Committment to Diversity
The School’s commitment to diversity is multi-dimensional. The Land Grant philosophy has historically included a commitment to making higher education available to everyone and we believe this is particularly important for the study of criminal justice. Thus, we are committed to providing access to a diverse student body. We are also committed to a diversity of ideas. Our faculty do not agree on all of the normative dimensions of criminal justice policy, the causes of crime and delinquency, nor the preferred responses to crime and disorder. This, however, is a positive trait as we seek to be an environment where exchange and debate are encouraged and where scientific critique of research becomes the engine for the generation of new knowledge. Many of our alumni who are now police executives talk about the influence of the late Professor Zolton Ferency. Professor Ferency was firmly committed to the preservation of individual rights as embodied in the U.S. Constitution. One of his former students, now a law enforcement executive, commented, “I didn’t always agree with him but he made me think about civil rights in a way that has stuck with me my entire career.” It is precisely this type of critical thinking, about both the fairness and effectiveness of the justice system, that lives on within the School to this day.
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