Diversity and outreach are often interchangeable words trumpeted by many high-profile student organizations at the University. These organizations, however, should not seek diversity as a means in and of itself, but rather as an avenue through which to bring new and underrepresented perspectives to the table. A number of organizations use surveys to evaluate outreach efforts, but this data is not a holistic measure of a group's ability to integrate diverse viewpoints successfully. The real work comes when they take in new members and get started on the year's agenda. These organizations ought to focus on the quality of their recruits and on ways to ensure that new members contribute to reaching the overarching goals of each body.
The University Judiciary Committee announced Sunday night that it successfully drew a diverse group after its latest recruitment effort. Chair Will Bane said UJC has made enormous strides in the last two years in terms of diversity and hopes a more inclusive membership will make the organization more approachable. "When they look at UJC and see that we look like the rest of the community, they feel like they have a voice," Bane said. But he noted that the statistics reflect the number of students who have passed the entrance examination and who have been called back for interviews -- not those UJC has officially taken on.
Student Council, meanwhile, compiles a demographics survey each year to evaluate its outreach efforts. Along with UJC and the Honor Committee, Council has worked with the Minority Rights Coalition and the Global Student Council to identify underrepresented groups, said Nikhil Panda, former Council vice president of administration. Such groups include not only traditional racial and ethnic minority groups, but also graduate students and certain religious groups. Moreover, Current Council President Colin Hood said Council has focused on using new media this year to target first-year students and has received a record 250 applicants.
Nevertheless, a diverse membership pool does not necessarily translate to diversity in the higher echelons of management, where critical decisions are often made. Bane noted, however, that executive board and cabinet members only represent a small sample size that is open to significant fluctuations. "It's difficult to come up with a great number," Bane said. "Even one person can skew those stats."
Furthermore, Bane noted that recruitment is not merely a number's game but rather an objective way to gauge one aspect of membership and stay accountable to the student body.
Though far from dismissing diversity as a trivial goal, Honor Committee Chair Charles Harris offers a more nuanced position. Harris looks beyond race as a primary goal but said the Committee is more invested in creating "stronger and deeper relationships" with different groups at the University. "We want interested and qualified people," Harris said.
Although numbers are useful to track noticeable changes over time, achieving numeric parity should not be the ultimate goal of diversity initiatives. Compiling numbers and analyzing trends are good first steps to ensuring that an organization represents the University population, but that is only the groundwork. The larger aim must be for students to evaluate their groups critically and consider how each level of their organizations could be improved or modified to better serve the interests of the University community in its entirety.
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