University of San Diego - a Review
2008. Presidential Advisory Board for Inclusion and Diversity (PABID) established and issued a twenty-five-page series of recommendations relating to expanding the Diversity and Inclusion mission of the university.[1]
2010. Center for Inclusion and Diversity established. Previously a Committee on Inclusion and Diversity issued recommendations to president.
2012. Faculty Recruitment and Retention Toolkit approved, adopting all of the assumptions that there are underrepresented minorities at USD due to systematic racism and insisting that they are overcome not only with implicit bias training, but with very aggressive affirmative action policies.[2] Strategic plan claims that the Diversity toolkits are “implemented” but only partly so after that year.
August 2012. Esteban Del Rio, later chair of the sociology department, is hired as Associate Provost, Inclusion & Diversity, charged with operationalizing “an equity agenda in faculty affairs including recruitment, pedagogy, curriculum” and other aspects having to do with “the struggle for social justice.”[3]
2017. USD adopted a new core curriculum, doubling and deepening its emphasis on “Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice.”
August 2017. Del Rio promoted to Chief Diversity Officer, charged with leading “strategic planning efforts” on strengthening diversity, inclusion, and social justice. Serves as Co-Chair of Envisioning 2024 strategic plan efforts.[4]
2017. USD adopted a new core curriculum, doubling and deepening its emphasis on “Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice” (details see page 17).
2020-2021. Diversity Toolkit is “fully implemented and updated.”[5]
Sept. 2020. Richard Miller is hired as Interim Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.[6] He heads the Center for Inclusion and Diversity, which has a three-person staff. A nationwide search for a permanent Vice Provost yielded Regina Dixon-Reeves, who began August 2021.[7]
October 23, 2020. The Board of Trustees convenes Anti-Racism Task Force to develop actionable recommendations to improve campus culture related to anti-racism.
December 5, 2020. Anti-Racism Task Force delivers report and 41 recommendations to USD President, Provost, and University Senate Chair.
April 2021. Pres. Harris and his Interim VP for DEI announce the Horizon Project[8] a “giant leap forward” of all DEI efforts, though it is mostly a distillation of recommendations from the Anti-Racism Task Force. The Horizon Project is a 15-million-dollar effort, fully supported by the Board of Trustees, as per the press announcement, that includes sewing commitment to DEI into faculty evaluations and revising many policies concerning hate speech and anti-bias harassment.
June 2021. New hiring procedures for “cluster hires” sent to faculty.
June 2021. Charlotte Johnson named new Vice President for Student Affairs
Sept 2021: “Whiteness” is presented as evil in student orientation-indoctrination program as part of Horizon Plan’s multi-step student orientation-indoctrination efforts.
[1] https://www.sandiego.edu/inclusion/documents/PABID%20FINAL05_11-09.pdf
[2] https://www.sandiego.edu/provost/documents/faculty-recruit-toolkit.pdf
[3] https://www.fst.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Esteban-del-Rio-Vitae-2020-.pdf
[4] Campus Updates - Envisioning 2024 - University of San Diego
[5] See Key Initiative C on Strategic Plan. https://www.sandiego.edu/iesi/documents/KPIs%20for%20Goal%202.pdf
[6] https://sites.sandiego.edu/usd-magazine/2020/09/persistence-patience-and-respect
[7] https://www.sandiego.edu/news/detail.php?_focus=81535
[8] https://www.sandiego.edu/horizon-project/strategies/policies.php