Defining the mix

Diversity on campus can be construed as a conundrum, wrapped around an enigma, especially when we approve the goals but are not quite convinced about the means to achieve them. Absent a clear acceptance of the policies to promote ethnic, socio-economic and/or geographical diversity among the student population, the goals and benefits thereof remain murky and mired in controversy. And there arise additional questions: how can a place be made at the university for disadvantaged students? Might these attempts only succeed in confirming pre-existing notions about who college is for? This New York Times article unpacks some of the issues:

 Some states have already banned affirmative action, including California, Florida, Michigan and Washington, and in each of them, the selective public universities stepped up their efforts to recruit disadvantaged students, hoping to enroll more black, Hispanic and American Indian students in the process.

Opponents of race-conscious admissions say they expect similar moves across the country if the Supreme Court strikes down affirmative action.

But even in those race-blind states, highly selective public colleges vary widely in how hard they work to identify high-achieving, disadvantaged students and prepare them for college, how heavily they weight disadvantage in admissions, and how generous they are with financial aid. Not surprisingly, they also differ greatly in how many disadvantaged students they enroll — and the same is true among elite public and private schools that still do consider race and ethnicity.

Socioeconomic disadvantage can mean many things, like attending a low-performing high school or having parents who do not speak English, but one consistent measure available for nearly every American college is the number of students receiving Pell Grants, the main form of federal aid for low- and moderate-income students. In 2010-11, 35 percent of undergraduates going to four-year state colleges or private nonprofit colleges received Pell Grants. In general, the more selective the school, the lower that number was.

The reluctance to champion diversity outright can lead to a chipping away at the very concept, whether through battles of narrow legalisms or referenda on Affirmative Action that reduce it to politics where the issue will almost always suffer. The university has to make a commitment to integrating students of low-income communities into the campus fabric. This means outreach, helping prepare them early and be ready to help the university - as a mechanism of society - achieve its goals.

 Image: Unity in diversity, a collection of human faces via Wikimedia Commons.