Senate committee suggests diversity plaques, statues

The list of organizations and groups on the University of South Dakota campus has gotten a little longer.

A committee has been formed in the USD Faculty Senate with the sole task of developing ideas for the senate to embrace the university’s theme of diversity.

Senate chairman Dan Van Peursem said the subcommittee is the senate’s answer to voice an issue prominent at USD.

“We need to look how we can promote this better,” Van Perursem said. “According to (Higher Learning Commission) reports that is what the university needs to work on.”

In USD’s 2011 HLC Report of Comprehensive Evaluation Visit the report outlines USD’s struggles to embrace diversity.

“Often, universities like USD feel that due to their homogeneous environment and population that the efforts to date are both substantial and significant in bringing about more diversity on campus and that their inability to do so is as much the problem of the lack of appropriate response from under-represented groups as it is insufficient efforts on their part.”

Van Perursem said the committee has proposed two ideas so far — a diversity statue and a plan to place plaques signifying the campus’ diversity initiative.

“Nothing has been proposed yet, and nothing has been voted on,” he said. “There is a lot more to do before anything more happens.”

Any idea brought up in the committee first needs to be researched to determine funding and organizing.

“More ideas can be brought up,” Van Perursem said. “But I hope to have something by the end of the semester.”