Biography

In September of 1971, Boston College created an Office of Affirmative Action and "charged it with the development of a plan to provide equal opportunity in both employment and education." Dr. Alice Jeghelian was appointed director. Early in 1973, Jeghelian submitted the plan for an affirmative action program, which was approved by the Board of Trustees. Jeghelian later became the coordinator for Title IX implementation. In addition, the Affirmative Action Council was created to serve the Director in an advisory capacity. In 1985, the Office of Affirmative Action aligned with the Office of Human Resources, and shortly thereafter Richard Jefferson was named the new Director of Affirmative Action. This same year, the Affirmative Action Council began to focus on presenting convincing arguments for changes in policy, as opposed to focusing solely on hiring issues as it did in the seventies. In 1988, University President J. Donald Monan, S.J., appointed a 12-member action committee on the "recruitment of persons of color." Around this time, Fr. Monan noted that the "primary responsibility for ensuring that persons of color are represented in candidate pools rests with Human Resources and the hiring manager." Meanwhile the role of Affirmative Action Office was to suggest strategies for attracting persons of color and to offer consultation, training and orientation. In January of 1989, Barbara Marshall was named the new director of Affirmative Action. Following these developments and at least as early as 1991, the office developed Affirmative Action Plans for Persons with Disabilities and for Veterans with Disabilities and Vietnam-era Veterans. The Office for Institutional Diversity (OID) was established in the spring of 2004 as the successor to the Office of Affirmative Action. The shift in mission signaled a broadening of its scope from racial diversity to include gender and religious diversity as well. With the realignment in mission, Barbara Jones was terminated from her permission and replaced by Richard Jefferson, at first on an interim basis and then, as Executive Director. Today, the office is headed by an executive director and receives guidance from an advisory board of senior administrators. OID oversees several programs, including the Affiliates (“affinity groups”) Program.

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