How The Institution Is Falling Short Of Creating A Welcoming Environment For Minority Students

Minority serving institutions have been an integral part of the education system in the United States since before the Civil War (LeMelle, 2002). Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have, for much of their existence, been criticized for the level of academic rigor, political context, and their social agenda have created controversy for generations. With that being said, HBCUs hold a valuable place in the landscape of US higher education institutions. The culture, history, and perspective that is taught and shared are unparalleled and cannot be replicated at a predominately white institution (PWI).

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.

While overall college enrollment and graduation rates have risen for all minority groups, there continues to be concerns for this segment of the population, particularly for African American students. Even

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.

Keeping in line with Marietta College’s statement on Diversity and Inclusion, it is important to map out a plan to make sure we are living up to the mission of the college. In order to fulfill this mission, it is necessary to have students from diverse backgrounds represented on campus. However, having students on campus is only one aspect of D&I work. Understanding the make-up of the college and the surrounding city, it is necessary to ensure these students have the support to be retained through graduation. In this effort, I propose the creation of a three part program that will assist in this effort. This plan will involve

Growing up in a multiracial, multicultural household I have been fortunate enough to experience diversity at a young age. NC State’s diverse campus would expose me to different cultures, religions, and ethnic groups, all focused on enhancing the legacy of NC State. Exposure to these different lifestyles would increase my knowledge about different issues minorities from around the world have been faced with. The diversity would allow me to help implement new ways of increasing diversity throughout society, and college campuses, allowing NC State to be a model for the world. Campus diversity is important in making sure all students are comfortable in their learning environment. Being able to share my life experiences and background would allow

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.

According to Obear and Martinez (2013), race caucuses “can be a powerful multicultural incentive to deepen the competencies of higher education administrators and student affairs practitioners to create equitable, inclusive campus environment for students and staff” (p. 79). This article discusses how diversity training targets racism on college campuses. Race caucuses can deepen the competences of higher education leaders by making it possible for them recognize racism, internalized dominance, internalized oppression, and its impact on personal and profession development within the institution. By using this type of methodology, universities are slowly seeing social and organizational change that eliminates racial barriers.

This opportunity welcomed me into a community fondly referred to as “Black NCSU.” At the African American Cultural Center, I was surrounded by love and support from both students and staff who wanted to see me succeed on campus. Having a community of intelligent and successful black staff members was an escape from the daily exhaustion of being black in a predominately white institution. Each microaggression was fuel for my intense fire to see a change on campus, which was representation. Representation is important because it gives those who come after us the motivation to strive for more: “I am because you are, you are therefore I am.” With this new motto in mind, I applied to be an Orientation Leader with New Student Programs. Fortunately, I was granted a position as one of six other African American students. Knowing how fortunate I was to have this opportunity I used my position as an Orientation Leader to welcome the class of 2020 to the university. However, I will acknowledge my own bias. I paid special attention to students and families of color as I wanted to be a familiar face to inform them of spaces for black students. I was further able to reinforce this familiarity as a Multicultural Symposium Counselor through Multicultural Student Affairs (MSA). MSA gave me a platform, a voice, to reach younger students of color and pass on the message of

General Importance- With everything going on in today’s society people have lost sight on what’s important, LOVE. It is vital that we as a college community start the conversation of race and culture. People have become comfortable in not talking about things that could create change. If we as a nation are comfortable that means we are not progressing. We are a HBCU. Though we are a diverse one, we as a school know what

The word diversity is indispensible in college pamphlets. Pictures of multicultural friendships permeate across each page in hopes of providing a mirrored image for prospective students. These pictures suggest a promised safe place for young adults of all backgrounds. However, in the instance of San Jose State University, one could argue their actions differ from the pictured proposal. Their main focus became avoiding liability rather than facilitating a safe environment for ethnic difference. This mentality typically reflects a view that claims acts of active racism and blatant bigotry should take the forefront of discussion while their comprising acts of passive racism are left behind. Campus conversations about race are being silenced

How can you improve this campus by letting become more diverse? For example, a majority of students are high school graduates, rather than college transfers.

This class was designed to demonstrate and encourage students to be an associate instructor. However, it successfully discouraged me to do so.

In today’s society there are many issues involving racial inequality. One major issue affecting college students and high school seniors is affirmative action. Affirmative action is a policy favoring those who tend to suffer from discrimination, especially minorities. Affirmative action started in the 1970’s and its purpose is to help universities better diversify their campus with different demographics. At the time, affirmative action was a means of restitution for human rights abuse African Americans suffered for generations. Today, affirmative action is not limited to blacks, and is a controversial issue due to higher competition with college acceptance rates.

Taking into account the growing amount of diversity in Luther College’s student body population, I believe it would be tremendous feat for the college to take advantage of it’s opportunity to be leaders in the collegiate world by educating it’s faculty and staff on how to effectively welcome students of diverse populations. This could be achieved by first having workshops required for all faculty and staff on how to provide safe classroom and work settings to students of diverse races, ethnicities, geographical locations, gender and sexual orientations. To provide these safe environments faculty and staff could be shown more suitable ways to communicate with students so that they don’t feel singled out, offended, or of less importance than