WEDNESDAY
FEDRUARY 22, 2D17
EXAMINING ELON’S SOCIAL CLIMATE: A THREE PM™
OiEGO PINEDA I Fliofo Editor
DIEGO PINEDA I Photo Editor
DIEGO PINEDA I PtwtoEiar
PEOPLE ARE SURPRISED
WHEN I DO CERTAIN
THINGS THAT AREN’T
TYPICAL OF SOMEONE THAT
LOOKS LIKE ME,
TRES MCMICHAEL
SOPHOMORE
I JUST HAVEN’T HAD A
MOMENT WHERE LIKE,
'WOW, I’M HERE AND I FEEL
LIKE THIS IS FOR ME,’I FEEL
LIKE I’VE HAD SMALL
OUTBURSTS, BUT NOT LIKE
AN EPIPHANY,
KENNETH BROWN
SOPHOMORE
I’VE HAD A GREAT OVERALL
ELON EXPERIENCE,,, I’VE
LEARNED SO MUCH, BUT
ITHINKTHERE’SALOT
OF THINGS THAT WE ARE
WORKING ON AS WELL,
RACHEL HOBBS
INCLUSIVITY
from cover
McMichael views this challenge
as an opportunity to offer something
new to each group.
“Sometimes me being in a theater
production or me being in the per
forming arts or me being in a frater
nity can spark up a different idea or
a different conversation in another
space that wouldn’t have existed had
someone not been a part of either
one of those groups,” he said.
Tony Crider, associate professor
of physics, is working to find out
how Elon can improve its social cli
mate so more students can have di
verse experiences like McMichael.
Though he is pleased with stu
dents’ levels of engagement and in
volvement on campus, Crider is con
cerned some are closing themselves
off from new experiences.
“We like to be part of small
groups where you have something
in common with the people there,”
Crider said. “But that means that
you’ve maybe shut people out from
that group.
“Inclusivity is the opposite of that
where you allow everyone in, but
then you might not have that thing
in common where you can make
that a meaningful group in the first
place.”
Examining inclusivity
Crider is co-chairing a 10-mem
ber team implementing a compre
hensive social climate task force re
port released in April 2016.
The report provides 42 recom
mendations on a host of topics rang
ing from improving students’ college
transitions to reviewing and revising
university policies. Conclusions were
drawn based on data from a combi
nation of group interviews, campus
surveys, town hall forums, campus
ecology experiences and idea walls.
Though a substantial portion of
data was not available in the report
itself, much information was provid
ed through the release of executive
summaries in the student and facul
ty/staff surveys.
“We were certainly fairly trans
parent in putting that data out there
and letting people know where this
came from,” said Jon Dooley, assis
tant vice president for student life
and co-chair of the Presidential Task
Force on Social Climate and Out-of-
Class Engagement.
Themes of inclusivity and be
longing consistently emerged in the
report.
Of the nearly 900 student re
spondents, 17 percent disagreed
or strongly disagreed that they be
longed at Elon and 23 percent dis
agreed or strongly disagreed that the
social climate was very welcoming to
them. More than a third of respon
dents said they were dissatisfied or
very dissatisfied with campus cli
mate related to diversity.
The results are not necessarily
reflective of the entire student pop
ulation because they were gathered
through a convenience sample — all
undergraduate students were invited
by email to take a voluntary survey.
Still, it is clear many students believe
Elon lacks diversity and is not inclu
sive to all.
Lack of belonging and unity
the real issue
Diversity is about much more
than demographic trends and stu
dent backgrounds. It is also about
the shared experiences of the com
munity as a whole. This is the true
4
PERCENT
OF STUDENTS DID NOT
CONSIDER THEMSELVES
TO BE AN ACTIVE GROUP
MEMBER-MEANING THEY
DID NOT PARTICIPATE
IN AN ORGANIZATION AT
LEAST ONCE A MONTH,
root of the problem Elon is facing.
How can more students come
together? How can siloed groups be
come unified? How do you encour
age students such as McMichael,
who want to break out of the boxes
people have tried to confine them
into? These are the questions the
university is asking, and the ques
tions are largely unanswered.
Sophomore Kenneth Brown
benefited from Elon’s commitment
to promoting diversity and is very
much appreciative of the opportu
nities he has earned, yet one interac
tion reveals much about his experi
ence. Asked if he feels he belongs, a
lengthy pause ensues.
“Do I belong here?” he said, look
ing up at the ceiling in search of an
answer.
“Do I belong here?” he said, still
unsure of how to respond.
“I don’t know just yet,” he said.
“I just haven’t had a moment
where like, ‘Wow, I’m here and I
feel like this is for me.’ I feel like I’ve
had small outbursts, but not like an
epiphany where like, ‘Wow, I’m here
and I can fit in here,”’ Brown said.
Brown is an involved student on
campus. He can often be seen watch
ing Elon athletic events or hanging
out at the Center for Race, Ethnicity
and Diversity Education (CREDE).
He also serves as sophomore class
president in the SGA and is involved
in Black Student Union. When he
is not participating in activities or
walking to and from events, he can
typically be seen talking with his fel
low students.
You’ve just got to be nice to peo
ple,” he said. “Whether it’s saying hi
or saying a kind word, for me, that’s
what my parents taught me growing
up. Treat others the way you want
to be treated, smile, say please and
thank you and be nice. You know, all
you’ve got to do is say hi to people.”
Brown being unsure about
whether he belongs at Elon could
come as a surprise to people and re
flect the magnitude of the problem
the university is facing in fostering
an inclusive climate.
“Inclusivity, to me, is the ability to
be able to have tough conversations,
talk to people who are different than
you, but at the end of the day, you
still have their back because you’re
a Phoenix, I’m a Phoenix, we all are
Phoenix,” Brown said.
Elon students are mostly white,
female or come from North Caroli
na or northeastern states. Elon has
heightened its efforts in the past sev
eral years to recruit people of more
diverse backgrounds.
Brooke Barnett, associate provost
for inclusive community, is in her
16th year at Elon and said she has
seen the university’s representation
al diversity increase within that pen-
od of time in terms of the number of
non-Christian students, students of
color and first-generation students.
Earlier this academic year, Greg
Zaiser, vice president of enrollment,
called the Class of 2020 the “largest
and most diverse in Elon history.
Even so, the university reports
an ethnic diversity of 18 percent. Six
percent of students are black and 5
percent are Hispanic, according to
The College Board.
Brown represents Elon’s relative
ly small black population. A highly
involved and motivated student in
high school, he was named an Od
yssey Scholar and given a scholar
ship, in part, because of his ability to
overcome adversity growing up m ^
household with a low socioeconom
ic status.
“Elon has taken major steps to
ensure that not only students who
are minorities on this campus feel