The Associated Students of Madison Diversity Committee began discussing the new Diversity Plan draft at a meeting Thursday.
The initiative to create a new Diversity Plan began in November 2012. The Ad Hoc Diversity Planning Committee gathered opinions on what the plan should include through different listening sessions, and released the draft Feb. 18.
Diversity Committee Chair Jessica Behling said the ASM committee plans to discuss the Diversity Plan throughout the semester.
“Our rule as Diversity Committee is to make sure that [the plan] is what students need on our campus right now … so we are going to do a lot of work this semester,” Behling said.
The development of the Diversity Plan lacked a student opinion, Ad Hoc Diversity Planning Committee student member Justin Bloesch said.
“We had a hard time getting all of students [to the listening sessions]… for much of the process,” Bloesch said. “Student voice was not that strong.”
At the meeting, committee members split into smaller groups to discuss accessibility, ethnic studies courses and Student Orientation, Advising and Registration for international students.
Bloesch asked for the Diversity Committee to give their honest criticism on the Diversity plan.
“This is not a complete thing, so there’s probably going to be some things missing,” Bloesch said.
The Ad-Hoc Diversity Planning Committee intends to conduct more listening sessions later this semester to gather more input on the first draft.
