Purpose:
Policy to operate the U. T. System on a totally desegregated basis
with regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or handicap
Date Approved:
December
12, 1980
Background:
The
U. T. System Board of Regents has a policy to operate The University of
Texas System on a totally desegregated basis with regard to race, color,
religion, sex, national origin, or handicap. The Board reaffirmed that policy which in final form reads as follows:
I. General Policy
The University of Texas System does hereby reaffirm its longstanding commitment to operate on a totally desegregated basis and to provide equal educational opportunities for all, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or handicap.
The University of Texas System has for many years recognized its role in helping to overcome any effects of past discrimination in a dual school system. The University of Texas System has implemented programs and policies designed to ensure that students are attracted to each institution in the System solely on the basis of the opportunities offered at the institution. For example, at The University of Texas at Austin the Board of Regents of The University of Texas System provides 1.2 million dollars annually for disadvantaged student scholarships of $1,000 per recipient for undergraduates, and awards ranging from $500 to $4,500 for law and graduate students. Through this and other affirmative action programs, The University of Texas at Austin has doubled its black and Hispanic minority student enrollment in the past six years. The University of Texas System will continue these programs and expand them, as it redoubles its efforts to ensure that equal educational opportunity and nondiscrimination are operative facts of life at one of the Nation's finest systems of academic institutions.
II. Student Enrollment
The University of Texas System does not believe that the establishment of a quota for any race or ethnic group is necessary or desirable in promoting the objective of equal educational opportunity. The University of Texas System is committed, however, to the following specific goals:
(1) As a System, it will strive within five years to reduce by fifty percent the disparity between the proportions of black and Hispanic high school graduates and the proportion of white high school graduates entering undergraduate study.
(2) Each institution in The University of Texas System will strive to achieve an annual increase in the proportion of black and Hispanic students enrolled in undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs.
(3) Each institution will strive to reduce any disparity that may exist between the proportions of black and Hispanic students and the proportion of white students entering, completing their studies in, and graduating from, the institution.
The Chancellor is hereby directed to prepare within thirty days a detailed plan for achievement of these goals. This plan should build upon the many programs currently in existence in The University of Texas System for the recruitment and retention of qualified black and Hispanic students. The plan should set forth specific measures that will be initiated and should include a program for increasing mobility between Texas community colleges and The University of Texas System institutions. The effectiveness of the plan in achieving the goals will be evaluated regularly, with programs modified and additional programs undertaken if those in the plan do not prove effective.
We believe and we intend that the goals we have set for The University of Texas System must be met without any lowering of the academic standards for admission to and graduation from The University of Texas System institutions. Texans are justifiably proud of the excellence that has come to be associated with The University of Texas System, and we expect to continue and to enhance this tradition of excellence as we expand our current efforts to provide equal educational opportunities for all.
III. Employment
The University of Texas at Austin is one of the few major university research institutions in the Nation with an equal employment opportunity plan that has been approved by the United States Department of Labor. This approval is a tangible recognition of The University of Texas System's commitment to full equality in employment opportunities for faculty, administrative staff, and non-academic personnel. The University of Texas System institutions have been and will continue to be pledged to comply with Executive Order 11246 and to develop employment plans meeting the standards set by the Department of Labor.
The University of Texas System further recognizes that black and Hispanic faculty and administrative personnel are important in the recruitment and retention of black and Hispanic students. With this relationship between employment and student enrollment as a guide, the Chancellor is hereby directed to prepare within sixty days a detailed plan containing interim measures for greater racial integration at the faculty and administrative levels. These additional steps may be of a temporary nature, such as the appointment of visiting professors or special lecturers, and shall be designed to augment, not replace, the long-term programs adopted by the institutions to improve equal employment opportunity.
IV. Reporting
The Chancellor will report to the Board on a regular basis regarding implementation of the Board's policies on equal educational opportunity and regarding progress toward achieving goals herein set forth.
Last reviewed September 2000