In an attempt to avoid reinventing the wheel, the University will host administrators from another major college that also has faced affirmative action challenges, said University officials.

The Office of Institutional Diversity is sponsoring its inaugural lecture today, “Advancing Campus Diversity” which features John Matlock, the associate vice provost and director of the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives (OAMI), and Katrina Wade-Golden, the OAMI research coordinator, both from the University of Michigan.

“Our campuses … have a key role in ensuring that our students have the broadest education possible, which includes learning, interaction and working with people from various backgrounds,” Matlock told The Red & Black. “At the same time, we still have … a long way to go before we move past issues of access, social justice and race. In the year 2002, we are simply not there yet.”

The University of Michigan most recently successfully defended its minority admissions program, as well as conducted extensive research proceeding the implementation of diversity programs, said Tracey Ford, administrative director for the University’s Office of Institutional Diversity.

“This is just the beginning of a wonderful partnership between the University and the Office (of Institutional Diversity,” said Dean of Students Rodney Bennett, who is also the interim associate provost for Institutional Diversity. “(The discussion) will expand our thinking as it relates to how we can recruit minorities without taking race into account.”

Ford said she is excited to learn how Michigan, in addition to the academic component, introduced a social aspect that she hopes to implement, as some of the University’s current efforts are “somewhat disjointed.”

Introducing diversity programs are crucial to the development of a University, Matlock said.

“Higher education is the gateway to the future,” he said. “And, for many students, when they attend a university, it will be the first opportunity for them to interact with others from different backgrounds.”

Ford encouraged students to attend the lecture.

“Diversity isn’t a thing of the future,” Ford said. “We look around now and people are different. Learning how to work with other people is something students need to learn how to deal with now.”

The lecture will be held from 10 a.m. to noon in the Chapel.