Guest View: Don’t give up on diversity planning now

Earlier this school year, the University of Oregon celebrated that it had recruited the most diverse class to date. In 2017, President Michael Schill announced that all units on campus must have a Diversity Action Plan to support recruitment and retention of underrepresented students and faculty at UO.

DAPs support the recruitment and retention of underrepresented students and faculty. However, as a result of the financial crisis created by COVID-19, the Division of Equity and Inclusion announced on April 30 via email that all DAP funding has been reallocated into general recovery efforts for this upcoming year.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the racial tensions showcased in protests across the country have highlighted the disparities that racial minorities face on a day-to-day basis, both historically and today. However, funding and resources to support underrepresented communities are often the first to be cut in times of crisis. I followed up to see how this funding would still support DEI planning, but the response I got just detailed how these funds are supporting COVID-19 recovery efforts.

It is not clear how these DAP funds will be used to support DEI efforts through the recovery efforts other than they’ve gone into a general pool of funds. It’s also not clear how units will be able to implement their DAPs through this crisis, especially if UO plans to have students and faculty back on campus next term.

UO continues to claim that it is supporting DEI at the university, as exemplified in Schill’s solidarity statement, yet it pulled all funding allocated for units to develop and implement their DAPs. This lack of funding leaves units hanging in how they are going to continue to implement their DAPs, and it will most certainly adversely affect our underrepresented communities on campus both in the short and long term.

I can only speak for my program at UO, but it is no secret that the urban planning profession is overwhelmingly white and still predominantly male. While universities such as UO are finally recruiting more diverse students, Latinx Americans were awarded only 11.4% of all urban planning degrees and less than 7% of urban planning degrees awarded were to black Americans in 2017. Looking to gender, men still hold more urban planning degrees than women. In my subfield, transportation, women represent less than 15% of the workforce.

UO is no different in this aspect. In the time that I have worked for the School of Planning, Public Policy, and Management’s equity initiative program coordinator, I’ve seen eight students drop from the program. Out of these eight students, five of them were people of color. Four of those five students were women of color.

PPPM is considered an exemplary of diversity planning. We’ve recruited two faculty of color to teach on engaging diverse communities, and we’ve held a listening session every year since 2015 to gather feedback from students on how to continue to address DEI concerns within the school.

Other units around campus have followed in implementing similar practices within their DAPs. However, none of this work is possible if we do not have appropriate funding, even if that funding is gone for a year. I also fear this sets a precedent for future emergencies, that DAP funding will continue to be one of the first budget cuts.

Cities around the US have been reallocating funds from the police to programs that support underrepresented communities. I propose UO follow suit, and reallocate all funds that were taken from the DAP back into the program so units can continue to develop and implement their DAPs. If we are limited in where we can pull these funds from, I recommend they come from the UOPD budget. If we don’t advocate for change now, we are going to witness the largest exodus of diverse students and faculty from UO.

Corrie Parrish is graduating with a master’s degree in community and regional planning at UO. She has worked for the PPPM equity initiative for the past three years, and her research has focused on equity concerns within transportation planning. She will be staying in Eugene after graduation and secured a job with a transportation planning firm that specializes in community engagement of diverse communities.