NIU President John La Tourette is showing he’s serious about demonstration of ethnic and cultural diversity at NIU, and people are taking notice.

Z. Ahmad, program director of University Program and Activities said he “firmly believes so” that La Tourette has made great strides.

“In 1987, he (La Tourette) came out with the Institutional Plan To Address Campus Discrimination, which outlined what we at all levels (students and faculty) can do,” Ahmad said.

The program sparked a week long celebration, occuring once a year, called Unity in Diversity. This program gained so much praise, that it became a year long event.

Van Amos, a member of the Black Student Union, said throughout La tourette’s tenure there has been a “vast improvement of relations in race, due to the implementation of Unity in Diversity.”

Still, Amos said the school could “go further with course works for students” to expand progress.

Apart from Unity in Diversity, La Tourette has taken many steps toward increasing ethnic and cultural diversity. For one, financial incentives have been offered to encourage the hiring of minority faculty, according to press releases.

Also, an aggressive outreach effort to attract more minority students has been launched, and the number of tuition waivers available to academically disadvantaged students has been increased, the press release stated.

For his efforts, La Tourette was honored for “outstanding leadership in the demonstration of ethnic and cultural diversity in higher education” by the Illinois Committee on Black Concerns in Higher Education this past June.