Diversity Within The Fresno Pacific University

Dr. Cephas Archie is the Diversity & Inclusion Program Coordinator for Houston Community College (HCC), where he assists in the implementation of the colleges 7 + campus Diversity & Inclusion Plan. Collaboratively working with all institutional stakeholders – both internal and external, Dr. Archie spearheads the institution’s diversity and inclusion efforts for the near 81,000 students, faculty and staff. As an employee of the Office of Institutional Equity at HCC, his efforts are accompanied by the college’s Diversity & Inclusion Council.

This essay will be arguing that colleges and universities should promote more efforts to diversify and create equal representation of all students. Attending higher education institution for minorities has been an uneasy struggle and one that few minorities accomplish. The dilemma of African American enrollment for example, in a college lecture hall at Texas A&M containing 250 seats, only a maximum 4 out of 250 seats will contain African American students. Unfortunately, many institutions are similar to Texas A&M University, they have an underrepresentation of minorities their on campus in relationship to white students. The lack of diversity keeps stigmas associated with racism relevant and disregards the demographic representation of

Racial diversity is something that is often discussed on college campuses. As a student who self-identifies as a minority in more ways than one I often feel like I have a pretty good understanding of the subject of racism and race. However, often times when these issue are discussed I learn something new; this was the case when reading the articles this week. This week’s articles examined the issue of race from different perspectives. This allowed me to re-examine the issue in a fuller manner; it also allowed me to question some of my own notions that I hadn’t really challenged before.

Even if the colleges are achieving their goals to get a diverse student body to the campuses, they fail to get those groups to interact.  In the article “The Lie About College Diversity,” Bruni’s interpretation on diversity explains that common college diversity programs are categorizing students together with similar backgrounds. Only a number of programs accept students to interact with fellow diversity students with different cultures, backgrounds or ethnic groups. These programs do not motivate students to reach out and share their thoughts with other groups because they could get rejected.  By learning other points of view and having diversity in the learning environment, it also helps individuals communicate better.  It also opens minds to ideas and concepts they might not have considered and provide them with

Companies and educational institutions greatly benefit from the guidelines of affirmative action because they profit from the different ideas, work styles, and contributions unique to each diverse individual. As quoted in Paul Connors’s compilation, Affirmative Action, President of Columbia University, Lee Bollinger, addresses the importance of a diverse educational system by stating, “The experience of arriving on a campus to live and study with classmates from a diverse range of backgrounds is essential to students' training for this new world, nurturing in them an instinct to reach out instead of clinging to the comforts of what seems natural or familiar” (12-13). A statement by Southeastern Oklahoma State University further supports the idea that success in modern day society stems from diversity saying, “Our country is strong because of the rich diversity of our culture, not in spite of it” (Affirmative Action).

Having served in higher education the past three years, I have grown in my appreciation for the complexities of colleges and universities. Specifically, I am fascinated by how institutions value diversity within their student population and among their employees. Over the past two years colleges and universities have had to confront their racist past to understand their student population. Christian higher education has not been immune to this soul searching. Christian institutions must recognize diversity as a biblical and institutional imperative to embrace institutional inclusive excellence. Diversity needs to be embraced for institutions to survive in a pluralistic and changing society. As higher education faces a tumultuous future, there is a heightened need for diverse administrators who can navigate and effectively lead institutions towards inclusive excellence.

For over a century the University of Texas (UT) has served as a leading institution educating America’s leaders, however; the lingering effects of prior discrimination haunt the campus. Due to perceptions that UT’s environment is not supportive of underrepresented minority students, the University lacks diversity within its student body. Regardless, UT continues to receive an overwhelmingly selective applicant pool. However, without student diversity UT deems it difficult to perform its mission of providing superior educational opportunities while aiding the advancement of our society.

