What Is Diversity :
Diversity is something that countless institutions across the nation have been lacking in for countless decades and it is only until recently that this great fault in education has begun to truly be addressed. In the words of one of the most influential activists of the 21st century Cesar Chavez, “We need to help students and parents cherish and preserve the ethnic and cultural diversity that nourishes and strengthens this community – and this nation.” In the literal sense diversity means the inclusion of different people but in an environment like a college campus diversity is rooted in a deeper place than that. On a college campus or any given institution diversity is a signifier of equality and equal opportunity for everyone. On the other hand, it also means an opportunity for the entire community to develop with exposure to all different kinds of people and further mature in regard to our understanding of diversity. There is a very big difference between a community that talks about inclusion and a campus that genuinely exhibits it to it community through real world actions.
Diversity is one of the most important things on a campus, especially to create an accepting and rich community. It is concerning that nation-wide diversity is something most campuses lack and that institutions for a higher education are made up of a mostly white demographic. This means greater initiative has to be taken nation wide when first year students are applying to provide students of color more places and opportunities on their campuses. Actually, addressing the issue is harder than simply talking about it but in those conversations, it is crucial to include the voices of the already existing students of color to genuinely understand what is or is not working.
Where Our Idea Began:
Our initial concern was where the idea for this project was sparked and after taking a closer at our campus, especially as a person of color the lack in diversity definitely intrigued me. We began to wonder if this was something that other members of the community were working to improve upon. It also brought about the idea that other students thought about the diversity at the school and in a way, it became a way to listen to a few of those voices. We also wanted to further examine how Western bridges the lack of diversity and what the school can do to improve its diversity in new classes. This posed the question, “On a campus like Western Washington with such a low diversity rate, how is our diversity represented in the way we advertise the school to incoming freshmen and how does the school use its resources to create a sense of community for incoming students of color?” Hopefully this project can help give a little perspective on the issue through the voice of the students themselves and begin the creation of some ideas on how truly take the first steps in improving this.