The production and the testing of knowledge for the benefit of all demands intellectual and social restlessness.

-from the Provost's Initiative on Minority Issues (2004)

A commitment to diversity has profoundly shaped the course of research and education at the University of Chicago throughout its history. From its beginning, the University was open to women as well as men. The first three PhD degrees awarded to African American women, all in 1921, included a degree at the University of Chicago: Georgiana R. Simpson earned a doctorate in German with a dissertation on "Herder's Conception of 'Das Volk.'" Allison Davis, the John Dewey Distinguished Service Professor of Education, who received tenure in 1947, was one of the first African American faculty members at a major non-historically black university. The University's refusal to set quotas made it accessible to Jews in the mid-twentieth century when other elite institutions practiced discrimination. Our intellectual preeminence across a variety of disciplines has derived from the commitment and the ability of our scholars to engage, understand, and, when appropriate, ameliorate the myriad differences that constitute the human condition. We celebrate our proud tradition of inclusion even as we acknowledge the need for marked improvement.

The composition of our student body, undergraduate and graduate, deeply influences the educational experience that they receive at Chicago, as was argued in the amicus brief cosigned by the University and other leading institutions in the case brought against the University of Michigan: "Students are both recipients and providers of the learning that takes place at universities, and universities have a vital interest in what students bring to the task of educating each other... Diversity helps students confront perspectives other than their own and thus to think more vigorously and imaginatively; it helps students learn to relate better to persons from different backgrounds; it helps students become better citizens." Homogeneity perpetuates unchallenged assumptions-the very antithesis of what the University represents. In addition, effective education entails the ability to communicate with those of different backgrounds. The University of Chicago has a responsibility as a member of a tiny group of the most elite institutions in higher education to extend our opportunities beyond the wealthy majority. Today, the underrepresented include not only minority students but all Americans with incomes below the median. The numbers for minority admissions have improved, but our ambition is to have a more representative student body at all levels.

The University's many centers, institutes, and research workshops all draw diverse perspectives into conversation about challenging issues, but three centers in particular give special attention to issues of gender, sexuality, race, and class. Please visit the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture, the Center for Gender Studies, or the Center for Interdisciplinary Health Disparities Research for a sense of our lively intellectual environment, and please turn to the pages here for a variety of other resources relating to the cultivation of a diverse community.