Jacob Campbell

UWRT 1103

16 October 2019

Questions: What was the hardest part for you during this project?

How would you write on a matter that is sensitive to others such as mine?

What is the Importance of Diversity on College Campuses?

As a person I never really thought about diversity because I grew up with the perspective

everybody was equal. Growing up in the western part of North Carolina in 2001 was much

different than when my grandparents grew up in 1955. In the 1950’s was when the civil rights

movement was at its finest. Segregation was all over the south in the U.S. As a student I learned

about civil rights and diversity throughout my years of school. Now that I am older I see more

and more about how diversity is more than just about race and religion. In school they would use

the word “diverse” to go with America’s 1950’s - 1960’s in the southeastern United States and

the beginnings of the world that had diverse cultures and religions such as the Ming Dynasty. I

have come to understand that diversity describes much more than just people, it is about

someone or something that is different than the other. I know that diversity has been around for a

long time which means it will never go away. Think of diversity as natural selection, it will find

a way to survive. Although diversity can be good it can also be used for bad such as racism,

hatred towards another because of the color of their skin. Which brings me to question how has

diversity in higher education changed and how can maintain it?

Diversity in America has been around since it was discovered by the British, Indians and

later on the long history of slavery and segregation with African Americans. Most people do not
truly know the actual meaning of diversity. Diversity includes things, people, and places that are

different. It can be used to discuss many different topics including things, people or places. I

chose to write about people and racism, more in depth on how it has changed and how we can

maintain it in higher education. Throughout the history of diversity in higher education it has

changed programs in a big way. Institutions that had whites only and blacks only populations

were schools that eventually struggled because other schools that allowed both types were

becoming more popular. Those multi-racial schools were attracting all the students that wanted

the diverse population while the other institutions were being drowned out of their students

because they saw that having a diverse population can be very beneficial. Matthew Lynch, an

author for The Edvocate, wrote about four reasons a school should have diversity. “One reason

for seeking out and acknowledging cultural differences among students is the idea that learning

involves transfer of information from prior knowledge and experiences. To assist in this transfer

process, it is important to acknowledge the students’ background, and to validate and incorporate

their previous knowledge into the process of acquiring new information.”

An article written by Jeffery Milem, in the year 2000, talks about students that take

courses with a diversified curricular and interact with people of different backgrounds, race, or

religion show greater growth in their critical thinking skills than those who do not. Milem says

they tend to be more engaged in learning and are more likely to stay enrolled in college

throughout every year it takes to obtain their degree. In order to create such an environment

requires a school to open up to all people around the world to help build the vibrant intellectual

communities that are possible at racially and ethnically diverse campus. UNCC is a great

example because of its well known program of attracting students from all over the world. He

also says racial segregation has increased in high schools across the country. Therefore, when
those students go off to college, it may be the first time that those students get to interact with

someone of a different racial or ethnic group. That isn’t the case in high schools anymore

because the U.S. has changed but there is still small racial problems in the lower schooling

systems due to students being raised a certain way by their parents. Some parents may have

certain feelings towards another race through their personal experiences, which they then pass

off to their child, which then teaches the child to respond the same way as the parent would when

encountering that other race. From what I have learned at UNCC so far that if I do interact with

other students I have been more successful with my work because having that person to help you

with what you are struggling with is very helpful.

However, schools may struggle to maintain diversity, which brings me to my next article

about how higher education facilities today are heavily affected by globalization. The sex, race,

and ethnic diversity of organizations are much more widespread than in the past. The authors

said the rapid development in technology involves more trained and skilled workforce. It also

shapes intercultural collaboration skills in the organization. Organizations with a diverse

workforce are capable of increasing organizational innovation reaching more people and

customers. Educational institutions that focus on diversity can train future employees that are

capable of managing diversity and resolving diversity related workplace conflicts. There aren’t

many instances where the students get in conflicts with other students based on racism. Most

conflicts today are about a teacher or police involved with the students. In the article they use an

example based on the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA). The USAFA is one of the

world's largest military academies. They used this example because the academy sets a model in

managing diversity with its many policies and practices related to dealing with diversity

effectively. “The USAFA curriculum is tailored in accordance with the great number of cadets -
approximately 4000- varying in ability, interests, and character.” (Meric, Er, and Gorun). Each

cadet brings a different background as well as a different personally to the academy which is

good in maintaining diversity. Higher education institutions can use some of these philosophies

in their programs to help reduce the amount of diversity and racial abuse on campus.

A school can maintain their diverse student population by expanding their curriculum

along with their sports program. This is a college’s biggest attraction not only to students but to

the whole American population. With a large curriculum comes a large population of students

that want that degree specifically and so that is how they choose schools whether they are from

across the world or live in the same city. With my knowledge from UNCC I have met a few guys

from Saudi Arabia along with a South Korean golf player. Charlotte, a Division I school, which

means they are in the top collegiate athletic program, attracts many student athletes from

different places. There are many other schools bigger and more popular than Charlotte due to

their programs and athletics which bring diversity to the hometown of the school, but not all

hometowns are welcome of the diverse students which leads me to my next point.

There are many incidents in higher education pertaining to diversity. Inside Higher Ed,

the leading digital media company serving the higher education space, has its own page about

diversity. Jeremy Bauer-Wolf, a reporter based in Washington D.C. for Inside Higher Ed, has

written several sources with incidents involving racism. The first article was about how Eastern

Virginia Medical School was under fire because of the institution’s 1984 yearbook, of the state’s

governor, Ralph Northam. It has a picture of a man in a Ku Klux Klan uniform beside of an

African American. Northam claims it is not him in the picture. In the 1981 yearbook Northam

has nickname as “goose” and the nickname of his wingman, a Jim Crow-era slur, “coonman.”

