The Commission's report, "Diversity and Inclusion at UMass Amherst: A Blueprint for Change," aims to implement changes that will make the University more welcoming for all students.
Lombardi appointed the 23-member Commission last year in response to grievances expressed by minority student groups after a disturbing photograph surfaced on campus. The photo pictured student leaders posing in front of a cartoon of a Ku Klux Klan figure that mocked black students. According to the Web site, Lombardi said that he was concerned about the effectiveness of the University's current approach to diversity.
The report calls on the University to reverse the decline of underrepresented minority students and increase the diversity of faculty. According to the Web site, the report urges Lombardi to appoint a "senior-level administrator with adequate staffing, budget and resources to report directly to the Chancellor to review and coordinate all diversity and inclusion activities."
According to the Web site, the Commission wrote, "It is essential that UMass fully embrace its responsibility to educate students on matters of diversity, to help give them the experiences and the preparation they need to welcome and appreciate the difference and to live and work productively in a diverse society. Yet it is clear that UMass through the years has deeded over to students some of these essential responsibilities-responsibilities that need to be assumed by the Amherst campus as a part of its core mission."
After holding interviews with close to 100 students, faculty, administrators, staff and alumni at the University, the Commission recommended in its report that the University establish an advisory council for the proposed senior diversity official, restructure administrative bureaucracy in order to achieve diversity goals, make the academic advising system more sensitive to the particular needs of students of color, require all campus leaders to develop plans to intensify and assess efforts to enhance diversity, as well as regularly evaluate progress made on the Commission's recommendations.