Author: Michelle Park, Rachel Stober
As the college’s mission statement proclaims, “The Mission of Occidental College is to provide a gifted and diverse group of students with a total educational experience of the highest quality.” Starting at the mission statement and spreading outward, Occidental’s emphasis on diversity manifests itself continually. Each fall, Occidental distributes a press release boasting of the incoming freshman class’s diversity. The college offers inter-group dialogue seminars on topics surrounding race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality which are over-enrolled every semester. In 2009, Occidental won the NCAA Diversity in Athletics Award for race and gender diversity, diversity strategy, gender equity and overall diversity. In 2001, the James Irving Foundation donated $2 million to the college to found the Intercultural Community Center, expand study abroad offerings beyond Western Europe and modify Core requirements to add global perspective to Occidental’s curriculum. College Prowler’s latest guide to the college gives Occidental an ‘A’ for diversity. “Occidental is a truly diverse school,” it states. “The numbers that are given out by the admissions staff can be verified just by walking through the Quad at lunch and seeing a multitude of people that one would have a very hard time finding at another school.” Nonetheless, any student or faculty or staff member who spends much time at Occidental knows that on-campus diversity is a more complex issue than a list of past achievements or a single glance at the student body might indicate.
Throughout November, the Occidental Weekly asked students and faculty about their experiences with racial, ethnic, gender and intellectual diversity on campus. Their responses paint a colorful picture of the current landscape of diversity at the college.
June Liu (sophomore): Oxy prides itself on its diversity of color and culture, but it is at times difficult for me to assimilate when the culture is so predominantly “American.” Color I can see, but culture? Maybe the college needs a clear-cut definition on what they mean by culture and diversity, because I cannot see it very clearly here.
Utsav Patwardhan (senior) (international student from India and South Asian Student Association representative): Coming from an international high school in Chennai, India with over 34 nationalities represented, I’ve come to Oxy from a very multinational background. I didn’t know what to expect when I arrived here, but I’m pretty happy because Oxy is very diverse. I think it’s important to remember that diversity doesn’t just refer to racial or cultural diversity—here, I have met people from so many different walks of life, each with unique experiences, and I have learned so much from all of them.
Binh Vuong (sophomore) (international student from Vietnam): Coming from a high school which was 15 percent international, I don’t see Oxy as being very diverse in terms of cultural diversity. Last year there were three international kids in my hall, and this year there are only two. When hanging out with friends here, I always find that I’m the only international student (and Asian) around. But, to be honest, that doesn’t really bother me. Oxy is so much more diverse in terms of people—who they are and what they believe in—than my high school. I think pretty much every single person can find his or her own group or clique here easily.
Paulina Moreno (sophomore): Occidental College’s diversity mission seems a little exaggerated to me. Oxy has been pretty good at getting students with different cultural backgrounds, ethnicities and places of birth, but it has been negligent when it comes to economic background. I see a lot of privileged students here. Sometimes it makes me feel, no matter how subtle or small the feeling, like an “outsider.” There are not enough students here who are not upper-middle class or upper class; there are some kinds of diversity, just not enough socioeconomic diversity.
Aja Sanneh (junior) (President, Muslim Student Association): “I cannot speak on behalf of the whole Muslim Student Association, but I think Oxy has a good mix of people. Of course, more perspectives could always be useful.”
Mark Silva (junior): “Occidental is said to be stellar in terms of the diversity of the student population, and I couldn’t agree more with the fact that Oxy is vibrant in incorporating students from all different kinds of intellectual backgrounds. After talking with students in dormitories, classrooms and clubs, I have come to the realization that the students are all very diverse in their values and outside experiences. However, when it comes to socioeconomics, students seem to be for the most part very privileged. Possibly related to the lack of socioeconomic diversity, the student population here is also predominantly white. Coming from New Mexico, where my neighbors and classmates were mainly Hispanic, I had a difficult time integrating when I first arrived at Occidental. It took time and effort, but now I am comfortable here, despite the diversity problems I see.
