2008 Woodie Awards
Diversity cannot be ignored
Aiden Redmond '08
Issue date: 10/19/06 Section: Commentary
It wasn't until I picked up a copy of The Cowl and read an article in the issue of Oct. 5 that I realized that according to The Princeton Review, Providence College is now officially the most homogeneous college in the nation. With the onset of each new school year, PC has gradually been moving up in the homogeneity rankings, but now The Princeton Review has finally provided us with first prize. Even though it was just made official, or as "official" as The Princeton Review can get, it doesn't take a genius to realize that there are many striking similarities among the majority of people who make up the PC student body. There are many things about this school that I love, but since the time I came here as a freshman, the homogeneity has really bothered me.
Visiting PC while I was still in high school, the tour guides never really addressed the issue of diversity among the student body, so I just assumed it was not a problem. I liked the atmosphere, the kids seemed pretty normal, and it just clicked with me that this was a place where I would really like to spend my next four years. In these regards, my feelings have not changed about PC, but had I been aware that I was applying to what would eventually be the most homogeneous school in the nation, I might not have sent in my application. Indeed, PC is a great place, but since The Princeton Review has given us the gold medal for being so overwhelmingly Caucasian (whatever "Caucasian" really means), the issue of homogeneity has reached a point where turning a blind eye is no longer an option.
Coming to PC after spending four years at Fordham Preparatory School in the Bronx, N.Y., made the homogeneous nature of PC painfully obvious. Fordham Prep is an urban high school that prides itself on celebrating diversity and reaching out to the less fortunate. The school's emphasis on improving its students from a moral aspect is arguably equal to preparing young scholars for college.
I didn't worry about diversity in high school, primarily because I was surrounded by it Monday through Friday. I wasn't worried about it before arriving at PC either because I figured if it was so important in high school, it must be even more important in college. In high school, being Caucasian didn't make you part of the majority; if anything, it made part of the minority, and no one was bothered by it or even thought twice about the matter. After having the same conversation with many of my PC friends throughout the last few years, there is obviously a disconnect between the way I feel about PC's lack of diversity and the way lots of other people do. Just because the PC students are aware that there's a diversity problem doesn't make it all right, and in my opinion it's one of the biggest problem this school has on its hands. When I see that our tuition money is being spent towards new PC Security SUVs and a mammoth new sports center, it drives me crazy. I realize that PC has difficulties providing money to support tuition costs, while at the same time trying to create a more diverse student body, but pouring money into these unneeded "improvements" is not helping matters of diversity.
Visiting PC while I was still in high school, the tour guides never really addressed the issue of diversity among the student body, so I just assumed it was not a problem. I liked the atmosphere, the kids seemed pretty normal, and it just clicked with me that this was a place where I would really like to spend my next four years. In these regards, my feelings have not changed about PC, but had I been aware that I was applying to what would eventually be the most homogeneous school in the nation, I might not have sent in my application. Indeed, PC is a great place, but since The Princeton Review has given us the gold medal for being so overwhelmingly Caucasian (whatever "Caucasian" really means), the issue of homogeneity has reached a point where turning a blind eye is no longer an option.
Coming to PC after spending four years at Fordham Preparatory School in the Bronx, N.Y., made the homogeneous nature of PC painfully obvious. Fordham Prep is an urban high school that prides itself on celebrating diversity and reaching out to the less fortunate. The school's emphasis on improving its students from a moral aspect is arguably equal to preparing young scholars for college.
I didn't worry about diversity in high school, primarily because I was surrounded by it Monday through Friday. I wasn't worried about it before arriving at PC either because I figured if it was so important in high school, it must be even more important in college. In high school, being Caucasian didn't make you part of the majority; if anything, it made part of the minority, and no one was bothered by it or even thought twice about the matter. After having the same conversation with many of my PC friends throughout the last few years, there is obviously a disconnect between the way I feel about PC's lack of diversity and the way lots of other people do. Just because the PC students are aware that there's a diversity problem doesn't make it all right, and in my opinion it's one of the biggest problem this school has on its hands. When I see that our tuition money is being spent towards new PC Security SUVs and a mammoth new sports center, it drives me crazy. I realize that PC has difficulties providing money to support tuition costs, while at the same time trying to create a more diverse student body, but pouring money into these unneeded "improvements" is not helping matters of diversity.