Child Development Center and UNI's Diversity Goals

I am a faculty member in the Physics Department, my wife is a student in the MBA program and our nearly three-year-old daughter is enrolled in the CDC. We are perhaps an ideal UNI family as some months the checks we send to UNI are much larger than the one we get back.

We learned with dismay this past week that the CDC would be reduced from six rooms to four. The displacement of children that will occur will primarily affect staff and their families and they will also be most affected by reduced enrollment opportunities in the future. To me this is a surprising step for UNI especially as diversity is featured prominent in the strategic plan and limiting child care opportunities most strongly affects women, who in many fields, such as my own, are underrepresented. A recent high profile study of women faculty at MIT once again highlighted the disproportionate burden of family care for women as a barrier to their professional success. My own experiences and that of people close to me have reinforced how this practical issue plays such an important role in determining the make-up of professional staff.

I find it very discouraging that having been told that the Strategic Plan would be a guide to dealing with future challenges, that processes are being used and decisions are being made that go against the Core Values as stated in the Plan. For example, how do we reconcile "Community– an ethical, caring, and safe community characterized by civility" when staff are told without warning or discussion that their children are being displaced and they have only months to make alternative arrangements? How do we align "Diversity – a welcoming community that celebrates pluralism, multiculturalism, and the unique contributions of each person and group" when decisions are made that make it more difficult for underrepresented groups to work at UNI?

I hope that those who are charged with promoting diversity on campus engage with the appropriate decision makers to ensure that diversity goals have been thoughtfully considered in the course of making this decision.

John Deisz