John Lee (first-year): Having attended a local high school just ten minutes from campus, I would say Oxy does, to an extent, represent the colorful diversity of the city of Los Angeles. In addition to creating the ideal “melting pot,” Oxy is more than respectful and eager to celebrate all cultures, religions and lifestyles through its students, faculty and curriculum.
Heather Lukes (Assistant Professor, CTSJ): Although I am a relatively new faculty member and cannot speak personally about Oxy’s history, I have gotten a kind of birds-eye view of the issues by serving on the Diversity Task Force last year and by currently sitting on the Presidential Diversity Advisory Committee. Compared to other liberal arts colleges, Occidental is very diverse in terms of the number of students from traditionally underrepresented groups. Enrollment, however, is only one factor among many. In addition to the college’s lively conversation about campus climate, we need to think diversity beyond the walls of the “ivory tower” and frame our concerns in a broader context, both geographically and historically. For me, the way to do that is not just to celebrate diversity and honor cultural difference but also to embrace a strong critique of privilege. Too often we talk about our own experiences without doing enough work to acknowledge and learn about the cultural systems, material realities and historical ideologies that underpin how we even approach the conversation. There’s a saying, “You can’t wring your hands and roll up your sleeves at the same time.” You also can’t pat yourself on the back and roll up your sleeves. When asked to evaluate diversity, my answer is always, “Once more unto the breach!”
Rev. Susan E. Young (Director, Office for Religious & Spiritual Life): When I think about diversity at Occidental, my thoughts immediately turn to the gift of our religious diversity. I am pleased that the students in our religious and spiritual groups have started the student Interfaith Council, which is working to create an atmosphere on campus where students from different religious and spiritual backgrounds can talk with mutual respect and honesty about their deeply held personal beliefs. The council includes students who may identify as spiritual, but not religious, or as secular humanists and atheists. Occidental College is part of President Obama’s Interfaith Campus Challenge. We are one of 250 colleges and universities that have pledged to create opportunities for students to engage in community service and interfaith dialogue. I am hopeful that through these new programs and initiatives, members of the Occidental community will be able to engage in rich informative and respectful conversations about our campus diversity.
Robin Crag
gs (Executive Director), Julie Jimenez (Executive Director of International Programs), Marisa Grove Mofford (Assistant Director) and Mandy Campbell Moore (Program Coordinator) (International Programs Office): Diversity becomes a deeper and more nuanced conversation with an international experience. What is a diverse community? Ask any Oxy student who has studied abroad whether their experience with these issues was the same outside the U.S. Even more telling, ask one of the many international students studying at Oxy what their views are on diversity at Oxy. It is such a wide, deep, important discussion. We are a brilliantly diverse campus, often in ways that we don’t even know. There are folks who have lived between cultures, between races, who are bilingual in more ways than language. Most importantly, the Oxy community continues to have this discussion about diversity and that in itself is unique. International students – whether they are U.S. citizens who have lived abroad, international students living in the U.S. for the very first time or global nomads of any nationality – bring a unique perspective to these conversations.
Alexander Loomer (sophomore): With so many international and out-of-state students, I feel as though there are varied ideas and opinions on campus that make Oxy different from many of the UC schools that are more ethnically homogenous. Could there be more diversity? Sure. As a local, I can see that perhaps Oxy is not representative of the surrounding neighborhoods which are mostly Hispanic and Filipino. But overall, our campus should be proud of all the nations and beliefs that are represented here.
Samuel Wylie (sophomore) (President, QSA): I do not think anyone would dispute that our student body hails from a variety of races, sexual orientations and socioeconomic statuses. At the same time, there is a discrepancy between our self-promotion as a student body that values all backgrounds and our actual willingness to educate ourselves on issues of diversity. Exposure does not necessarily equal education. While I appreciate our liberal upbringing and familiarity with different lifestyles, there are many intricacies of diverse populations that can only be understood through an effort to learn about them. No one is exempt. Moreover, there is always more to be learned about the groups to which we already belong. Occidental is great in its awareness of diversity, and it is because of this awareness that I have faith in our progress. This progress does not come in the form of stickers on our computers or signatures on a poster but through a simple effort to inquire and listen. For me, our first step is to admit that we are here not because we are already educated in diversity but rather because we need to be educated.
