Your editorial in the Oct. 3 Lantern, “Support diversity: Leaders should set strong example,” was an affront to the support that President Kirwan and Provost Ed Ray have given to the diversity lecture series. To suggest otherwise is a tragic and perverse statement of the facts. Of the 16 lectures that were held during our inaugural series, the president or the provost was present at 14.
Little is to be gained in demeaning those who have demonstrated a real commitment to the issue of diversity on this campus. It is unnerving to note how cavalier you were in not making a painstaking effort to discuss the truth. To base your statement on the absence of the president and provost at one lecture is irrational. It prostitutes healing the broken divide among campus constituencies that is a moral necessity and humanistic imperative.
You had a wonderful opportunity during the last academic year to applaud “the two most powerful and influential leaders” on campus for their clear and openly expressed commitment to the goals of diversity. The president and provost’s diversity lecture series was designed to involve the total campus community. The success of the program cannot and should not rest on the shoulders of an isolated handful of central administrators. The momentum for major changes will not develop until colleges, departments and extraordinarily committed chairs demonstrate a gut-level commitment to diversity which they translate into creative, positive mission statements and sustained efforts.
You are right. Actions do speak louder than words. To be credible, leaders must practice assiduously what they preach. Central administrators should not be the only gatekeepers of academe. Each of us has a responsibility.
It certainly would have been encouraging to see a broader representation of students, faculty and administrators at the first lecture in the diversity series for this year. It makes a positive statement when representatives of a particular constituency, whose issues are being addressed, are present. The issues of any of us ought to be of immense interest in our efforts to understand, appreciate and celebrate each other’s contributions.
You seemed bent on using your platform as a step in undermining the thing you have accused the president and provost of. Instead, I challenge you to be aggressive and responsible to things which give evidence of the institution’s progress in the area of diversity.
Frank W. Hale, Jr. Vice provost and professor emeritus
is a member of the 
