Convened in February, 2003, in response to a recommendation of the UT Strategic Planning Steering Committee, and charged by then-President Dan Johnson, the Commission on Diversity defined a plan for diversity plan for the entire university. The commission seeks to implement several proposed objectives - such as mutual respect, understanding and diversity among students, faculty and staff. President Johnson wrote,

The Mission Statement of the UT Strategic Planning Steering Committee recommended a University-wide Task Force on Diversity should be created to inventory the efforts currently underway on our campus and identify best practices at benchmark institutions. This group should oversee implementation of the strategies and should monitor progress towards the objectives of these strategies. College-specific Diversity Plans should be approved and progress towards goals monitored by this group. In implementing the following strategies, the university must take meaningful steps in recruiting and hiring that will convince the community it is serious about diversity among the faculty, staff and students.