President's White Paper
Social Justice at West Virginia University

Introduction

Over the past few months, I have met with a group of University community citizens to discuss the past, present, and future of the ideas, policies, activities, and programs collectively referred to as "Social Justice" at West Virginia University . I am grateful to those who have participated in what we called a "President's discussion group."

This document sets forth my thoughts on the state of social justice at West Virginia University at this point in time, and calls for action based upon existing policies and my own feelings about what needs to be done to improve our sense of community and further foster a climate of social justice within the University.

While members of the group contributed greatly to my understanding of social justice issues within the University (and in society), the ideas herein contained are my personal reflections on our work.

What is social justice?

Our group spent one working session discussing the meaning of the term "social justice." Ideas ranged from relatively straightforward notions ("Everyone on our campuses must feel comfortable being a part of the University community.") to the much more complex and academically refined notions contained in the previously adopted policies of the University and the Board of Trustees.

I have come to believe that social justice is a set of ideas, policies, activities and programs that have been generally embraced, both formally and informally, by the University community. In summary, they can be stated as follows:

a. The campus embodies certain values, centered around the intrinsic worth and dignity of every human being. Among these are a respect for law; freedom from fear; inclusiveness; a climate of opportunity for all community members; an absence of discrimination based on race, sex, marital status, pregnancy, age, ethnic origin, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or disability; mutual respect based upon empathy and understanding; the recognition of merit; a sense of community and a feeling that the future should be shared by all of those in the community; accountability for actions; and the importance of diversity.

b. Our university engages in activities that foster these values. Among these are education, advocacy, communications, investigations, mediation, recruitment, networking, mentoring, advising, counseling, administration according to policy, policy development, community building, celebration, outreach, encouragement of diversity, cultural awareness activities, crisis management, and social activities.

c. A variety of vehicles are used to achieve the ends sought. These include representative councils, task forces and groups, executive support and staffing, programs of various types, centers of education, research and service related to the programs and activities, academic offerings and credentials, awards and honors, policy enforcement, volunteer recruitment, and performance and entertainment options and groups.

d. Campus individuals, units, officers and groups stand accountable for their actions. Accountability is achieved through clear job descriptions, clear charges to the councils and groups sanctioned and supported by WVU, clear goals and objectives to individuals and groups, periodic assessments of progress, an expectation of civility, enforcement of laws in an effective and timely fashion, and an expectation of voluntary compliance with laws by everyone in the University Community.

e. There is a clear understanding that inherent tensions and challenges exist and must be managed effectively. The causes for the tensions are many, including conflicts caused by the tension or tensions between individual rights and collective or community rights, group identification and community identification, groups seeking different allocation of scarce resources, attempted communications among groups with different backgrounds and origins, historical prejudices, misinformation or a lack of information, and the evolutionary nature of policies and concepts.

There are, of course, other and more complete ways to define social justice-suffice it to say that achieving an appropriate climate, one that welcomes all into a community of learners, where ideas are tested and differences are valued, takes a lot of effort by everyone at the University.

Why Social Justice At WVU Is Important?

Implicit in our work has been the notion that our social justice initiatives are important, and I want to reassert that they are, for several reasons. There are others, but these seem most important:

First, because we are first and foremost a student-centered higher education institution, we have a duty to our students to prepare them for life in the world of work and in their communities in the twenty-first century. In a recent address, Dr. William Richardson, President of the Kellogg Foundation, with whom we have strong ties, said this:

While we're preparing students for the Information and Knowledge Age, our colleges and universities also prepare citizens to live and work in a truly multicultural society. . Unfortunately..the value of diversity has been misconstrued by some as a liability. I don't believe that it is..It is, as far as I am concerned, an absolute social mandate. By the year 2000, one-third of our population will be people of color.employers will rely heavily either on foreign operations or markets.the ability to thrive in a multicultural setting will soon become another form of literacy which all employers will expect their employees to have mastered.

My experience leads me to believe that Dr. Richardson is correct.

As educators, we believe that our obligation to provide a thorough, meaningful, and truly excellent learning experience for our students will be seriously flawed if greater understanding of social justice is not woven into our students' learning experience, inside and outside the classroom.

Second, there is the issue of equality under the law of the United States. The Constitution, state and federal law, and our own Board's policies foster, and more often than not, mandate equal treatment, equal protection, non-discrimination, and just treatment for the citizens that make up our University community. Based in a collective judgement forged in the moral underpinnings of our country, our laws point each of us, and all of us, toward fair treatment for all human beings who enjoy citizenship in the United States, as well as those who enjoy its protections while visiting here to study, work, or teach.

