History & Charge
Brief History of the ACM Task Force/Committee on Minority Concerns
Introduction
The establishment of the ACM Committee on Minority Concerns has its earliest ties to a 1985 Wingspread Conference on “Minorities and Education in Liberal Arts Colleges” sponsored by the Board of Directors of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest. Participants at this conference concluded that the consortium should develop means to support minority faculty and staff, to recruit and retain minority students, to revise curricula to include ethnic concerns, and to share information about programs and resources of interest to minority students. In the spring of 1986, the ACM Board established the Task Force on Minority Concerns, with a “principal focus” of “the enrollment and success of increasing numbers of minority students, particularly Blacks and Hispanics, at ACM colleges.” In addition the task force was charged with “sharing information on successful campus programs on minorities” and “gathering information or conducting research on questions relating to minority concerns at ACM colleges.” The Task Force directed its attention to campus-based activities and tackled a list of projects, which resulted in specific recommendations in the areas of admissions, recruitment, and curriculum.
By the spring of 1991, the Task Force had reached many of its original goals and agreed that the continuing challenges on ACM campuses could be best met if it were to become a standing committee of the ACM. In 1992, the Board agreed on the inaugural charge for the Committee, emphasizing the continuing need to support an open and receptive climate for minority members of the ACM campus communities and to maintain the flow of shared information so that all ACM schools benefit from the successes of each. The charge emphasized that efforts should be “consortial activities,” reminding the Committee that recommendations to be adopted by all the member schools must be adapted in accordance with the policies and practices of each individual college. The Committee's charge is reviewed every three years by the ACM Advisory Board of Deans and the ACM Board of Directors. The current charge is included below.
The Committee, continually active since its inception, has impacted aspects of ACM consortial activities and individual campuses, including off-campus study programs; grant-sponsored projects, workshops, and conferences; offices of minority/multicultural affairs; and minority student recruitment. The Committee also provides a forum for the exchange of information and mutual support for faculty and staff involved in minority/multicultural education along with professional development opportunities for members.
Committee Charge
The ACM Committee on Minority Concerns has been constituted by the Advisory Board of Deans so that the consortium can assist individual campuses in their efforts to provide a supportive environment for individuals from groups underrepresented in higher education. The Committee will recommend consortial initiatives with clearly stated rationale and objectives that assist member campuses in providing an environment and climate to attract and retain domestic ethnic minority students, faculty, and staff.
The Committee shall regularly (a) review practices of member campuses addressed to student, faculty and staff recruitment and retention, (b) monitor ways in which the curricula of member campuses can address issues related to minority concerns; and (c) identify successful practices across the nation that nurture professional development of members of underrepresented groups in higher education. The Committee should identify both pressing issues and best practices in all three areas and make recommendations for consortial initiatives to the Advisory Board of Deans. The Board of Directors and Advisory Board will determine which projects to pursue and, from time to time, may ask the Committee to coordinate particular initiatives.
The Committee will meet two times each year.
The Committee shall submit to the Advisory Board of Deans and the ACM office written minutes and an annual report of its activities. The Committee shall also submit to the ACM office announcements and a calendar of meetings for posting on the ACM web site.