Diversity and Discrimination on a College Campus

Informing all incoming Ohio State University students of the importance of being racially diverse and accepting is one of the most important subjects that can be taught on campus, and should be continued to be taught in the Undergraduate Student Academic Services (USAS) course at Ohio State.

To be "diverse," is to have much variety in whatever the subject is that one is looking at, studying, etc. To be "racially diverse" is to have many kinds of people in one place. This phenomenon readily exists on the campus of The Ohio State University. Students of all walks of life can be found on all the OSU campuses, from African Americans and Asians to Hispanics, Muslims to Native Americans, and many others.

Is it important to have a lot of diversity on a college campus? Many sources say that it is. In a study done in 1998 by the Ford Foundation's Campus Diversity Initiative, "ninety percent of the public believe that diversity is important and that higher education has an important role in fostering it" (Smith 16). There has also been a study done by Daryl G. Smith in 1997 that focused specifically on how diversity on campus affected college students. In this study, which Smith reviewed in a report titled "Diversity Works: The Emerging Picture of How Students Benefit," she found that "diversity initiatives positively affect both minority and majority students on campus" (Smith).

Other sources are finding that students who attend colleges that are "student centered," meaning that the faculty and staff focus on both the student's personal and academic lives, don't feel as much racial tension toward their fellow ethnic classmates (www.diversityweb.com).

Even the most important people in our government system are praising the teaching of diversity in the college classroom. In the historic Supreme Court case, Grutter v. Bollinger, Justice Sandra Day O' Connor stated "student body diversity promotes learning outcomes and 'better prepares students for an increasingly diverse workforce and society'" (Holladay 1).

My own personal experience concerning racial diversity and acceptance began in my freshman year at Ohio State. I had signed up for the required Undergraduate Student Academic Services course, mandatory for all incoming freshman. The six-week course, team-taught by each of OSU-Mansfield's academic advisors, is designed to educate all new students on the policies, standards, expectations of students, and the resources available to students at Ohio State. Its basic purpose is to make the transition from high school to the new world of college a little easier. My initial thoughts about this particular course were like any other thoughts of a required course: 'this is going to be really boring and useless.'

After a few days, there were times when that thought was grossly reaffirmed. Then a few weeks passed, and I walked in one morning to find two black gentlemen sitting at a table at the front of the room. I sat down, still wondering why those two gentlemen were in the classroom. A few minutes later, class began, and the advisor introduced the two gentlemen. They turned out to be two spokespeople for a local group designed to educate people about how to deal with and accept the vast array of diverse peoples at Ohio State. Perhaps the most eye-opening part of their entire presentation was for me when the two black gentlemen presented a video. The video starred two professional reporters who went around to see how people treated others of a different race. One man was white, and the other was black. The two reporters spent a few days in St. Louis going around and performing everyday functions, like shopping, buying a new car, getting an apartment, calling a cab, ordering a meal, etc. On every occasion, the white reporter was given better treatment than the black gentleman. When the black reporter tried to rent an apartment, the landlord told him that the apartment was already taken. A few minutes later, the white reporter came in and asked about the very same apartment, and the landlord took him directly into the allegedly rented apartment, and even gave him a key.

When the two reporters went shopping for a car, the black gentleman stood a few feet away from the salesman, but was ignored until the black man persisted. When the other reporter looked at the same car, the salesman spent the time showing him the car, and offered a lower price than he had offered the black gentleman.

After the experiment was completed, the two reporters went back to each place, and showed the people they dealt with the video that caught their actions.
Coming from a small town that is predominately white, I had never come into contact with that magnitude of discrimination before, so I was quite surprised. The presentation affirmed my belief that this type of action is wrong, and even angered me a little. I could not believe that this type of thing actually went on in the world.
Another argument for having diversity on campus is that "having diversity in the population creates greater opportunities for individuals to be seen as individuals, thus breaking down stereotypes" (Smith 18).

As for the benefits that diversity has for non-ethnic students, studies have shown that students exposed to diversified environments have "increased critical thinking skills, problem solving capacities, and cognitive complexity" (Smith 19).

Studies have also compared the viability of being educated in diversity as being equally important as being educated in technology. Experts say that "institutions that teach diversity at all levels are more likely to have the cross-cultural competence that will position them well in today's society" (Smith 20).

I strongly believe that a diverse campus is an integral part of a person's experience in college. Meeting people of different races on campus will benefit students because it will help them understand other cultures that perhaps they didn't care about, or were curious about in some ways. Meeting diverse students will also help those students become more accepting of other races because they spend a lot of their time with those of a different race, I have a few friends of a different color that I met this year (2003) on campus, and I don't think of them as being any different than I. I believe that if I had not had the experience I had in my USAS class, or I had not met the few friends of a different color, I would still be like a lot of other people in the world, and not be as accepting as I am today.

Works Cited
Holladay, Jennifer R. "Diversity Education." Teaching Tolerance Magazine. 2003. 1.

Smith, D.G. Diversity Works: The Emerging Picture Of How Students Benefit. Washington D.C.: Association of American Colleges and Universities, 1997.

The Association of American Colleges and Universities. "Benefits Of Diversity." Diversity Web. The Association of American Colleges and Universities. 22 Nov. 2003.