Hulon Willis Alumni Association

The Center for Student Diversity continues to explore opportunities to service alumni. This webpage is developed to inform you of progress being made at the College and to solicit your support in continuing to make William and Mary a “place of possibilities” for all who enter. Demographic trends suggest that diversity in higher education must remain a top priority, and under the leadership of President Taylor Reveley that is happening. In November 2006, the Board of Visitors approved the College's first Diversity Statement. The statement reads as follows:

The College of William and Mary in Virginia is a community of teachers, students, and staff who share our national ideals of human equality, democracy, pluralism, and advancement based on merit. We give life to these principles—and prepare women and men to be citizens of the wider world—when we value diverse backgrounds, talents, and points of view.

As a community, William and Mary believes that cultural pluralism and intellectual freedom introduce us to new experiences, stimulate original ideas, enrich critical thinking, and give our work a broader reach. We cannot accomplish our mission of teaching, learning, discovery, and service without such diversity.

William and Mary belongs to all Virginians, to the nation, and to the world. Yet our College, like our country, failed for many years to open the door of opportunity to all people. In recent decades, William and Mary has made itself a more diverse community, and thus a better one. Structures and habits that create injustices, however, have yet to be fully banished from American society. We are committed to establishing justice.

The College of William and Mary strives to be a place where people of all backgrounds feel at home, where diversity is actively embraced, and where each individual takes responsibility for upholding the dignity of all members of the community.

-Approved by the Board of Visitors on November 17, 2006.