Diversity At Albright

When I first came to Albright, admittedly, I had a huge problem; I didn’t feel like there were enough students who looked like me. Once, last year, a couple of my friends and I counted (and it didn’t take all of our hands) all of the African-American boys in our year. Easily. I can’t say I was ecstatic about that; honestly, even though I wished for it, I didn’t think there would be a noticeable change in the racial diversity at Albright the following year. Well, boy, was I wrong!

I was quite shocked when I came back for the 2008-2009 semester and saw way more black faces than I ever imagined I would…at Albright?! I was just as astonished at how many international students I saw walking through the halls; it was quite a shock. I wondered what caused this influx of diversity. I knew a couple of other students who complained about it in the past, “There definitely weren’t any of us around. Not just black people, but any of the minorities. There was a noticeable absence of color around here. And that kind of upset me. But this isn’t an HBCU or anything, so it’s not like I could expect but so much”, said sophomore Ashley Cameron, “But this year was like, BLAM! Mad black people!” But this didn’t seem like much of a surprise, nor intended, according to Chris Boehm, Albright’s Director of Admission, “We are always trying to increase diversity at Albright – last year’s incoming class saw an increase in students of color and international students. There was nothing done differently last year than in the past. We have always worked hard to travel in areas that permits us to attract more diverse freshman classes and never shied away from helping families financially. We had a new person responsible for the Joseph E. Coleman award program and our football recruiting efforts traveled to more urban areas that a generally more ethnically diverse.” That’s definitely something that I noticed; the majority of the students of color in the freshman class are not only on the football team, but almost all from the state of Maryland. While I believe that Albright may have always wanted to increase diversity amongst the students, I must admit that I think the school had to have done something different. They were a lot more aggressive than they ever were, in this effort for diversity, otherwise I would have seen this demographic in my freshman year. In fact, Boehm went on to explain how the average population of multicultural percentage (international students and students of color) has even increased over the last five years, “Multicultural percentage) for the entire student body is 25%. This year’s multicultural percentage for the freshman class (Fall, 2008) was 30%, which was a big increase from the average over the previous five years – 18%. The international population from the fall of 2008 was 8%.”

But one of the main questions I wanted to know, was if the students were happier now that Albright decided to mix up the student soup a little. I think its safe to say that no one really feels like there aren’t people that they can’t identify with, or fit in with. No longer can I count the number of black boys, let alone students, in the freshman class, or the international students. Its almost the end of second semester and I still see students that I have to take a second glance at to assure myself that they didn’t just come yesterday. I can’t tell who has been here since the beginning and who came yesterday; there are just so many. But is that enough? Is the school diverse enough, or could it stand for some more? I think, it is, for right now. The significant percentage that the multicultural portion of the student body has grown enough for me to be comfortable in the idea that it could increase even more. Sophomore Gina Sarno said, “I don’t see any Native Americans around here. I mean, they may not be applying as much, but there’s got to be some. Some of them might want to come here. Where are they?” Freshman Randi Mont also commented, “I don’t think diversity isn’t always about race. Its more than that. You can be diverse in race, but also in gender, and economic status. So its not so easy to pinpoint one aspect.” Chris Boehm agrees, “We believe in order to offer a liberal arts education it is important to have a diverse student body. A diverse student body permits students to learn from each other’s experiences and prepares students to deal with people from diverse backgrounds when they enter the workforce. Diversity could be ethnic, socioeconomic, faith based, geographic, educational, and other areas. Albright has been proud of our history of having a more diverse student body than its competitors and will continue to try and add to this strength. We believe that students seek out Albright and many recommend Albright because of the student body.” I can’t say I’d go that far; students are still complaining about there not being enough diversity, and I’ve even heard some students say that they have told others not to come to Albright because of it, but that kind of talk has decreased. And I for one am glad. Because in my opinion, sometimes silence holds in what needs to be said. And then other times, its quite golden.

Maria President Blog

This is my practice blog. Three students were asked about voting, whether voting is a responsibilty or a right and what they thought the presidents top priority should be at this time.