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Lux: Diversity is hard to find on campus

We boast about our diversity, but are we really that diverse?

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By Lucas Lux

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Having a diverse student body is something worth boasting about. The University of Kansas’ Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Richard Lariviere said on the University’s Web site that diversity mattered because it “enriches our ability to solve problems and create new knowledge.” If what Lariviere said was true, the University was sure to have trouble solving problems and creating new knowledge.

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If a diverse student body helps create new knowledge, one would hope that it would not be closed up in buildings like the Multicultural Resource Center.

Students hear constantly about the University’s diversity and the strengths that it brings to campus. But where is this diversity, you may ask. And you’re right; if you are looking for diversity, the Hill is not the place to find it. But the diversity is nowhere to be found. Of the 26,733 students enrolled in the University for the 2007 school year, 20,977 — nearly 80 percent — call themselves white. The second largest category is non-resident aliens with 1,579. The University’s African-American and Hispanic-American students combine to account for less than 2,000 or 7 percent of enrollees. For as much as the University talks about its focus on diversity, it is evident that little action takes place.

If a diverse student body helps create new knowledge, one would hope that it would not be closed up in buildings like the Multicultural Resource Center. Opened in 1995 as a reaction to racial tensions on campus, the center’s Web site says it was created “to promote multicultural education and understanding.” More than 10 years later little racial tension exists on campus. There is equally little racial diversity, however. Out of the same 26,000 students, 8,139 come from Johnson County, a suburban county outside Kansas City, Kan. Only 711 students come from Wyandotte, the county home to Kansas City, Kan. The case that the University is a diverse campus is difficult to make with such overrepresented areas.

The best way to promote multicultural education and understanding is interaction with different cultures. This interaction rarely comes from workshops; this interaction comes from everyday encounters with people who are different from oneself. People who go out of their way to attend workshops usually already appreciate the diversity they show up to learn about; the people who most need multicultural education and understanding are unlikely to participate in a multicultural activity. To truly promote understanding between cultures the University must find a way to bring diversity to campus.

The University can’t force minorities or students from different areas to apply, nor is the University systematically denying admission based on race or hometown. But the University does have a role to play as a public education and research institution. It has an obligation to find reasons for gaps in diversity and to try to close them. The University should not stop admitting Johnson County students, but should look into why students from areas like Wyandotte County don’t apply. If the problem is a deficiency of K-12 education, Kansas should find ways to help. If money is the problem, the University should make scholarships available so less fortunate students can attend. Diversity makes our university stronger, but boasting about a diversity that is not present makes us weaker and ignorant.

Lux is a Topeka freshman in German.

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Comments

Lux: Diversity is hard to find on campus

Diversity is important. I grew up in a fairly diverse suburb of Chicago, and am grateful for the things it taught me.

That said some of your arguments and remedies are ludicrous. Wyandotte County has less than one-third the population of Johnson County, which will contribute to some, not all, of the difference in the number of students from each. I agree there is probably also a difference in the quality of education, but Kansas isn't the Ivy League and it's admission requirements aren't very stringent for instate students. Also, the tuition is relatively inexpensive, non-resident at KU is about the same as resident at the University of Illinois. The university cannot just manufacture scholarships, and there won't be a sudden and dramatic turnaround in public education standards.

Diversity is important, but it's not that simple.

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