{"id":736,"date":"2014-03-21T19:26:38","date_gmt":"2014-03-21T19:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/?p=736"},"modified":"2014-03-21T19:26:38","modified_gmt":"2014-03-21T19:26:38","slug":"the-gray-area-discussing-centres-diversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/2014\/03\/21\/the-gray-area-discussing-centres-diversity\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gray Area: Discussing Centre\u2019s Diversity"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Gray Whitsett<\/strong> – Columnist<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Here at Centre College we talk a lot about our accomplishments. We brag, and rightfully so, about our stellar study abroad program. We tout our remarkably low student-to-professor ratio. We praise the accolades of our faculty and students, boast of our admirable \u201cvalue of education\u201d ranking, and assert our impressive retention rate.<\/p>\n

Centre has much to be proud of, and, as I continue my education at this college, I fall more and more in love with it.<\/p>\n

I bought into it the first week I was here and I have immense pride in our institution. I drink the Kool-Aid. I\u2019m on the street corner selling the stuff to passersby.<\/p>\n

But there is one unachieved accomplishment for which I hear the Centre population take credit often: our diversity. To this, I have to respectfully disagree.<\/p>\n

When we say the word diversity, we can mean many different things, and I don\u2019t want to shortchange the multiplicity of definitions this word can have. By and large, however, we mean it in one way \u2014 a diverse representation of ethnicities and racial backgrounds.<\/p>\n

I think this is a relatively fair understanding of the word, though by no means is it exhaustive.<\/p>\n

Because of this, diversity is in no way limited to ethnic or racial identity. What I\u2019m asserting is that when we use this word within the context of promoting our college, we know the connotation diversity implies and accept the positive response it garners.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019m also asserting is that we shouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

To begin, let\u2019s be real for a moment. We go to a school in which, according to Centre\u2019s own data, the combined non-white population totals 17.3% (using an approximated enrollment of 1380, that equals about 239 students).<\/p>\n

The highest individual non-white population is black, totaling 4.7% (about 66 students). In all, the campus is 82.7% white.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll forgive me, but I just don\u2019t believe that qualifies for an ethnically diverse campus community.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t mean that campus doesn\u2019t benefit from that 17.3%.<\/p>\n

Quite the contrary, I think it\u2019s a huge boon to our campus outlook. It also doesn\u2019t devalue their ethnic identity, if that\u2019s how the individual chooses to identify.<\/p>\n

It just doesn\u2019t give the campus the right to claim diversity as a quality of the college or use wording that implies the same.<\/p>\n

And therein lies my contention \u2014 we as a campus have deluded ourselves into believing that we genuinely represent a racially and ethnically diverse community.<\/p>\n

We simply don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t done maliciously. I don\u2019t mean that the administration spreads lies or deliberately deals in misinformation. But collectively we\u2019ve convinced ourselves of having attained a goal that we may want but don\u2019t have.<\/p>\n

We aren\u2019t a racist campus. We don\u2019t reject diversity. In fact, I would argue that we value it highly and encourage it.<\/p>\n

But if we genuinely endeavor to have as diverse of a campus as possible, we need to dispel this idea that we draw from a variety of colors and cultures.<\/p>\n

Not only is it simply not true, but by making fiction of a fact we diminish the drive and motivation to actually realize our dreams of diversity.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, and I may be making a claim I have no business making, but I can\u2019t imagine that the non-white individuals on campus appreciate the highly misleading assertions that we\u2019re a rainbow of races.<\/p>\n

Applicants who are sold this illusion of Centre are surely disappointed when the breadbasket of backgrounds isn\u2019t a distinction between Hispanic or Asian, but Lexingtonian or Louisvillian.<\/p>\n

Now, to be fair, Centre has taken some measures to encourage diverse applicants. Programs like Posse and the growing international student program are excellent measures that have been taken.<\/p>\n

I know that in a recent address to the campus community, President Roush made clear his intentions of increasing Hispanic and Latino recruitment.<\/p>\n

If diversity is a priority for this college, then those are moves in the right direction, and credit is deserved where credit is due.<\/p>\n

But these small steps should not be mistaken for tangible success. We still have a lot of work ahead of us as a college if a truly diverse population is a goal toward which we strive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Gray Whitsett – Columnist Here at Centre College we talk a lot about our accomplishments. We brag, and rightfully so, about our stellar study abroad program. We tout our remarkably low student-to-professor ratio. We praise the accolades of our faculty and students, boast of our admirable \u201cvalue of education\u201d ranking, and assert our impressive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}