Vice President for Student and Academic Services Susan H. Murphy today (Nov. 5, 2000) issued the following report from the Cornell University administration:

President Hunter Rawlings and members of the university administration wish to reaffirm Cornell's unwavering commitment to a climate of civility, decency and respect for others on campus. The recent incidents targeting our Asian and Asian-American students are intolerable in any community and especially so in a university community. The Cornell Police have done and will continue to do everything possible to identify and charge those responsible. The response of the community and input from the many student groups concerned with these incidents have spurred us to address these concerns in even a more direct way.

At a forum held on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2000, a coalition of students presented a set of proposals to the administration regarding safety policy, student life and the academic curriculum. A revised version of these proposals was discussed in greater detail in a meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 25. Attending that meeting were President Rawlings, vice presidents Henrik N. Dullea and Susan Murphy and five students: Lisa Wang and Melissa Hu, co-presidents of Asian Pacific Americans for Action (APAA); Malik Dixon, president of Black Students United (BSU); Herbert Cortez, president of La AssociacionLatina (LAL); and graduate student Shirleen Robinson. In response to the concerns raised at these meetings, this document sets forth specific information about the actions the university has taken and those we will or are considering taking in the near future.

I. Safety Policy

Several specific items have been identified related to safety, including increased lighting and blue light phones; improvements to the Blue Light Escort Service; enhanced communication and dissemination of information on bias-related incidents; full implementation of the New York state policy on hate crimes legislation and specification of consequences for those found in violation.

Teams of students and staff from maintenance management and the crime prevention unit are touring the campus next week to review the needs for lighting and blue light phones. Together they will develop the list for areas needing immediate attention and will identify other areas to be addressed as weather and resources permit, focusing especially on areas of highest priority.

It is apparent from many conversations that the Blue Light Escort Service remains a desired function on the campus, but one that is underutilized. The Student Assembly raised a number of these concerns in its Resolution 10, and the students who drafted the recent document have as well. We will ask the Student Assembly to identify a small working group of students to meet with the Cornell Police Crime Prevention Unit to work together to enhance student awareness of the information available to every Cornell student through the Campus Watch newspaper, and to put in place improvements to the escort service so that it is used more widely by the student community.

While the Cornell campus has experienced a much lower incidence of crime than many other major universities across the country, we are by no means crime-free. Our campus is an open campus and our streets are used by the community as local thoroughfares. The daily police blotter regularly contains reports of crimes occurring on this campus, some of which are actions of Cornell community members but others are not. All members of the community have a responsibility to be vigilant in these circumstances. We reaffirm our commitment to provide the campus community with timely warnings of reported crimes as mandated by state and federal law. In general, such notification will be made within two business days of the occurrence of the crime or its report to campus authorities, but certain limited information may be withheld to protect victim confidentiality, ensure the integrity of ongoing investigations, or to keep a suspect from fleeing. The Cornell News Service will work with the Cornell Police and local media, including the Cornell Daily Sun, to implement this commitment.

As reported already by the Cornell Daily Sun, the Cornell Police have received training on the recent New York state legislation on hate crimes. The university is committed to full implementation of that legislation and will ask the University Assembly to review the procedures of the Hearing Board in light of this legislation.

Finally, Vice President Harold Craft is seeking volunteers for the Public Safety Advisory Committee to review the safety environment on the campus and to provide its own recommendations. Requests for participation have been made to the Student Assembly, the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, the Employee Assembly and the Faculty Senate Nominations Committee. We hope that the committee, with new membership, will meet within the next month.

II. Student Life

Students have asked for increased programming on diversity during orientation week and for the administration's endorsement of student events that promote diversity. They also have suggested that each resident advisor lead one workshop each semester on issues of inclusiveness, race, gender and sexuality and have requested workshops or courses.

Provost Biddy Martin and I are working on a new initiative to involve each member of the freshman class in a small group discussion with a faculty member during orientation week. Provost Martin will appoint a group of faculty to help select a reading or set of readings that will be required of all entering first-year students. The reading material and discussions will introduce students immediately to the pleasures of academic life at the university and empathetic intellectual exchange in a diverse community.

In addition, Assistant Dean of Students Meg Nowak and the Orientation Steering Committee (OSC) remain committed to multicultural and diversity education during orientation week. Although a variety of diversity programs were offered during orientation last fall, student attendance at the events was disappointing. Assistant Dean Nowak is meeting with students and staff to develop an action plan for determining the type of programs that would be best suited for orientation. The OSC, which is a student organization, welcomes student participation in its efforts to plan the week's activities or to serve as orientation counselors.

Campus Life also remains committed to diversity programming and in fact has incorporated it as a fundamental component of the First-Year Residential Experience. The resident and program advisors and Community Development professional staff receive specific and extensive training in diversity education and are expected to include diversity initiatives in their programming. Through both educational programming and the administration of the Campus Life Bias Reporting Protocol, students in residences are reminded that bias acts will not be tolerated.

The Dean of Students Office also remains committed to diversity programming and targets much of its supplemental funding for co-sponsorship to programs and events related to diversity. Dean Ford's support of Angela Oh's recent visit is simply the latest example of this commitment that complements the support given to ALANA and CUPB.

III. Academic Curriculum

The students have asked that a committee of administrators, faculty and students be established to investigate the feasibility of required course work on the increasing diversity of our population and the problems of intolerance and discrimination. Provost Martin will discuss this request with the academic deans next week and then will appoint a committee of faculty, staff and students to: (1) create an inventory of already existing requirements and/or courses that explore the economic, social, cultural and psychological significance of racial, ethnic, class, gender and sexual differences; (2) investigate efforts at peer institutions to integrate diversity education into curricular offerings and requirements; and (3) make recommendations that respect the college faculties' authority to set the curriculum and degree requirements in each college while promoting the university-wide goal of opening students' hearts and minds to the fact and value of human diversity.

In addition to the activities noted above, the university will release next week the protocol for responding to bias activity. This initiative, launched first in Campus Life, has undergone a thorough review and discussion and is again ready for use across the campus. The Office of Workforce Diversity, Equity and Life Quality will remain the focal point for such activity, although college dean's offices, the Cornell Police, the judicial administrator and the Ombudsman's Office all have important roles to play as well.