New president should listen to students

The University of Cincinnati Presidential Search Committee addressed the ideal qualities it is looking for in a presidential candidate, and of course diversity was at the forefront of the committee’s criteria, according to a May 20, News Record article.

Skip West, a member of the committee, suggested adding the inclusion of racial and gender diversity to be more inclusive.

Some members liked the wording, but others like Valerie Hardcastle, dean of McMicken College of Arts & Sciences, said, “It’s good, but it will offend the LGBT community.”
UC Diversity Council clearly also wants an emphasis on racial diversity.

“The emphasis on diversity should be to the [black] community which is the largest and most influential minority at the University of Cincinnati and at the city of Cincinnati,” according to a summary of meeting minutes.

This is interesting, because by gender diversity the committee means, “Let’s add more biological women to the university,” and by racial diversity it means, “Let’s add more black people to the university.”

And because UC is focusing predominately on race and gender, all other identities are ignored and intersectionality is thrown out the window entirely.

UC just cares about the numbers – although that statement can be applied to most institutions. It doesn’t matter how diverse everything actually is, they just want to be able to show off how diverse they are by adding a few people of color. It’s kind of like some sort of collection. Just picture Mitch Livingston, chief diversity officer and vice president of student affairs, telling other universities and boards things like: “Oh look, we have three black male professors here and a white woman over here and an Asian woman over here.  Hey, that’s twofor one!” "

But that may be the least of UC students’ problems. Trying to get to former UC President Nancy Zimpher was harder than Fort Knox. Her secretary stops you at the door like a guard and explains “President Zimpher doesn’t see students,” diverting you to her spokesperson who will e-mail you with a quote to use for the story.

Everyone in her office acts like you are crazy for even attempting to reach her, and a meeting with her spokesperson takes much longer than asking Zimpher directly.

How many students even go in there to speak with Zimpher? Is there some sort of problem with that?

Livingston will speak to you. Actually, Livingston’s secretary will set up a meeting for him to speak with you, but at least it is better than the Zimpher situation.

What president of a university doesn’t see students? Isn’t it her job ensure we are satisfied? How can she even know what’s going on with students if she is
so inaccessible, especially when a large part of UC|21 is putting the students at the center?

Hopefully, the future president of the university will be more open to student voices and take them seriously.

Actually, hopefully the next president will see a lot of what is wrong with UC. While there are a lot of positive programs and services at UC, there have been some broken promises. UC is not even close to being a 24/7 campus, as the UC | 21 plan hoped it would be.
Morgens was found to have mold and asbestos. UC also declined to fund a full-time staff person for the LGBT office.

The next president just needs to keep the students in mind and think about what it is they really need, and there’s no better way to find out then to ask them.