11999
December 1,1999
The Banner
Page 9
News
IsDiversity forum addresses faculty involvement
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Administrators are working
increase the enrollment of
liverse students at UNCA,
It faculty involvement is also
leeded, according to a faculty
lember and administrator at
forum discussion on Nov.
n the Laurel Forum,
think we all, faculty and
dministration, have a respon-
ibility to it, because it seems
me that it’s not going to
unless everyone in all
lb of life makes some ef-
ort towards diversity,” said
Melissa Burchard, assistant
irofessor of philosophy and
ttendee of the forum.
“The administration could
fork until they’re blue in the
: on this issue, but if the
of us don’t work on it too,
’s not going to happen,” said
iurchard.
In order to compete with
)igger schools, UNCA plans
be more aggressive in the
ecruitment ofprospective stu-
irding to Philip
^east, assistant vice chancel-
for enrollment services.
Ifwe don’t play the game of
;ompeting and marketing,
:’ll be left behind,” said
X^east.
The university has adopted
everal initiatives to increase
ipplications for both general
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enrollment and minority stu
dents, according to Weast.
These initiatives include an
increase in advertising and
hiring minority admissions
representatives in Charlotte
and at UNCA.
“The most difficult part of
establishing diversity on cam
pus is establishing that first
generation of students,” said
Ben Blackwood, a sophomore
literature major. “Once you
can do that, it builds upon
itself and turns into a cycle.”
More minority students have
applied to UNCA this year
than in previous years, accord
ing to Weast. There were 37
applications from minorities
for fall 2000, an increase of 14
from the previous year.
“We feel like we’re on the
right track generating the types
of applications we need,” said
Weast.
The goal of the enrollment
office is to bring a wider pool
ofstudents to UNCA, accord
ing to Weast.
“Western North Carolina,
in and of itself, doesn’t really
have very many minorities.
So when you’re trying to con
struct a minority base on cam
pus, what you’re basically try
ing to do is create an island in
the middle of homogeneity,”
said Blackwood.
“There’s really not any di
versity in either realm” of fac
ulty and student population,
said Blackwood.
In addition to attracting a
more racially-diverse student
body, there needs to be diver
sity within the faculty, accord
ing to Burchard.
“I think that our students of
color don’t see many (role)
models that make it look pos
sible to them that they can
be (educators),” said
Burchard.
UNCA faculty has already
started diversifying their cur
ricula by showing the value of
diversity in the classes that
they’re teaching, according to
Burchard.
“We show the value of diver
sity, how important it is to
value the thinking and the
experiences of those who are
different from oneself,” said
Burchard.
One of the things that may
explain the small number of
minority students enrolled
at UN CA is the lack of schol
arships for minority stu
dents, according to Weast.
“We do not have a race-
based scholarship here,” said
Weast. “In 1997, UNC-sys-
tem President MoUy Broad said
there couldn’t be any race-based
scholarships in the UNC sys-
Diversity is not limited to
minorities, according to Weast
and Burchard.
“I think we need to increase
diversity in all kinds of ways.
For instance, there is some
population of gay and lesbian
students here and some popu
lation of gay and lesbian fac-
PHOTO BY WALTER FYLER
Philip Weast, assistant vice chancellor for enrollment services, conducted a forum that focused on
faculty involvement and diversification.
ulty,” said Burchard. “We not only have to em- diverse campus, UNCA staff, “If we don’t think about it
“Increasing diversity means brace diversity, we have to faculty, administrators and we’re going to continue to act
those that are gay and lesbian embrace different kinds,” said students need to sit down and on prejudices that most of us
can feel more comfortable and Burchard. think about their own preju- didn teventhinkthatwehad,
open,” said Burchard. In order to become a more dices, according to Burchard. said Burchard.
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