Celebrating and
honoring the multiethnic, intercultural, and interfaith diversity of
Christian faith in
general and of Presbyterianism and the Wesleyan ethos is a huge concern of our seminary
as we are located in the Mid-west in a small city (Dubuque, Iowa) that is
predominately caucasian and Catholic. Dubuque and the 7-county region around Dubuque
had a population base of 230,236 in 2018, with the following demographic
breakdown: 93.4% White, 2.19% Black, 1.89% Hispanic, 1.19% two or more race, 0.99%
Asian, and 0.29% American or Alaska Native (See the Additional Documents file, Doc 14 President’s
Review of Equity in Hiring Practices University of Dubuque.).
Our Seminary faculty and student body demographics reveal a far
more ethnically (and cultural geographic) diverse community than many of our
residential students have ever lived in before.
In addition, the Seminary inhabits the same campus, uses the same
building space, and the same food service as the undergraduate side of the
University of Dubuque with over 2000 students. The UD/UDTS campus is the most
diverse space in a 60-mile radius of Dubuque. 40% of UD’s student body are people of
non-white ethnicity: 26% Black/African, 12% Hispanic/Latino, and 2% various
other ethnicities, including Asian, Native American and Native Hawaiian (See Additional Documents file, Doc 3.23 UD Student Demographics, “Race/Ethnicity” sheet in this
Excel file.) Also see https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/university-of-dubuque/student-life/diversity/#secGeographic. Students come to UD from over 30 different
states and 16 different countries. In
fact, the UD/UDTS campus is the third most
diverse college campus in all of Iowa (See https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/most-diverse-colleges/s/iowa/.). The majority our UM seminary students find
themselves inhabiting a space and a community on the UD/UDTS campus that is far
more diverse than the communities and churches they have come from in the upper
mid-West and more diverse than the UM congregations and communities they will
serve after the graduate.
In addition, celebrating and honoring the multiethnic, intercultural, and interfaith manifestations of Christian faith is deeply embedded in the goals of President Bullock’s Diversity, Inclusion and Hospitality Task Force: “Goal # 1- Recognizing that our diversity is a gift from God, and develop comprehensive strategies for attracting and retaining diverse students, faculty, staff, and Board members” (See the Requested Documents file, Doc 13 President’s Diversity, Inclusion, and Hospitality Task Force Goals.). This Task Force is a result of a study launched by the UD/UDTS President and Board of Trustees into the equity in hiring practices at UD (See the Requested Documents file, Doc 14 President’s Review of Equity in Hiring Practices University of Dubuque.). The review notes that “since 2010, there have been 93 total hires within our faculty ranks, 75 of whom are still employed by the University. Of those 93 new hires, 15% were from underrepresented populations (ANANA: African, Hispanic, Asian, Native American) and 85% were Caucasian. 49% were Female and 51% were Male) (See the Requested Documents file, Doc 14 President’s Review of Equity in Hiring Practices University of Dubuque and Doc 15 Diversity in Faculty Hires.).