College lacking in racial and cultural diversity

By Yuri Sineriz

Last Saturday morning I participated in one of the Office of Admission's Open House student panels. It was great; the only thing I had to do was tell everyone about my experiences at the College. The panelists and I must have been saying something correctly, because people were staying awake and even laughing on a Saturday morning. Toward the end, the moderator asked us to talk about our high and low points here at the College. Sharing my positive experiences was a piece of cake, but sharing low points posed a problem. Unlike some, my negative experiences were not about roommates from hell, a terrible parking situation or bad University Center food; they were about the racial/cultural climate at the College.

The question conjured up memories from freshman year. My initial reactions to College culture were mixed. Typical freshman experiences like meeting hundreds of new people, thinking the fraternities were awesome, getting distracted by Instant Messenger and waking up for eight a.m. labs were bunched up with feelings of some confusion and frustration.

That was a stage of my life when a multicultural student body was important to me, but college showed me through example that racial/cultural diversity was not important in educating and developing future leaders. So I made the best of it and adapted to campus culture. Nevertheless, this issue stayed with me.

I love the College, so the question put me on the spot. Should I have said something that would expose an ugly truth, or say what would make my university look good? That morning, in front of 200 students and parents, I did what seemed right at the time. I sucked up past feelings of disappointment and told the audience that the low point of my college experience was being away from the city. The session ended shortly after to a pleasant round of applause and everything was great -- except for one thing. My conscience was bothering me.

Just as I was heading out, a young lady timidly approached me with her family. As soon as I saw her face, I knew what was on her mind, her expression reminded me of the moments of confusion freshman year. After hesitating a bit, she explained that she was hoping to attend a university with that was racially/culturally diverse; she wanted to know whether the College was the place for her.

Just minutes before, I answered the question in a way I knew would make everyone feel comfortable. It was difficult to talk about what I see as the College's great weakness, but I saw this as a chance to do the right thing. Although I pointed out our university's strong points, I could not tell her in all honesty that our university was diverse or even that our institution is dedicated to diversifying itself. Yes, we have an Office of Multicultural Affairs, cultural organizations and even theme nights at the UC serving Asian cuisine, but do those things make our campus truly multicultural?

That Saturday morning I realized how uncomfortable you could get talking about the issue of racial/cultural diversity. I avoided answering a question honestly, then had someone confront me for the truth. Diversity means different things to different people. That young lady and I were talking about the kind of diversity achieved through interactions with people of different cultural, ethnic and racial backgrounds. Many of us cannot discuss diversity because we've never known it and those of us who want to learn about it can't, because we are not being equipped with the right language, the right attitude or the right experiences.

We pride ourselves in our long history of tradition here at the College, but there are times when tradition must be questioned. This is a public, liberal arts education in the 21st century. College is as much about learning outside the classroom as it is inside. You may have gotten an A in your Race and Ethnicity course, but are you prepared for the real world? It is time to wake up. The nation's ideas, needs and demographics are changing. If the College wants to educate and develop tomorrow's leaders, let's start by educating them about today's realities. Racial and cultural diversity needs to be an institutional commitment, not just a topic of the week.

Yuri Sineriz is a guest columnist. His views do not necessarily represent those of The Flat Hat.