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