As We See It: Calling all minorities...
By Pleiad Staff

When people say “minority” on Albion’s campus, they mean it.

Most people would agree that there is a lack of racial and ethnic diversity on campus.

Many people have expressed their concerns about diversity at the College, and this year, admissions is actively seeking a solution to the problem.

This semester, a new program, having minority students telephone minority prospectives was put in to place, in the hopes of encouraging people from more diverse backgrounds to attend the College.

While this is a welcome attempt at addressing the problem, we at the Pleiad feel that this isn’t the most effective approach.

We feel that asking minorities to call other minorities is both small-minded and offensive, and in the end may only serve to intimidate or anger the students we intended to recruit.

We thought that diversity meant incorporating people of different races, ethnicities, beliefs, backgrounds, and sexual orientation into one group. The College would never have homosexuals calling homosexuals to recruit them, so why so why single out racial and ethnic minorities to be recruited in this way?

By having only minorities call minorities, it shows that Albion assumes that minorities would only be comfortable with other minorities, therefore going against the whole idea of diversity.

Instead of asking minorities to call other minorities in order to make them feel comfortable, we should have programs and institutes that make the College appealing.

Telephone calls are a start, but we’d like to see the College take it a step or two further.