IU looks to expand, increase diversity

Students on sophomore Elizabeth Solik’s dorm floor divide themselves by race, she said, because that is what they’re used to doing.

Students hang out with those they are most like. Contact with other people is often a passing, “Hey, I recognize you,” Solik said.

“It’s not because we didn’t want to associate,” she said.

Situations like this happen all over campus.

“We all look for our own comfort zones,” said Edwin Marshall, vice president for Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs.

IU administrators said they hope this is a pattern that will not continue much longer.
Large increases in diversity, at least statistically, are expected to come to IU.

The number of underrepresented minorities – which includes IU’s black, Hispanic and Native American populations – on Bloomington’s campus is supposed to double by the 2013-14 school year, IU officials said. In May 2006, IU’s board of trustees voted in favor of a measure making the increase official.

The number of minorities from the 2007-08 school year to 2008-09 increased from 7 to 7.4 percent of the total student population, according to the IU Factbook.

Marshall said the number of underrepresented minorities at IU is increasing, but not as much as he would hope.

With an increase in IU’s admissions standards, there might be a small “hiccup” in minority recruitment, Marshall said.

But interaction with diverse people on campus needs to increase because students live in a global society, Marshall said.

“We need to create it where it does not exist and increase it where it does exist,” Marshall said.

The best way to increase diversity is to create a welcoming campus environment, he said.

Too often, people don’t appreciate what diversity is about, Marshall said, adding that diversity helps create a forum for understanding.

If IU students would step out of their comfort zones and talk to different people, he said, there would be greater engagement throughout campus.

“We all have the responsibility to realize this goal,” Marshall said.

The classroom is a good place to start reaching out. Marshall said places such as fraternities, sororities and other social clubs are also good places to commence discussion.

A good catalyst is a conversation about common points of interest, Marshall said.

But, Marshall said, minorities should not be looked at as different from other students. He said there needs to be a better job as a society of looking at the “education pipeline.”

Dean of Students Dick McKaig said an increase in minority students would help people from different backgrounds interact.

“It would come more naturally,” McKaig said.

Some are not convinced a greater number of diverse students by itself will foster this kind of understanding.

“There’s always still ways for people to segregate,” said senior Michael Wolfe.

To help recruit and mentor minority students, IU announced in January it would give $1 million to fund different programs across the University system.

IU has programs for elementary through high school minority students through the Office of Community and School Partnerships.

McKaig said there are financial and aspiration challenges for students to get to college and that the University needs to devote resources to programs to get young students interested in college. Those who aren’t prepared won’t be able to go to IU, he said.

About a third of the students who participate in the programs go on to attend IU, said Kim Morris-Newson, director of the Office of Community and School Partnerships. The idea is to get children interested in college early, Morris-Newson said.

“We get them interacting,” Morris-Newson said.

But officials say making IU-Bloomington more welcoming to minority students requires more than work from the administration. Marshall said students and faculty have to make a conscious effort to interact.

“Everyone has to reach out,” he said.