BY DOUGLAS J. BENNET

 Many students have urged me to write Wespeak articles on current issues. This is the first of an occasional series that will appear as the editors see fit. The articles will not be policy pronouncement but an extension of the dialogue I have with students individually or in fora, including my Friday open door roundtable. I will urge other members of the administration to submit articles on issues of particular importance in their areas.

 I write now in response to two Wespeak articles appearing last Friday. The first was a report by Roger Smith on a retreat for student leaders that he and Martha Paz attended in Philadelphia. Smith reports that Wesleyan, compared with some other schools, is “in a time of institutional freedom” because we are independent from outside pressures and can set our own course on matters like curriculum and affirmative action. The second article was Alea Mitchell’s piece calling urgently for successful recruitment and retention of faculty of color. In my mind, these issues are directly connected.

 Our independence is partly practical and partly cultural. The practical part comes from having a substantial private endowment and very little dependence on politically-driven public dollars. The cultural part comes from the faculty and the generations of independent-minded students we admit, and from a Wesleyan experience that equips students to think independently, confident of their leadership ability.

 Today we are exercising Wesleyan’s independence to affirm our commitment to academic excellence in the liberal arts. We are using it to protect the principle of need-blind admissions as other schools fall by the wayside. Wesleyan’s independence gives us the opportunity to deliver fully on our commitment to diversity.

 The United States is engaged in a major reassessment of affirmative action and the principle of equal opportunity it implies. At some schools, affirmative action practices in admissions are being challenged. The Supreme Court’s Bakke decision remains in force, however, allowing institutions to pursue diversity and consider race among many other factors in admission.

 Where does Wesleyan stand? We believe diversity in the student body and in the faculty are essential to excellence in education. Because of our independence, we will continue to admit a racially and economically diverse student body using a set of long-established criteria.

 One of Wesleyan’s most urgent tasks is to hire and retain more faculty of color. Our continuing commitment to a diverse student body and the forceful reassertion of our academic excellence will help recruit the finest scholars of color in the country, but they are not enough. We have to compete for these scholars with recruitment strategies that are compelling. We have to assure an open and collegial working environment once they are at Wesleyan so that, if those scholars move on to other opportunities, it is not because of any failing here. As word spreads that Wesleyan is respected and a wonderful place to teach, recruitment will be easier.

 Lest there be any misunderstanding on campus or among people of color who might consider joining the faculty or administration at Wesleyan, I need to correct Alea Mitchell’s article in one important respect:  I cheerfully accept responsibility for our recruiting success both for administrators of color, and working with departments and programs, faculty of color, and I am personally committed to succeed. We have had success on the administrative side over the last two years, as recently reported to the WSA, and I see no reason why we cannot be successful on the academic side.

 Roger Smith worries that we may not take full advantage of the present “pax Wesleyana” to strengthen the institution because of an absence of mobilizing crises. I read the situation differently. Free for the moment of the kinds of outside pressures that consumed the academy during the 1960s and l970s, we can and are making enduring gains in academic excellence and thereby giving greater force to related values like diversity. This will require frank and open communication across the campus, a real willingness to be self-critical about our shortcomings, and an impatient but civil dialogue about how to strengthen Wesleyan.

 Our purpose, of course, extends beyond Wesleyan. By strengthening Wesleyan in these ways, we will provide a rallying point for other institutions. We will also build a platform from which Wesleyan students, while on campus and after graduation, can grapple effectively with broader global issues.

Bennet is the president of Wesleyan.