FULLERTON : Prepare Minorities, Institutions Urged

The nation’s institutions are not prepared to handle increasing numbers of women and minorities entering schools and the workplace, speakers at a seminar on diversity said Friday.

“We have to bring all our people together . . . because at the end of this decade the face of the nation will change significantly,” said Milton A. Gordon, president of Cal State Fullerton, in delivering the opening address to a conference on “Communication and Cultural Diversity in American Institutions.”

The two-day event, which ends today, is being attended by business representatives and academics from across the nation.

Speaker after speaker referred to recent U.S. census data that predicts Americans with African-American, Latino or Asian ancestry would outnumber those with European background by the year 2015.

Elizabeth W. Meching, dean of the school of communications at Cal State Fullerton, said the university was hosting the conference because educators and business people are frequently confronted with diversity issues.

For example, 52 languages are spoken in Fullerton’s public schools, she noted.

Other speakers said more opportunities must be provided in business for women and minorities.

“We have to acknowledge that business is motivated by profit and productivity,” said Lea P. Stewart, a professor in communication at Rutgers University. “Well, we have to give these groups (of minorities) the opportunities and tools to be productive.”

Frederico Subervi, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, lamented that there were still too few minorities in decision-making positions in American institutions.

Subervi said he recently reviewed California’s emergency preparedness plan for a state agency and found that non-English speaking minorities would be at a disadvantage in an earthquake or other disaster.

“The community must understand that the safety of everyone is at stake, and that we cannot take care of one group of people and forget another,” Subervi said.