Diversity plan adopted at Rutgers University in New Jersey after series of racial protests

Jet, July 10, 1995

Following a series of racial protests over a controversial statement made by the president of Rutgers University, the campus in New Brunswick, NJ, recently adopted a diversity plan.

The action comes after students marched on campus earlier this year demanding the resignation of president Francis L. Lawrence after his statement, Blacks lacked the "genetic, heredity background" to do well on standardized tests (JET, Feb. 20).

The president apologized soon after making the statement.

The diversity plan includes recruiting more minority students and faculty members, and improving life on campus for them, The Chronicle of Higher Education states.

Lawrence said the plan would strengthen the university where almost 30 percent of the students are minorities.

"I feel great about this," he said. "This has been a tough semester. We felt we really had a good record--and we do, when you look at diversity within the university. But the issue of how we deal with one another is one that we had not dealt with."

The diversity plan also includes the university devoting $1 million from a capital campaign to scholarships for minority students. It sets aside an unspecified amount of money for hiring minority professors as well.