A continuation of civil rights movement is no longer important to campus –diversity, simply because of moral obligation or rights. Diversity efforts are important in towards 31st century because they are fundamental to the building blocks to excellence and quality. Diversity is not only black and white it is, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability, nationality, religion and many more combinations that make up a nation. (Williams & Wade-Golden, 2008, p. B44). Higher education are attempting to meet the needs of a diverse student population with a variety of services, support groups, educational programs, and co-curricular experiences, institutions. The demographics of this country have changed because of racial/ethnic minorities. Institutions of higher education have also witnessed increasingly diverse student populations which will continue to trend upward. (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2007). The purpose of this paper look at diversity as it relates to higher education.
Background information In the United States the population of racial/ethnic minorities is growing. 34% of the American Population is persons of color according to the United States Census Bureau. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2007). 32% of students enrolled in institutions of higher education were minority students in 2004 (NCES, 2007). The culture of a majority of campuses is changing because of the increased presence of minority students. Traditionally universities enrolled mainly
In a world that is becoming increasingly dynamic and interconnected where each of us are becoming more dependent on each other, diversity is a crucial element of life. Never in human history have students had available to them the
I would like to discuss multiculturalism in education; I am particularly focused on the higher education aspect, and the effect of diversity on education. In reference to the four assigned articles that discussed reasons for and against a diverse learning environment in higher education and the effect on education and american culture.
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
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
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.
The past has shown that minorities do in fact have equal opportunities compared to the white majority, but they do not use them. There are statistics from the AAMC saying the average MCAT scores and GPAs of applicants who are Latino, Black or American Indian are lower than those of their White and Asian American peers (Liliana M Garces). Liliana M. Garces is an Assistant Professor in the Higher Education Program and a Research Associate in the Center for the Study of Higher Education at The Pennsylvania State University. With her contributions to this area of study, people can see how the ever-growing population of minorities in the United States is becoming an issue. If the minorities can now still get into colleges and universities with these
In 1976 black students accounted for 1% and Hispanics made up .03% of total enrollment at two and four year colleges, while the percentage of whites enrolled was 83%. By 2011, both black and Hispanic enrollment had increased by 14% with white enrollment decreasing by 24%. These numbers illustrate that the black share of total enrollment between 1976 and 2011 almost doubled, the Hispanic share quadrupled and the White
Supporting the success for diverse students on campus is just the beginning to make their experience as equal to that of the white community. Without positive campus attitude and without the recognition of what diversity brings to a school and a classroom, the system would not thrive and those of a different ethnic background will not be inclined to attend. The conclusion to Espinosa’s, Gaertner, and Orfields article is that college and university leaders
An article written by Terence Chea explaining that, Campus Diversity Suffers under Race blind Policies, admission was “four times higher than their percentage in the state’s K-12 public schools” (Chea, Terence). Asian Americans students have a high acceptance rate into universities. Specifically to UC Berkeley, the freshman class consisting in the school of 30% of white and 46% percent of Asian Americans. As the result of affirmative action reverse discrimination is present as a large number of minorities Asian Americans have been accepted into UC
The documentary The Time has Come was very eye opening for the America's Civil Rights Movement. I learned how Malcolm X was a major revolutionary figure for African Americans in the United States. This documentary did not only focus on Malcolm X, but spoke about other extremely important figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The events portrayed in this video were based in the 1960, which was a very harsh era for African American.
More of the minority students living in the poor areas in the United States with less school funding become trapped in a vicious system set on race disparities and discrimination. However, Studies have found by 2020, despite all these struggles, the minority group of college students will outnumber any other group in the United States.
In order to study the need of a racially and culturally diverse college campus, the journey and battles fought must be dicussed. While there is a lack of diversity on college campuses today, they are not completely devoid of people of color. However, there was a time when college campuses were one hundred percent Caucasian. Jonathan R. Alger, Jorge Chapa and a team of researchers conducted studies on various college classrooms. They then went on to publish their findings in a book titled Does Diversity make a Difference? The purpose of their paper was to discuss the importance of diversity and reveal the effects of non-diverse campus. They begin their book by taking a look into the history of diversity in America. The start of the Civil Rights movement along with President Lyndon B. Johnson’s war on poverty took place in the mid 1960s. These events forced the country to face the reality of the people of color in America. These Americans of color did not have equal access to education, jobs, housing, or other valued resources (Alger et al. 2000). College administrators and faculty were starting to understand the necessity of a diverse campus. The realized that people of color had just as much to offer to the United States as the Caucasian majority. During that time, “many higher education faculty members and administrators were deeply concerned that abandonment of race sensitive admissions and hiring, at a time when most minority groups continue to be unrepresented in higher education, will severely limit campus diversity and would undermine the learning environment for all students.” (Alger et al. 2000). Additionally, a lot of the traditionally white colleges and universities were provoked and questioned by the concerns of their students. The universities and colleges began to notice their inability to extend the same educational
The selection of the participants leads to a certain bias due to the fact that the participants were chosen based on non-probability sampling. This leads to a misrepresentation of the student body at Northeastern Illinois University. NEIU is a diverse campus that has many different types of minorities attending the university. Figure 1 shows the diversity that was conducted within our data. The graph shows that Western Anglo or Northern Europeans were the largest group interviewed, however respondents from the Africa, Middle East or South Asia were following them. There is a potential threat to validity because the
The supporting side also believes that multiculturalism in education is an essential part of college. Studies have found that appreciation for diversity is lacking on college campuses. Evidence shows that among the growing tensions on college campuses, “multiculturalism