Third, we are moved by our sense of fairness and compassion for others. Martin Luther King, Jr., said in many different ways that we are moved as human beings by the suffering of others. In their person, we see clearly what must be done. When people are injured, physically or mentally, by reason of prejudice, when others' children cannot progress as fast as our own, and when common sense tells us that we know something is wrong, we are moved to act, not because it makes good business sense, but because it makes moral common sense. As King said: "People are led to causes, and often become committed to great ideas, through persons who personify those ideas. They have to find the embodiment of the idea in flesh and blood in order to commit themselves to it."

Fourth, there is the whole issue of productivity of our faculty, staff, administrators, and students. The times in which we live demand that our employees reach their full potential. Our students and clients, patients and customers clearly expect as much and can afford no less. Thus, our employees not only must be given equal pay for equal work, but also must be given an equal right to earn that pay. Bias, discrimination, prejudice, hazing, and similar behaviors inhibit that right, thus causing long hours to be spent on remedial activities which are, seen from this perspective, non-productive (in the sense that resources are spent correcting behaviors that should not have taken place).

Finally, and without limitation, it is our role to model good citizenship to our state, nation, and world. In the same way that we model technology's uses to industry, medicine's powers to the medical community, and excellence to the public schools of our state, the way we treat each other is seen and studied by the citizens we serve. The messages we send are noticed, whatever they are. Our climate, if it is just, encourages all those with whom we come in contact to learn from the lessons we teach by our own behaviors.

We have committed our University to a path of greater engagement with the people and communities of our State; that is, the development of lasting, two-way, mutually beneficial partnerships that help solve the real problems of real people to improve the quality of their lives. This obligation includes broadening our mutual understanding of and commitment to principles of social justice and human diversity.

One of our Deans has eloquently summarized "social justice" as "fairness, personal security, and the protection of civil and human rights." He argues "The concept extends beyond affirmative action and speaks to doing the right thing for the right reason."

There are other justifications for our initiatives, but to me these seem primary.

Our discussion group reviewed the accomplishments and activities of WVU in the recent past with a sense of accomplishments. Under the leadership of former WVU President Bucklew and former Executive Officers for Social Justice, activities were initiated that fostered the values included within our notion of social justice. These are too numerous to list, but include the creation of the Executive Officer for Social Justice position (reporting directly to the President), changes in the curriculum of the University, development of new programs, creation of new organizations and structures, the establishment of representative councils and advocacy groups, creation of affinity groups for students, faculty and others, linkages to the community, enhanced recruiting efforts, celebratory events, creation of executive offices and support staff, creation of scholarships, fellowships and position subsidies, creation of mediation, dispute resolution, arbitration and other mechanisms to resolve disputes, and much, much more.

We have also taken strides to institutionalize our obligations to comply with the host of laws that, in part, drive our efforts. While some initiatives have been publicly criticized as being "politically correct" or "going too far," most have been successfully incorporated into the life of the University and generally accepted as being in the community's best interests.

Of course, there are initiatives that remain undone, as there always will be. As society changes, so does our collective realization of the inequities and barriers to opportunity that we have permitted to exist. No one agenda can have "all that we ought to be" incorporated within it. (As mentioned above, there are tensions, and accordingly, compromises and changes in policy to be made.) Without question, we still have much to do. Nevertheless, we, as a community, have come a long way and that fact should be celebrated.

This activity has not been without cost to the University. Administrative offices have been created, funds have been expended to create academic and support programs, enormous amounts of employee time have been invested in our Social Justice initiatives, and data have been collected, analyzed and compared to benchmark data and the performance of other organizations. But in our collective view, the effort has been worthwhile. The campus is more aware of what needs to be done, and more people are involved in doing it.

The Executive Officer for Social Justice and The Administrative Structure for Social Justice

The University administratively supports its social justice effort in two ways. First, a professional staff has been assembled under a single administrator called the Executive Officer for Social Justice. Secondly, volunteers and interested faculty, staff and administrators conduct their work through a series of councils, one of which is a coordinating council and the rest of which have a specific area of interest.

Interestingly, while information describing the role of the Executive Officer for Social Justice has appeared in advertisements of an opening in the position, a formal job description for the Executive Officer for Social Justice does not exist. One needs to be drafted. The interim holder of that position has summarized her duties and responsibilities, however, and the most recent advertisement to fill a vacancy in the position was prepared about two years ago. Both are attached.

