Bazzell shares background, importance of diversity

On the issue of diversity and community, Darrell Bazzell is in a hurry.

“What’s taken us so long?” Bazzell asked participants at the Plan 2008 forum last week. “Will my father’s dream of a truly diverse campus be realized in my lifetime? Do we need to make a stronger case for diversity?”

Bazzell knows that all meaningful things take time to cultivate, but he comes from a family that tried to accelerate change.

His father was head of the socialist party as an undergraduate at UW–Madison. His older brother was a member of the Black Panther party. He was born in Chicago, but his family moved to California, then to Washington, D.C.

“I come from a tradition where change needs to happen now,” Bazzell says.

It was the late 1960s, and Bazzell lived in the poverty-stricken neighborhood of Anacostia. Then came the evening of April 4, 1968.

“I can remember the day Martin Luther King was assassinated,” Bazzell says. “We saw riots. I saw much violence. I can recall opening our front door and walking out of our apartment building to the sight of tanks literally right in front of our door.”

After living in Washington, D.C., Bazzell’s family moved to North Carolina. He attended racially segregated schools and endured desegregation. He felt invisible. It was not easy, but Bazzell’s life was being shaped for something better.

Again Bazzell moved, this time to Milwaukee, where his parents had grown up. His parents divorced and with his elder siblings out of the house, Bazzell became the provider for his family at age 14. He was the valedictorian of his middle school, but his family’s economic situation took its toll and he dropped out of high school.

“I felt it was my duty to help provide for my family who had virtually nothing,” Bazzell says. “I ended up back in the South and found some menial work, but it wasn’t meaningful. I realized that it wasn’t the road for me. It was hard seeing a positive future, but I knew I had to make an effort.”

Bazzell graduated from high school on time and was accepted to UW–Madison but faced more hurdles in college. He had economic and health issues, but he recognized that a diploma would be a ticket to a successful future. That future has brought Bazzell back to campus as a vice chancellor for administration.

“Coming back to this campus for me wasn’t just a chance to serve in an important capacity, it was a chance for me to come back to this institution and to give back and help this university move forward. .

“Notwithstanding excellent efforts that many people have put forth, hopefully we all agree that significant work remains in front of us to achieve diversity on this campus and the type of climate that we all should be able to enjoy,” says Bazzell. “There are still far too many students, faculty and staff who are lost and somewhat invisible on this campus. Diversity needs to permeate all that we do.”