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Gender equity actions at Marquette University
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Letter from the President
Dec. 8, 2003
Dear Colleagues,
Most of you will recall that in 1999, I commissioned a special task force to study issues relating to gender equity here at Marquette. This group issued a report in January 2001 confirming, as we thought it would, that there needed to be some serious work undertaken to ensure that women and men are equally represented at, and equally treated by, this university.
However, with this report in hand, it became clear that we would need a well-thought-out plan of implementation if we were to realize the tangible results we must insist upon when it comes to this issue. Therefore, we formed a second task force and asked this group to offer recommendations on how best to address the findings of the original Gender Equity Task Force. Specifically, we asked the new committee to work on a number of issues, particularly the following: guidelines for promotion and tenure, merit review and salary allocation; the feasibility of an ombuds program and how that might be structured; faculty recruitment and mentoring; education initiatives regarding gender equity issues; and, procedures for appointing, evaluating and compensating deans and department chairs. The task force did so and produced a very helpful set of recommendations that we then evaluated and acted upon, and the accompanying report is designed to be a summary account of the actions we have taken to date in response to the findings of the two task forces.
I encourage you to review the summation we prepared and now offer to the Marquette community. It details three things: the specific steps we have taken thus far to respond to the recommendations of the task forces, the rationale for proceeding as we did in the case of those recommendations that we thought should be dealt with in somewhat different fashion than the Implementation Task Force had originally suggested, and the further actions which still remain to be taken.
Certainly I want to thank the members of both task forces for their outstanding work. As is evident in the report, solid progress already has been achieved toward making the work environment here at Marquette truly equitable and genuinely merit-based for the men and women who teach and work here. For the members of the two committees that labored so diligently on this, such progress is probably the best means of all for expressing our thanks.
While these task forces have now finished their work and the formal process we began in 1999 is now brought to conclusion, it is not as though we can say to one another, “Well, that’s that. We have finished with that issue!” No, no, gender equity — and indeed equity concerns of all sorts — must continue to be one of this university’s foremost priorities going forward. To put it another way, it is imperative that all faculty, administrators and staff be recognized and rewarded based only on merit. This is more than a matter of law; it is a matter of justice.
So we will keep working to resolve those problems that still require action and to make certain that new problems are not cropping up. To be sure, Marquette is but one of many universities dealing with these sorts of issues. That said, as a Catholic, Jesuit institution, we are called in a special way to create a community that fosters respect and dignity. In this effort, and in a variety of related efforts, we cannot let up until all our colleagues — men, women, Caucasians, minorities — can say without any equivocation: “Yes, I have just as much of an opportunity as anyone to succeed here at Marquette. Yes, I know that I am judged strictly on the merit of my work. Yes, I am respected by all of my colleagues and valued as an equal. And yes, here at Marquette I am truly treated as a human being made in the image and likeness of God.”
Until that day comes, may we be blessed with continued resolve and compassion as we work each and every day to turn this ideal into reality.
Sincerely,
Robert A. Wild, S.J.
President
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