Diversity on College Campuses

Photo taken from http://www.thetakeaway.org/story/how-close-college-graduation-gap/

Diversity is a big topic for college campuses.

Diversity on a college campus means that campuses are open to people of all persuasions, races and ethnicities, including people with disabilities.

A college official at The State University of New York at Brockport explained, “Diversity means different opinions and a wider portal to the world of ideas. If you have diversity on campus that means that you have diverse opinions and diverse ways of seeing the world.”

“Diversity on campuses is preparing students to be part of an increasingly diverse society and a global society. Meaning that we have people of different races, gender persuasions, religious and spiritual beliefs and people with disabilities,” said the same college official. They implied that these people should not feel that they will be discriminated against.

They also said, “We feel that it’s important as a college to prepare students to be citizens of the world, citizens of not only the campus community but of their surroundings.”

The message of diversity is promoted in a variety of ways at SUNY Brockport. They said, “We have several programs on this campus. One is called LAUNCH. It helps new incoming underrepresented students get acclimated to this campus because as a freshman, it can be overwhelming.”

As a student, college officials do everything to make sure that we are comfortable. And if you’re having bad experiences, they also said, “There’s a counseling department and faculty on campus who do want to help students.”

They advise incoming freshmen to get involved because some students will have negative experiences. However, there are students who do succeed on campuses and they find friends and they make sure they’re part of the activities.

They said, “Some students have to take responsibilities for their own attitudes.”

As the student populations become more diverse, the college official said we still have a long way to go in terms of getting a more diverse faculty.

“This campus is working hard on diversity. We still have work to do in terms of getting more diverse faculty. There are some departments that still need people of color. We’re working very hard on that.”

Regardless of one's position at a school, be it student or teacher, diversity will be a major issue that will impact their experience.