By Carl Glickman
I am troubled by how we define excellence at the University of Georgia. In most public talks about the rise of UGA to national prominence, we cite higher SAT scores of each entering undergraduate class; the percentage of students who receive HOPE  scholarships; faculty research, grants and honors; and building expansion, capital improvements and external funding. What is alarming is that our land-grant mission, the practice of access and leadership to the citizens of Georgia, appears to be lost.
If we continue on our current trajectory, regardless of admission scores and prestigious rankings, we will have violated the democratic purpose of our existence. What is the definition of excellence that we articulate? Who does it include and who does it exclude? A recent Atlanta Journal article reports that the African-American population of each freshman class has dropped nearly 50 percent in three years, from a high of 12.3 percent in 1995 to 6.6 percent in 1998. Furthermore, we have very few persons of color in senior leadership positions.
On one hand, we congratulate ourselves for our more selective student body and more prestigious faculty and, on the other hand, we quietly downplay an alarming drift toward an institution that is only mediocre in how it serves all its citizens. Nearly one-third of Georgia is African-American, with a rapidly expanding population of Hispanic, Asian and other ethnic minority groups, yet such representation is not seen in our classrooms, faculty meetings or hallways. So when we tout SAT scores and rankings, yet at the same time show few signs of hiring or promoting minority adults into leadership positions, we are sending the message, unintended or not, that diversity of quality people is not a high priority.
I’m aware of the legal climate against affirmative action and the obstacles to special admissions or job employment based on racial classification. However, what I am speaking of is not an issue of legal rules about affirmative action or about special dispensation to less-qualified students. Prior to 1961, Hamilton Holmes, Charlayne Hunter-Gault and others had been denied admission, not because of their lack of qualifications. They had higher test scores and academic credentials than the huge majority of students who were being admitted. Rather, our university and state simply did not want people of color here.
In 1999, the issue is different in many ways but similar in one important way: our lack of minority representation is not due to unqualified minority students. Our minority representation is declining because we don’t have a comprehensive strategy to identify, recruit and demonstrate to qualified minority students that this is the university they should attend. When we want a qualified student athlete or musician, we recruit them and demonstrate to them how this university fits into their future life plans. Then we continue to work with them so that they remain, prosper and graduate. If we want more minority students to add to the richness of UGA, we need to do the same. We need a concentrated identification and recruitment plan for students, and we need to hire and promote more minority faculty to prominent leadership positions--not simply those that focus on minority affairs but that are an integral part of all academic functions.
Let me be frank. This issue is being publicly confronted mainly by minority students, staff and faculty. The white population is nearly invisible in taking a public stance. Yet I know that this issue is a concern of many and is being discussed privately in neighborhoods and homes throughout the university and surrounding communities. So what is the commitment of a university that proclaims its greatness--what signals do we send, and what should we practice? This issue will not--nor should it--go away. It should not be an issue that resides only with minority students and faculty of color, but it should reside with our entire community. How to create a truly excellent university should be the responsibility of all of us.
So in closing, this treatise is not to cast blame. I believe that all of us at this university--from president to students--want an academic community that reflects access, inclusion and rich diversity. But we are not going to create a truly great university until we improve our recruitment and promotion plan, clearly inform each other of progress or lack of it and act. We need to stop the slide of a university that looks better in national rankings but has missed its essential calling of contributing to a greater democracy of all.
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To encourage discussion on issues affecting the university and higher education in general, the Forum section appears periodically in Columns. Faculty, staff, administrators and researchers associated with the university are invited to submit essays and respond to previous essays.
A committee appointed by University Council and Staff Council reviews submissions to determine which are of greatest interest to the university community. Faculty members of the Forum review committee for 1998-99 are Francis Assaf, Romance languages; Laura Mason, history; and Kathleen Parker, geography. The staff representative is Brenda Keen of the Institute of Government.
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