Affirmative action, and race-based admissions standards, are the best way to increase (or maintain) diversity at institutions of higher learning. In spite of its perceived flaws, it has increased the diversity at previously all-white institutions of higher learning, such as the University of Texas at Austin, and that diversity has allowed friendships to be formed that otherwise would not have been, has allowed students to learn from professors they otherwise would never have and allowed professors to learn from students from a wide variety of

We, Lindenwood University’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force are charged with promoting the well-being, safety and security of a diverse academic community in which teaching, learning, and the exchange of ideas can flourish, and where we encounter, encourage, and interrogate ideas that challenge settled notions of truth.

As most of the respondents were people of color, they discussed how it is very evident that the university is predominantly white. Raha Haghnia, a second year student at the Multicultural Center and coordinator of Culture Fest, had an interesting response. “Personally I don’t even notice until I walk around campus or I’m in class because when I’m at the MCC with my friends, everyone is a person of color or from an immigrant background.” With most of the work Raha facilitates, she is surrounded by a diverse group. She insisted the Multicultural Center has made her experience much better at Cal Poly. Isamar Hernandez, a fourth year in student government, expressed similar feelings. However, she was the only respondent that expressed optimism with the current numbers. “I think every year the diversity rates go up a little bit. It’s also a reflection of some of the changes that have already happened on campus, as well as the ongoing fight for more inclusion and better diversity rates.” Isamar currently manages collaboration among student government and the Cross Cultural Centers, and she has strong leadership roles in each

Growing up as a minority in a close-knit small town with people of various other cultures around the world, diversity is a topic I am accustomed to. However, in the entirety of my eighteen years on this earth, I had never attended a university-level diversity lecture. Dr. Mindy West’s faculty lecture on Friday the twenty eighth of October at three in the afternoon, in the BAC building was my first university-level lecture on diversity. Dr. West’s lecture on diversity to the half-full room of anxious business students shocked and astonished me on multiple different levels.

While the health care programs are not very diverse, and lack minority students, UW-Madison is actively seeking solutions in an effort to increase diversity. The university has a four hour diversity training for incoming freshman. It is reaching out to more than 7,000 prospective UW-Madison students to attract minority students, and I want to help this effort succeed. As a student, I will maintain my commitment to advocate for a diverse and inclusive campus, abiding by the commitment that UW-Madison stands by. My dedication through different advocacy positions, such as being the president of my school’s National Honor Society chapter and also serving as the student council vice president, has prepared me for the leadership positions that this university offers. This will help me adapt to my environment, learn from others, and help me become a well-rounded individual. In addition, the school will benefit from the opportunities of the promotion of diversity on its

Over the past two decades, the issue of diversity has gained growing share and momentum in the overall literature of postsecondary education. The expansion and diversification of the total make-up of students across US colleges and universities has brought about new dimensions to the pool of subjects tackled under the umbrella of diversity. Relevant studies show that the environment on campus have an impact on students’ learning outcome (Astin, 1984), their academic performance (Tieu et al, 2009) and sense of belonging and engagement (Thompson and Caseo 2012, Zuniga et al. 2005, Bowman 2012). Creating an inclusive climate that accommodate the diverse sociocultural orientations of students empowers the institution in the first place and provides one of the core causes of success.

While a PhD student and post-doctoral researcher at UC San Diego, I have actively participated in a number of activities related to diversity enhancement, which have profoundly strengthened my understanding on the importance of diversity. For example, I have had an opportunity to collaborate with several students (including female and minority students) from Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program when I was working

The narrowly tailored participant group of diversity program affiliates as the primary data source generally supports Baber’s assumptions and findings. In utilizing interest-convergence, Baber states the findings considered three patterns that emerged from the data: a) the emphasis on compositional diversity or “increasing the numbers”, b) a cost-benefits approach toward diversity or “doing more with less”, and c) emphasizing benefits for faculty from majority populations or “what’s in it for me?” (p. 260-265). A table providing a breakdown of the number of participants by institutional pseudonym was the only visual aid used in this