Ohio’s University of Toledo is changing its process for bestowing its Inclusive Excellence Award after facing backlash from students and alumni for giving this year’s prize to a conservative law professor.
Dr. Willie McKether, the vice president of diversity and inclusion and vice provost at the university wrote in a school blog post last week the nomination and review process would be updated “to be sure we have diverse perspectives during the selection process for this honor.”
University of Toledo Law School Professor Lee Strang captured this year’s award, only the second time it’s been presented, after “an overwhelming number of faculty nominations focused on his presence in the classroom where he ‘enjoys and respects a good healthy debate,’ as one nominator wrote,” McKether explained.
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An Ohio university is changing the way it selects recipients of its Inclusive Excellence Award after a conservative professor won.
“We are working to revise the nomination and review process to be sure we take a comprehensive approach in selecting the recipients to ensure their bodies of work represent our diversity and inclusion values,” said University of Toledo vice president of diversity and inclusion, Willie McKether,
The change in how the honor is awarded comes after law professor Lee Strang won the award after receiving an “overwhelming number of faculty nominations.”
Strang was nominated in part because he “enjoys and respects a good healthy debate” in his classroom, one nominator wrote. The nominator made note of Strang’s “conservative point of view,” which is “a minority in academia and a benefit to legal debate.”