Another article by Wolf is about Duke University, a very well-known university, and their new
policy on random roommates. The university said they wanted to normalize the concept of two

people from possibly disparate backgrounds living together. The students and families claimed

that forcing random roommates would somehow promote racial harmony. I included one more

article by Wolf because he wrote about popular schools which attract a bigger audience. This last

article is about the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and how some of their students

are being targeted by a white nationalist, Jeff Corbin. The university has not addressed Corbin’s

actions. They are saying that students who feel unsafe should report threats to police. Corbin is

using a social network called Gab to reach out to the students who are participating in protests

and other events that would contradict against his views. On Gab there is no rule book that

governs social media users, which means they can freely spew white supremacist slur.

Some more incidents were written by different authors from the same site, Inside Higher

Ed. An article written by Eric Hoover, one of the nation’s top experts on college admissions,

talked about how a U.S. district-court judge, Allison D. Burroughs, ruled that Harvard

University’s race-conscious admissions process does not discriminate against Asian American

students. Another article by Elin Johnson, a reporting intern for the Inside Higher Ed news, was

about George Washington Colonial. The university has used the term Colonial since the school

was established. GWU fans and alumni say that the term is traditional and respectful of the

university’s origins and then there are those that want to leave the outdated term behind, their

claim is that it represents ethnic violence, genocide and racism. The last incident I wrote is by

Scott Jaschik, Jaschik is one of the three founders of Inside Higher Ed, about how Yale police

were called on a black student while taking a nap. A white student called the campus police

when he saw a black graduate student taking a nap in the student's dorm common room. The

police came and got the black student to get her identification card to show she was actually a
student living there. These articles were fascinating to me because it showed how racism is still a

problem not only in America but in our higher education system. I’d say it is more of a problem

in higher education because that is where most of the diverse community comes from. The U.S.

attracts students around the world to come and get an education which is why universities are

more prone to racism because of the amount of diversity brought the institutions. The incidents

will never stop because there will always be some form of racism because it is one of those

things that will never go away due to the long lasting history of people being stubborn and

concealed to their own opinions.

Kent John Chabotar, professor of political science and former president of Guilford

College in North Carolina, said it challenges us to welcome a variety of persons and

perspectives. He also said that every college and university has Democrats and Republicans,

environmentalists and developers, occupiers and capitalists, vegetarians and carnivores, and fans

of Fox News and NPR. Diversity is a matter of listening to all sides with deference and a mind

that is open to new ideas. I saved this article for the end because it describes diversity as a whole,

not only for the college. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but it is the people who

always think their opinion is right that cause incidents and conflicts involving racism and

diversity.

In conclusion to all of my research it can be said that there is racism in higher education.

There can be new changes to reduce the amount but there is no way it can be maintained. From

my knowledge of history I know racism and diversity have been around since B.C. which in my

opinion means it will never go away in the time that we are here. People always see an opposing

statement and turn it into an argument which is why there is conflict in higher education and in

the world around us. Which brings me to my last point, diversity is a great thing that brings
together people with different backgrounds to connect and express new knowledge to each other

to provide a better productivity in your work and in your life. The research on this topic

highlights the importance of trying to maintain diversity in higher education.

Works Cited

Bauer-Wolf, Jeremy. "Duke's Random Roommates." Inside Higher ED, 19 Dec. 2018,

www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/12/19/little-drama-dukes-random-roommate-policy.

Accessed 30 Sept. 2019.

Bauer-Wolf, Jeremy. "Activists Targeted." Inside Higher ED, 15 Nov. 2018,

www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/11/15/unc-chapel-hill-students-targeted-white-

nationalist-figure-online. Accessed 2 Oct. 2019.

 Bauer-Wolf, Jeremy. "Racist Histories." Inside Higher ED, 5 Feb. 2019,

www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/02/05/colleges-grapple-racism-after-northam-

controversy. Accessed 30 Sept. 2019.

Birnbaum, Robert. Maintaining Diversity in Higher Education. Washington, Jossey-Bass

Publishers, 1983.

Chabotar, Kent John. "Valuing Diversity of Ideas." Inside Higher ED, 5 July 2012.

Accessed 24 Sept. 2019.

Hoover, Eric. "3 Key Passages from the Harvard Decision." The Chronicle of Higher

Education. The Chronicle of Higher Education, www.chronicle.com/article/3-Key-

Passages-From-the/247265. Accessed 4 Oct. 2019.

Jaschik, Scott, editor. "Yale Police Called on Black Student Taking a Nap." Inside

Higher ED, 10 May 2018, www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/05/10/yale-police-called-

black-graduate-student-who-was-napping. Accessed 9 Oct. 2019.

Johnson, Elin. "George Washington Colonial under Fire." Inside Higher ED, 5 Sept.

2019, www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/09/05/gwu-seems-be-moving-away-

controversial-colonial. Accessed 9 Oct. 2019.

Lynch, Matthew. “4 Reasons Why Classrooms Need Diversity Education” The Edvocate, 16 Jan

2016,

www.theedadvocate.org/4-reasons-classrooms-need-diversity-education/. Accessed 30 Oct.

2019.
 Meric, Ismail, et al. "Managing Diversity in Higher Education." Procedia - Social and

Behavioral Sciences, vol. 195, 3 July 2015. Science Direct,

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042815038100. Accessed 26 Sept.

2019.

Milem, Jeffery F. "Why Race Matters." Academe, 2000, pp. 1-4. EbscoHost,

eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ618197. Accessed 25 Sept. 2019.