Our discussions of the Executive Officer position led to several suggestions for incremental change, the goal for each being to rationalize and strengthen the position and function at the University.

First, there seems to be agreement that the University mediation programs should have its administrative home within the office of the Executive Officer for Social Justice. The argument here is that mediation is non-binding and not compulsory and that having a "neutral office" handle voluntary dispute resolution might strengthen the program, especially since many of the matters that are actually given over to mediation involve issues falling under the laws administered by the Executive Officer's office.

Second, the group's members felt that it may be appropriate to restructure the Office of Social Justice. Several alternatives make sense, and restructuring will depend on many things, including the competencies of current staff, the reorganization of the volunteer structure (below), and available resources. The idea here is to make the office more proactive and effective by utilizing a more effective organizational structure.

Finally, the group reached a consensus that the Executive Officer should be seen as the primary staff or administrative support for the visiting committee coordinating council, described below, and play a role in supporting the various other councils that form around social justice initiatives. This firms up what most, but not all, felt the role of the officer should be in relation to the councils.

Some roles and functions of the Executive Officer that are time consuming and important were not discussed by the group, including the important role played by the officer and her office during audits and inspections by agencies with jurisdiction over the laws administered by the Office of Social Justice, investigations, training, and other forms of dispute resolution and issue identification. There were no indications that these roles were not important, however, or that they should receive less emphasis in the years to come.

With regard to the representative councils, the group noted a need for consolidation and restructuring for effectiveness. There are currently six such councils. They were studied by an ad hoc group comprising discussion group members, who recommended a restructuring of the councils, or at least a restatement of their roles on campus. The elements of the proposal, which I endorse, are as follows:

First, appoint a Social Justice Visiting Committee made up of lay persons. As does every visiting committee, this group of external advisors would advise the responsible administrator, the Executive Officer for Social Justice, on appropriate issues. The visiting committee should have a direct relationship with the Executive Officer and each member should serve a term of years. The discussion group recommended a merger of the President's Visiting Committee on African American Affairs with the Advisory Committee on Black Alumni Affairs.

Second, a campus coordinating council should be created, with representatives of various interest group councils and at large appointees as members. It should be designated as the umbrella council for social justice concerns. Its role should be coordination, discussion, and preparation of issues for presentation to the President. It should include students, faculty, staff, and administrators, and include representation from all campuses.

Third, the Executive Officer for Social Justice should provide staff support to the Visiting Committee and Chair the Social Justice Council. The officer would provide staff support for the group through the Social Justice Office and be the President's primary representative on the group.

Fourth, both the Visiting Committee and the Social Justice Council should be charged to identify and maturely consider social justice issues on our campuses and in the community at large, and, when appropriate, present issues through the Executive Officer to the President and other appropriate University officers for decision.

Fifth, we need to provide for appropriate and representative memberships on the visiting committee and council by providing for their appointment by the President, and by establishing terms for members, and by making sure that appropriate councils and other interests are represented. This would be accomplished by attention during the appointment process.

Sixth, creation of new affinity groups or interest groups would be authorized by the council, on petition through the Social Justice Officer to the council. This step recognizes the fluid nature of such interests and their changing nature over time. It also recognizes that such groups need and deserve support, and that resources for such support are not unlimited.

I would add my own seventh suggestion, namely that once established, affinity groups should establish strong linkages with administrative units on campus which share their interests. For example, strong linkages should exist between the Council for Women's Concerns and the Council on African and African American Affairs with the Women's Studies Programs and the Center for Black Culture and Research. Duplicate councils should be merged.

Conclusions

The discussion group has been a worthwhile undertaking and has exposed its participants to the issues currently surrounding social justice. It is apparent that a strong consensus exists to continue our efforts to promote the values of social justice, and to do so through an effective volunteer and professional structure. Incremental changes need to be made, and they are outlined above. A permanent Executive Officer for Social Justice needs to be appointed, and charged to lead the campus effort to promote a climate of opportunity and justice and to staff and lead a visiting committee and coordinating council for the University. These two groups and other affinity and issue-oriented groups should be kept fresh and effective through the establishment of terms for members and clear charges. These decisions and proposed actions should be widely shared with the University community. An effective administrative structure is needed given the level of expenditures in the area and the importance placed upon the entire social justice concept by the University community.

Accordingly, the forgoing will be implemented on campus during the coming months. A proposed implementation will be made available to the University Community within a few weeks.

David C. Hardesty, Jr.
President

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