CONTEMPORARY government policies have for decades strived for diversity in schools (among other places). Diversity in schools seems to be a matter of augmenting minority representation. Few people, however, have mulled over what is considered an acceptable percentage of various racial and ethnic groups to satisfy diversity.
It is often argued that this question cannot be considered until representation of a full compliment of racial groups is at least noticeably large. Consider Stuyvesant High School in New York City, a well-known magnet school drawing some of the brightest students in the area. A racial breakdown provided by the New York City Department of Education indicates that an astounding 58 percent of the student body is comprised of Asian Americans, 38 percent of Caucasians. Of greatest dismay is the meager African-American and Hispanic contribution to the student body size -- only four percent.
These settings are often invoked in continuing efforts for greater diversity across the racial and ethnic spectrum. However, some schools are closer to what should be the finish line for diversity.
What exactly is the finish line? And, is the finish line the same for every school?
Schools often reflect the breakdown of ethnic groups in the area in which they are located, especially those well attended by commuters. In other words, there exists a correlation between school and area demographics. Schools can thus employ this relation as a tool to gauge diversity efforts.
Baruch College, a member of the City University of New York, according to U.S. News & World Report, is the most diverse higher institution of learning in the world. Its students represent an amazing 140 different countries.
But what accounts for Baruch College's unparalleled diversity? Perhaps it has to do the fact that the school is situated in a diverse area to begin with.
A similar story arises on a campus elsewhere. Data from the fall of 2004 compiled by Office of Diversity Services & Programs at George Mason University in Fairfax County, African-Americans comprised 7.9 percent of GMU's student body, Asian Americans formed 12.7 percent, and Hispanic students made up 5.8 percent. African-Americans contribute to 8.9 percent of Fairfax County's population, while Asian Americans and Hispanics provide 15.8 and 12.5 percent, respectively. Again, there is a strong demographic correlation, this time between Fairfax County and GMU's ethnic composition. As for the slight disparity between the school and county's figures, it is probably explained best by socio-economic inequities. However, this delves into a controversial realm of social policy and will not be pursued further in this current discussion.
Like Baruch College, GMU offers a less stringent admissions policy compared to the University, granting all applicants with a B+ average admissions. Sure, this might be a decently strict requirement compared to most other schools. Presumably though, this probably had negligible effect on the enrollment of minorities because GMU began ramping up the academic quality of incoming students only recently.
So, to make sense of this statistical mess, it's evident that stringent admissions requirements might carry less importance on affecting diversity than people would normally impute to it, rather, demographics carry far more weight.
As long as the demographics of a school and the specific region from which most of its students hail are related, colleges should have fewer qualms about moving diversity issues out of the forefront of their agendas. Nonetheless, significant disparities in ethnic breakdowns do persist in some schools. In these cases, schools must adjust their agendas accordingly to impute greater importance to diversity.
At Radford University, for example, the total percentage of minorities formed an embarrassing 11 percent of the student population in 2005 according to its Office of Institutional Research, Planning and Assessment.
As far as the general strategy of encouraging diversity in colleges across the nation goes, the call for greater diversity implicitly appeals for greater diversity in the areas from which students are drawn. Suggesting this move is the link between school and area demographics.
Moreover, it is wise to not curtail efforts at encouraging diversity. Rather, it should not be a significant impetus for school agendas at a certain point. In recent years, universities' thirst for students of different ethnicities has been insatiable. Although efforts in making a bigger cultural cornucopia might give the universities fodder in diminishing overtones of racism -- emanating from the occasional drive-by racial slur -- it is more effective as a diversion of resources. Efforts would be better expended in fostering a sense of acceptance of ethnic groups already at colleges across America.
Charles Lee is a Cavalier Daily viewpoint writer.
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