Jonathan Kim (sophomore): Diversity here is optimal. L.A. is fairly diverse, but every smaller area within L.A. is generally populated by ethnically similar people. The difference I find with Oxy is that there aren’t enough of us to sustain that kind of environment. So Oxy, through a unique combination of small school and diversity, ends up being more diverse than L.A.”
Julie Prebel (Assistant Professor, English Writing): This semester, we’ve been talking about the broader concept of “diversity” in my English Writing classes: what does diversity really mean? Has diversity – at times seemingly used synonymously to mean cultural “variety” – become a sort of catchword for trying to understand the complex interactions of race, class, gender, sexuality, ability and other constructed categories of identity? In trying to sort out answers to these questions, I find the work of Margaret Andersen and Patricia Hill Collins (in their anthology, “Race, Class, Gender”) provocative and productive. They remind us of the importance of moving beyond merely understanding diversity; “appreciating diversity,” they say, “is not the only point.” Andersen and Hill Collins note that “diversity initiatives,” such as those on college campuses, provide important opportunities for creating awareness of individual and group experiences – and often give “voice” to these experiences in ways that have previously been denied. Yet I am persuaded by Andersen and Hill-Collins’ view that it is vital to encourage a more analytic perspective for examining the systems of power and privilege that construct hierarchies and limit our ability to achieve true democracy and social justice.
Teresa Eilers (senior): It’s phenomenal that Occidental highlights diversity as a cornerstone to its mission and that it actively seeks out ways to become more diverse. I know that one of the reasons why I wanted to come to Occidental was because it had a much more diverse student body compared to other liberal arts colleges. During my time at Occidental, I have never been in a class where all of the students were of the same demographic. Since many of my classes have been based on participation, hearing the thoughts of other students from other socioeconomic, gender, and racial perspectives is crucial. Oxy is not very diverse in its political voices, however. Also, every year at Occidental I have noticed a decrease in white, male professors and an increase in professors that are everything else. It is clear to me that Occidental is trying to diversify its faculty.”
Donna Maeda (Professor and Chair, CTSJ): I began teaching at Oxy when the college was beginning to implement its new multicultural mission around excellence, equity, community and service. It was an exciting time, when there was a sense that we were building a unique institution around what the urban setting of Los Angeles has to offer. People at other colleges and universities looked with interest – some even with envy – at the possibilities that we were creating. Oxy’s commitments, not only to diversity but also to confronting challenges created by histories of inequities, have created remarkable opportunities to engage with challenging questions across differences in classes, in programs like MSI [Multicultural Summer Institute] and in many spaces on campus. I hear from students, and I see this in classes and in programs, that some people are still interested in the unique possibilities that Oxy’s location in Los Angeles offers for continuing to work on excellence, equity, community and service, while others do not think so much about the institution’s mission statement or why it matters, even as we live and work in increasingly diverse settings. This often creates difficult dynamics and relationships as we talk about diversity but don’t always see what the commitment is at the institutional level. There are significant questions: To what extent does the institutional mission shape recruitment of students, faculty, administrators and staff? To what extent does it influence decisions about where resources go, what courses are offered, what programs are developed? How does this affect students’ experiences and education? When we don’t develop work around the mission proactively, the burden to deal with the consequences falls disproportionately on those whose lives disrupt traditional ideas about what private liberal arts colleges are. Opening up spaces to engage with these questions can help Oxy to revitalize our efforts around what makes this a unique place of learning. As a member of the Diversity Advisory Committee, I hope we hear more about students’ thoughts and experiences around these issues.
Woody Studenmund (Professor and Chair, Economics): I’m proud of our mission, which includes more than diversity, because it distinguishes Oxy from our peers and helps move society toward a better place. However, we can’t rest on our laurels. We have much more to accomplish, so we need to reaffirm the Mission and then keep working together if we’re going to achieve our goals.
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