Spring Break
How a campus diversifies itself
by Dan Hirschhorn
Senior Editor
Features | 4/24/07
Posted online at 3:53 AM EST on 4/24/07
How committed to diversity-in all its forms-is Gil Vilanueva?
So much so, the dean of admissions said, that were it legal, he would ask applicants to share their sexual orientation with his office.
"Unfortunately, it's not legal to ask people if they're gay," he said.
Such is the nature of the buzzword "diversity," the broad concept that has taken higher education by storm in recent years. It has been fueled by educators' almost universal belief that students benefit when surrounded by a wide range of people and ideas.
That range extends beyond race, as racial-minority students are often the first to point out. Diversity of religion, nationality, political opinion and sexual orientation are all goals pursued by colleges and universities.
At Brandeis, 10 admissions officers, including Villanueva, divide the globe to recruit prospective students. They monitor the matriculation of Transitional Year Program students, Martin Luther King Jr. scholars and Posse scholars (see main story) within the framework of the greater student population, and work closely with community-based organizations in urban centers that have already identified strong candidates for college.
Still, gains in enrollment of racial-minority students have not kept pace with peer institutions, the University acknowledged in a recent self study. At Tufts University, minorities make up more than 25 percent of the undergraduate population, more than twice the percentage at Brandeis, according to The Education Trust, a Washington-based advocacy group.
"We've been working really hard at it," Jean Eddy, the senior vice president for students and enrollment, said of efforts to increase the matriculation of minority students.
"We've had some nice gains, not as many as we'd like to have, but we're still working on it," she said in a phone interview.
Older institutions with larger endowments than Brandeis, administrators say, can offer more of the financial aid these students need, as well as more frequently fly in minority candidates to visit their campuses.
So much so, the dean of admissions said, that were it legal, he would ask applicants to share their sexual orientation with his office.
"Unfortunately, it's not legal to ask people if they're gay," he said.
Such is the nature of the buzzword "diversity," the broad concept that has taken higher education by storm in recent years. It has been fueled by educators' almost universal belief that students benefit when surrounded by a wide range of people and ideas.
That range extends beyond race, as racial-minority students are often the first to point out. Diversity of religion, nationality, political opinion and sexual orientation are all goals pursued by colleges and universities.
At Brandeis, 10 admissions officers, including Villanueva, divide the globe to recruit prospective students. They monitor the matriculation of Transitional Year Program students, Martin Luther King Jr. scholars and Posse scholars (see main story) within the framework of the greater student population, and work closely with community-based organizations in urban centers that have already identified strong candidates for college.
Still, gains in enrollment of racial-minority students have not kept pace with peer institutions, the University acknowledged in a recent self study. At Tufts University, minorities make up more than 25 percent of the undergraduate population, more than twice the percentage at Brandeis, according to The Education Trust, a Washington-based advocacy group.
"We've been working really hard at it," Jean Eddy, the senior vice president for students and enrollment, said of efforts to increase the matriculation of minority students.
"We've had some nice gains, not as many as we'd like to have, but we're still working on it," she said in a phone interview.
Older institutions with larger endowments than Brandeis, administrators say, can offer more of the financial aid these students need, as well as more frequently fly in minority candidates to visit their campuses.
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