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A&M's new hire aimed at diversifying campus
Goal is to increase minority enrollment
By SALATHEIA BRYANT
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
Texas A&M University has hired James A. Anderson, an administrator at North Carolina State University, to help foster diversity at the school, which has been criticized as being unwelcoming to minorities.
One of Anderson's goals will be to increase the number of minority students on campus, where more than three-quarters of the enrollment is white.
Anderson said he also will look into hiring faculty and increasing the number of international students and the presence of women in nontraditional fields.
"It's not just limited to minority students or students of color," Anderson said. "I'm going to be the person to have an eye on it all. They (students) have to have a good sense of what it means to go into a globalized work force."
Anderson, who is recuperating from knee surgery, will start Nov. 19. As vice president and associate provost for institutional assessment and diversity, his salary will be $170,000 a year. Texas A&M President Robert Gates created the position in December.
Matthew Maddox, a senior student and chairman of A&M's Young Conservatives of Texas, said the creation of the position that focuses on diversity in wasteful and unnecessary
"We believe every student should be given an equal chance; to hire somebody to do that is awful," Maddox said.
"I'm kind of worried about what they will be doing here. It's going to be an expensive position," he said. "It's wasteful."
Anderson, 53, was among three candidates invited to the university in College Station for an on-campus interview after a national search.
Rodney McClendon, chief of staff for the president and co-chairman of the 26-member search advisory committee, likened the process to that of recruiting a head football coach. The national search yielded 130 applicants.
"We are indeed serious about this position. He was one of those people we personally courted," McClendon said.
While one of Anderson's goals will be to increase the number of minority students, the process does not include implementation of quotas or lowering of standards, said McClendon.
A majority of minorities interviewed in a December 2001 study said they had a negative perception of the university. That study by A&M's Race and Ethnic Studies Institute revealed that 97 percent of white students had a positive view of the school, while 65 percent of minorities had a negative view.
The study concluded that minorities become increasingly alienated the longer they stay at Texas A&M.
Goal is to increase minority enrollment
By SALATHEIA BRYANT
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
Texas A&M University has hired James A. Anderson, an administrator at North Carolina State University, to help foster diversity at the school, which has been criticized as being unwelcoming to minorities.
One of Anderson's goals will be to increase the number of minority students on campus, where more than three-quarters of the enrollment is white.
Anderson said he also will look into hiring faculty and increasing the number of international students and the presence of women in nontraditional fields.
"It's not just limited to minority students or students of color," Anderson said. "I'm going to be the person to have an eye on it all. They (students) have to have a good sense of what it means to go into a globalized work force."
Anderson, who is recuperating from knee surgery, will start Nov. 19. As vice president and associate provost for institutional assessment and diversity, his salary will be $170,000 a year. Texas A&M President Robert Gates created the position in December.
Matthew Maddox, a senior student and chairman of A&M's Young Conservatives of Texas, said the creation of the position that focuses on diversity in wasteful and unnecessary
"We believe every student should be given an equal chance; to hire somebody to do that is awful," Maddox said.
"I'm kind of worried about what they will be doing here. It's going to be an expensive position," he said. "It's wasteful."
Anderson, 53, was among three candidates invited to the university in College Station for an on-campus interview after a national search.
Rodney McClendon, chief of staff for the president and co-chairman of the 26-member search advisory committee, likened the process to that of recruiting a head football coach. The national search yielded 130 applicants.
"We are indeed serious about this position. He was one of those people we personally courted," McClendon said.
While one of Anderson's goals will be to increase the number of minority students, the process does not include implementation of quotas or lowering of standards, said McClendon.
A majority of minorities interviewed in a December 2001 study said they had a negative perception of the university. That study by A&M's Race and Ethnic Studies Institute revealed that 97 percent of white students had a positive view of the school, while 65 percent of minorities had a negative view.
The study concluded that minorities become increasingly alienated the longer they stay at Texas A&M.
