Acknowledging the need for diversity

This is the second article in a four-part series about diversity at Providence College.

Since College President Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P. announced his decision to make the SAT optional last fall, there has been much talk regarding other efforts that can be made to increase Providence College's lack of diversity.

Among some students, the buzzwords are recruitment and financial aid.

"Providence College has to make an effort to go out into more diverse communities and spread the word about PC and its mission, especially . . . in the Hispanic community, which is primarily Catholic," said Carlos Trujillo '09, who is of Cuban descent.

Blanca Brown '07 said tackling the problem is not so much about recruiting as it is about making PC affordable and educating prospective students about the multicultural opportunities at the College. "As president of Amigos Unidos, it strikes me when students tell me they weren't aware there was a Latin American organization on campus, despite the many events and great attendance we get," said Brown. "I think if PC were to commit itself a bit more to this aspect, prospective students would see that there is some diversity and truly feel that PC is making progress."

Recent figures highlighting the profiles of students admitted to the College show that some progress has been made. The number of African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American (AHANA) students admitted to the Class of 2011, for instance, is the highest it has ever been at 10.8 percent.

But many members of the College community, such as Christopher P. Lydon, associate vice president for admission and enrollment planning, realize that there is still work to be done.

"Recruiting and enrolling students from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds-especially first generation students-is a priority that has been charged to the Office of Admission because it is supported by Father Shanley," said Lydon.

According to the open enrollment figure for September 2006, which is based on what applicants report their ethnicity to be on their college application, the College's total student body consists of 1.6 percent African Americans, 2.0 percent Asians, 2.1 percent Hispanics/Latinos, and .1 percent Native American/Alaskan natives. Approximately 83 percent of students are white, while 2.7 percent of students are grouped as "other/multiracial." The remaining 7.9 percent did not provide an ethnicity.

The AHANA students are those who have checked off only one box on their application to indicate their race. Those who check off multiple boxes are automatically defaulted into the multiracial category, Lydon said.

Recruiting for diversity

To recruit more ethnically diverse students, counselors in the admissions office do their heaviest recruiting in the Boston to Washington, D.C. areas.

"Studies have shown that once you move beyond a 300 mile radius of your institution, the likelihood of enrolling multicultural first generation students decreases dramatically," Lydon said. "To make the best use of our recruitment resources, we focus locally and regionally where we know we are not yet sufficiently successful."

Within these targeted geographic areas, the Admission Office recruits heavily at inner -city schools with high percentages of minorities, such as St. Raymond School in the Bronx, N.Y., St. Bernard's School in Newark, N.J., and City on a Hill, a charter public school in Boston.

The recruitment process begins during students' sophomore and junior years of high school and carries over to partnerships with organizations such as Upward Bound and with various school departments in areas such as Worcester, Mass., and Hartford, Conn. With the help of the Balfour Center for Multicultural Affairs, the admission office organizes opportunities for students in the aforementioned districts to visit PC for free.

Since July 2005, three new policies have been enacted to help increase diversity at PC-making the SAT optional, creating more need-based scholarships, and making reductions in academic merit scholarships. Dispelling a common misconception, Lydon noted that those students who received need-based scholarships were held to the same standards for admission as every other applicant and are no less qualified academically.

Since PC became an SAT optional school, there has been a 33 percent increase in the number of Hispanic students who were admitted to the College, from 149 students in the Class of 2010 to 198 students in the Class of 2011. The number of Hispanic and multiracial students who actually choose to attend the College, however, is generally noticeably lower considering the cost of PC's tuition. Other schools with larger endowments, Lydon said, can offer greater financial aid packages to minority students and consequently have higher percentages of minority students. Tuition has also increased eight percent.

Increasing the College's endowment has been a priority for Father Shanley, who frequently speaks to donors about the need for more scholarship money. In doing so, he often reminds them of the importance of having a diverse student body at a school like PC, which was founded to reach out to first generation students to go to college.

Up until the Class of 2008 was admitted, the College did not track its number of first generation students. Since then, statistics from the admission office show that the number of such students accepted to PC has increased from 9.6 percent to 12.6 percent.

A holistic approach to remedying the problem

To attract more socio-economically and ethnically diverse students, Father Shanley said the College must seek ways of incorporating diversity into the curriculum.

"You don't want to have Diversity 101 because everyone feels forced to take this," he said, noting that a better option would be to "build in some kind of flexible diversity requirement that could be fulfilled in all sorts of ways."

He recognized the need for learning about different parts of the world, noting that "[students] need to study a culture different from the Western perspective." Students, he said, should also be encouraged to study abroad and volunteer in the Providence community to help enhance their global awareness and enrich their overall education at PC.

Finding ways of making minorities feel more comfortable in the classroom is also being taken into account. "One of our goals is to diversify the faculty as much as we can," Father Shanley said.

To help achieve such goals, there has been some campuswide literature-such as the latest draft of the College's strategic plan, "Transforming Lives Through Contemplation"-that highlight the recruitment and diversity objectives of PC. The College, however, has yet to release a report specifically geared toward addressing the issue of diversity. "We will eventually have a more focused strategic plan," Father Shanley said. "To tackle this you have to put a lot of pieces into place."

Considering the improvements that have been made throughout her four years at the College, Brown said she believes PC still has work to do, but is headed in the right direction.

"I think PC is approaching [the issue] correctly, addressing a bit at a time," she said. "This is still a hot topic, especially among students who think some minorities are not upheld to the same standards as everyone else and are here simply because they are minorities. Misconceptions like these must be removed before the College can take any serious actions."