Campuses struggling with racial diversity

Serghino René

Emerson College film major Jeff Dorsey hails from Holden, a predominantly white town in central Massachusetts.

Growing up there, Dorsey, who is black, said he dealt with years of ignorance.

In a quest to embrace his identity, he came to Boston. But when he arrived at Emerson, he was disappointed with the culture and was forced to feel as if he never left Holden, where race was barely discussed nor understood.

“There was a lack of open-mindedness about race and I [have] come across [people with] several attitudes that thought they knew everything there was to know about race because they took a class or knew one black person or Latino,” said Dorsey. “Some people are unwilling to accept the fact that there are some things that are beyond their comprehension. They can’t really know what it’s like to be a person of color until they experience it.”

Dorsey’s experience is not that uncommon. When prospective college students arrive on campuses these days, they are bombarded with feel-good catch phrases intended to demonstrate the school’s inclusiveness. Students of color say they repeatedly hear the words “tolerance” and “diversity,” but many say it doesn’t take long to figure out that those words are often little more than marketing slogans.

“How do we balance the need for cultural identity and solidarity with the need for exchange and cross-urbanization on college campuses?” asked Northeastern law professor David Hall. “How do we build bridges and alliances across these cultural and racial divides that still exist in our society?”

These and other issues regarding race in academia were discussed during Northeastern’s third annual Regional Conference on Race Relations on New England Campuses, which recently took place at the Curry Student Center. This year’s theme was “Focus on The Future: Strategies, Actions and Alliances.”

The two-day conference was designed for college and university senior officers, affirmative action/equal employment opportunity/diversity officers, faculty, staff and students who were interested in learning the ins and outs of race relations in higher education.

“This came out of the need to have honest dialogue amongst personnel through various institutions about matters of race relations and promoting positive best practices,” said Donnie Perkins, dean and director of the Office of Affirmative Action at Northeastern. “Diversity is a central theme to what we all have to face because it is a demographic of the future. It’s emerging in so many different ways across our campuses that every campus in this nation has to be concerned about it.”

Academic administrators, faculty, professionals and students attended a selection of discussion panels with topics ranging from challenges impacting campus diversity to effective teaching in a multicultural classroom.

Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, president of Spelman College, delivered the conference’s opening keynote address. She is a race relations expert, clinical psychologist and author of the critically acclaimed book, “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race.”

Despite significant gains over the years in minority undergraduate and graduate enrollments at the nation’s colleges and universities, a recent report showed that the rate of black and Hispanic students attending college continues to trail that of white students.

According to the report, minority enrollments rose by 50.7 percent to 4.7 million between 1993 and 2003, while the number of white students increased 3.4 percent to 10.5 million.

White high school graduates are more likely than their black or Hispanic peers to enroll in college. The report says 47.3 percent of white high school graduates ages 18 to 24 attend college, versus 41.1 percent of black and 35.2 percent of Hispanic high school graduates.

Among students who entered college in 1995-96, 36.4 percent of blacks and 42 percent of Hispanics earned a bachelor’s degree within six years, while 58 percent of whites and 62.3 percent of Asian Americans accomplished that goal.

No one factor can explain these statistics, but one possible reason may be what minority students explain as their disenfranchisement on predominantly white campuses.

Kim Cheah of Colby College attended the panel discussion entitled “Campus Conversations On Race: A Talk Worth Having.” During a question-and-answer session, she talked about her experience as a faculty member at the private liberal arts school in Maine. Being one of a few people of color in student affairs, she has been handed the unofficial responsibility of dealing with anything race-related on campus.

Cheah acknowledges that Maine and diversity don’t often collide in the same sentence, but she said Colby is working to change that. Because the college isn’t close to any major city, it has always had difficulty recruiting students, let alone students of color.

“People of color mainly come from a place where they are not a token. When they come to Maine they become a token because there [are] so few minorities,” said Cheah. “It’s tiring, frustrating and exhausting for them to take on the role of having to educate people on racial issues. These students are here to get an education and learn, but all of the sudden you say, ‘Why don’t you teach people about your issues?’ [And] that can be too much.”

But strides are being made to eliminate that gap, here and beyond. During the Panel and Town Hall meeting portion, UMass Vice President for Business and Public Affairs Dr. J. Keith Motley said, “The real alliances start with us. It starts with people in campus organizing with discussions and actions to make a difference.”

Dorsey did just that, finding an outlet to move beyond his frustration and take action. Through the Campus Conversations On Race Action Committee, a group of Emerson College students that make diversity a priority, he and others have been able to reach out to students. He explained the program’s effectiveness with other Emerson students during a panel discussion entitled “Campus Conversations On Race: A Talk Worth Having.” Through his participation, he has learned a couple of things himself.

“I’ve developed better methods of discussing race,” said Dorsey. “I’ve become less defensive and confrontational. I use action rather than defensive tactics. I’ll organize a discussion before I start an argument.”

Northeastern’s Perkins says conferences such as these are a necessary resource for putting the issues on the table. Perkins should know. He grew up in segregated North Carolina and that experience gave birth to his passion of making diversity a reality.

“We hope people left with a sense of energy and renewed sense of commitment to this kind of work,” said Perkins. “At times it can be difficult, but we will give these people more information than when they walked in the door and a network to work with.”