Santa Clara University

Letter on Diversity

February 20, 1998

Dear Members of the University Community:

As part of our tradition of Jesuit education, we value cultural pluralism at Santa Clara. I want to reaffirm our commitment to diversity both because of its importance in learning and because of the current political environment. Our commitment is articulated in the Statement of Purpose: we are dedicated to "a community enriched by women and men of diverse backgrounds, respectful of difference and enlivened by open dialogue, caring and just toward others, and committed to broad participation in achieving the common good." In our strategic planning, we seek to realize our commitment to a "diverse community and the roots that must sustain it." ⁽¹⁾

Our commitment springs from three interrelated principles:

Diverse perspectives and experiences are central to academic quality because they expand creative thought and analysis, test unexamined assumptions, challenge accepted truths, and broaden understanding of ourselves and our world.

The University must be able to draw from a wide variety of experiences, perspectives, values, and disciplines within the community to "foster a vital intellectual community whose members collaborate in learning and scholarship." The University, through a careful stewardship of its resources and well-conceived programs, will continue to extend opportunities to members of groups that have been under-represented throughout this country's history.

Among the major challenges facing universities today is educating students to work effectively in a pluralistic, global, and multicultural society. Students must understand and appreciate a broad range of people and cultures in order to be effective leaders and to discern, articulate, and promote the common good of all members of society. The development of interpersonal and intercultural skills takes on added significance in a society such as ours that will be increasingly diverse.

As a Jesuit university, Santa Clara is committed to excellence in teaching and scholarship and to the promotion of that justice which faith requires - as exemplified best in the "teaching scholar" and the "community of scholars." Jesuit education promotes ethical and spiritual coherence by challenging participants to work for a more just and humane world. Jesuit universities nurture an intellectual community enriched by the full range and depth of human experience, where diverse voices and viewpoints, especially those of the impoverished and the disadvantaged, are represented. Santa Clara thus expects each of its degree programs to offer students "a learning environment that integrates rigorous inquiry and scholarship, creative imagination, reflective engagement with society, and a commitment to fashioning a more just and humane world."

Impelled by these convictions, Santa Clara will continue to develop a diverse community with an emphasis on ethnic diversity to further our educational priorities, to recognize diversity as an important learning resource, and to embrace a multidimensional understanding of the world and its underlying unity.

Sincerely,

Paul Locatelli, S.J.
President

1. All citations are from the Strategic Plan of the University.

Note: This Open Letter was developed in consultation with some faculty, students and staff during the Fall and early Winter Quarter. It is consistent with the statement published in the "The Chronicle of Higher Education" (February 13, 1998), On the Importance of Diversity in Higher Education endorsed by a number of organizations to which Santa Clara belongs, for example, American Council of Education, National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities.