Diversity in Universities

Myrlie Evers attended Pomona during the heart of the civil rights movement. Following our discussion, I asked Evers about her college experience. Evers juggled her time between academic endeavors and raising three children. Like many students, she had some academic struggles, and at one point was told by an advisor to put her books away for a week and evaluate her decision to pursue a degree in sociology. She persevered. Although she praised her alma mater, she emphasized her struggles within the Claremont community. She proclaimed she was one of two black families living in Claremont. Neighbors moved upon her arrival. The children in the community were warned not to play with her children. Evers constantly faced discrimination.

In 1900, Pomona admitted its first Black student, but 68 years later, Evers still felt isolated as a Black woman. And today, although many educational institutions are working towards improving diversity, Black students remain a minority. Pomona reported 102 Black or African American students last semester, making up about 6.5% of the student body.

Pomona Statistics:

http://www.pomona.edu/timeline/1900s/index.aspx

http://www.pomona.edu/administration/registrar/reports-statistics/about-reports-statistics.aspx

Last week at UCLA, members of the student body, the Black Bruins, released a video about the lack of diversity at their school:

The film is mostly comprised of statistics. 3.3% of UCLA’s population is Black males, out of which 65% play sports, insinuating that these students were not admitted based on academic merit. It gives the impression that UCLA is more concerned with how their sports programs benefit from these students, rather than the students’ academic education. It has gotten to the point that the community assumes Black students play sports:

"When I first started here, I was asked what sport I play, and I was like, 'Um, I don't play any. Actually, I got here on academics,'" McFoy says. "Or they'd assume I'm an African-American studies major,” NPR. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5563891

Additionally, 36% of Black, male students do not graduate due to emotional and financial problems. Without a visible, Black community, students may feel isolated, causing them to retire their UCLA gear and find a more inclusive community.

More info here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FpaZv-YM4kE

The Black Bruins’ discourse is similar to the television shows Devorah Heitner discusses in Black Power TV. The Black Bruins’ speaker confronts issues directly, in a similar manner to the clips we watched in class. Many of his emotional and factual arguments are controversial and enticing to UCLA’s administration, but he does not beat around the bush. The Bruins’ objective is to cause an uprising: “Don’t be surprised that we have become rebellious for what has happened to us,” whereas “Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant and Boston’s Say Brother may have originated from a desire to contain Black discontent, but they were reenvisioned… as venues for expressing Black critique of mainstream discourse, disseminating Black culture and modeling Black empowerment,”(Heitner, 33). The primary difference is that the television productions were directed towards Blacks, whereas the Bruins’ film was intended for a broader audience. The Bruins aimed to gain as many views as possible by UCLA’s administration, prospective students and community outsiders. Both models of public outreach are effective at gaining outsiders attention.

How can we address issues with diversity in universities and colleges? What are some of the challenges associated with changing our student body?

Also, how effective is the Black Bruins’ film? Right now it has over 213,000 views, but with the amount of today’s information flow paired with viewers’ short attention span, will there be an appropriate response or will it be forgotten?