How Does Diversity Actually Work at College? 10 Black College Graduates Discuss
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Posted By: S. Moore on July 07, 2023 Fill in the blank: Being Black in America today is …  “Scary” Celisa, 37, Tenn.  “Challenging” Veronique, 36, D.C.  “Normal” Karis, 34, Ill. What grade would you give America when it comes to making progress on race and racism today? For our latest Times Opinion focus group, held in mid-June, we were curious to get those grades from young Black Americans just before the Supreme Court issued its ruling on affirmative action in college admissions. The court was weighing, on one level, whether affirmative action was no longer necessary to foster diversity on campus, as Justice Sandra Day O’Connor predicted would be the case by 2028. Did members of our group, who graduated not long ago from a mix of historically Black colleges and universities and predominantly white institutions, think that America was making enough progress on race that it could do away with racial preferences in admissions? Jocelyn, a 32-year-old from Pennsylvania who went to an H.B.C.U., said America felt like a “split country,” citing efforts by some states and school districts “to actually remove Black history from curricula.” Kathryn, a 34-year-old from Tennessee who went to a P.W.I., gave America a D. “People think the civil rights movement fixed everything,” she said, adding that just when there’s some progress, “we go two or three steps backward.” As for affirmative action, several members of the group said they thought critics of the policies put too much emphasis on it as a boost for minority students, noting that the policies have most benefited white women in America. Karis, a 34-year-old from Illinois, said his alma mater, the University of Chicago, made it a priority to recruit students from underrepresented minority groups but said he thought admissions criteria were “balanced” for applicants regardless of race. For many members of the focus group, navigating white spaces and Black spaces in America has long been a fact of life, from school to the workplace to their neighborhoods. Several said they thrived at H.B.C.U.s, feeling encouraged academically and pushing themselves to succeed while having support from teachers and peers who were almost like family. Looking to the future, some hoped that enrollment at H.B.C.U.s would increase with the end of affirmative action. Others said they were worried about America in the near term, seeing little going well in the country and feeling downbeat about President Biden. Still, several said they believed the country will have made progress on race 25 years from now compared with today. PARTICIPANTS
Do you support the use of affirmative acion in college admissions? 7 people raised their hands What word or phrase would you use to describe the Supreme Court right now? Veronique, 36, D.C., Democrat, entrepreneur Disjointed. I think that there’s a lot of fractured lines between generations, in terms of thinking about things as they are now. Kathryn, 34, Tenn., leftist, venue manager Completely ineffective. There’s people involved with the court who simply want to be right instead of caring about what is happening to the people that these laws affect. The laws don’t apply to politicians, generally speaking. Celisa, 37, Tenn., Democrat, chief operating officer I don’t follow the Supreme Court as much as I used to. But I will say that I do agree with what Kathryn says: It is basically about who wants to be right. No one is really talking to the everyday, average person. It’s June right now, and the Supreme Court is expected to make a ruling that will strike down affirmative action. How would you feel if the Supreme Court ended affirmative action in college admissions? Jocelyn, 32, Pa., Democrat, entrepreneur I would be disappointed, but I wouldn’t be shocked. The status of Black people in the country is depressing. This would just solidify my feelings that the country is trying to put the white race first and for it to take priority. Denzel, 28, N.Y., Republican, architecture I’m concerned that it might affect Black people more than white people because I’m worried people will now be OK with low rates of minority students on campus. Jocelyn, 32, Pa., Democrat, entrepreneur I do believe there will be an increase in enrollment in H.B.C.U.s, which also, in my opinion, is a good thing, because that also helps with improving the school, as well. Karis, 34, Ill., Democrat, I.T. professional I feel like it wouldn’t have much effect on P.W.I.s or at least on the university I attended. Because on paper, at least, the university I attended, the criteria for admission were quite balanced. Does anyone else feel it would have an effect on the school where you went to college? Kathryn, 34, Tenn., leftist, venue manager I think, at best, it would be able to at least hold on to economic diversity within the students, because the school that I went to does do need-blind admissions. Because of how the discrimination in this country has gone across economic lines, where it has affected people of color more, so you still might be able to have your students of color in there. But I would like to see what the same effect would do to other schools who don’t have those sorts of admissions standards. Jocelyn, 32, Pa., Democrat, entrepreneur I feel like my school would probably initially be very supportive of keeping the same kind of enrollment. They try to have a 48 percent to 50 percent diversity. But then, I can imagine a future in which those numbers would slowly dwindle. I say this because shortly after I graduated, the African American population dropped so low that we began to protest and petition it. And then recently, in the last three years, they’ve had the highest numbers that they had with diversity. So it wasn’t until it was brought to people’s attention and people started to speak out against it that it changed. Stéphane, 31, Texas, independent, accountant I think colleges are going to be doing whatever they can to increase enrollment, going forward, especially as people start to question more and more the value of a college education in an economy that changes so fast. Colleges are going to be incentivized to maintain whatever positive programs that attract all kinds of students to their schools. With every focus group, we turn to politics briefly. And I’m curious if any of you have strong feelings one way or another about President Biden, about Donald Trump, about Ron DeSantis, about Vice President Kamala Harris. Amouki, 23, Md., Democrat, administrative assistant I wasn’t excited to vote for Biden in 2020. I’m less excited to vote for him next year. I mean, he made a bunch of promises that he didn’t keep up with, especially the codifying of Roe v. Wade. That was, like, one of the first things during his campaign that he said he would want to do. Never did. Student loan forgiveness — he said he was going to do it. Would you vote for a Republican? Instead of, or maybe not vote? Amouki, 23, Md., Democrat, administrative assistant I don’t like Biden, but I’m not going to start voting Republican. And I’m not going to start not voting. So I will vote for him because I feel like I have to, not because I want to. Stéphane, 31, Texas, independent, accountant I voted in the last two elections, and I was very unexcited about voting for Biden. He was the last person I wanted to vote for. And I’m so unexcited this time around that if it’s him and Trump again, I won’t vote for either one of them. I will probably write in somebody or vote for a third-party candidate. What is it about Biden that you don’t feel enthusiastic about? Stéphane, 31, Texas, independent, accountant His age is a major concern. I’ve seen him mentally deteriorate from when he’s V.P. to now. He is not progressive enough in terms of the values. He hasn’t fought hard enough for the student loan debt thing. That’s a very, very big issue to me. Veronique, 36, D.C., Democrat, entrepreneur I voted for Biden. I think that he’s actually done what he’s been allowed to do. His age is the one thing I’m concerned about. But the other evil is that we’re fighting with an illegal operative in Trump. And then DeSantis — I call him the devil. Let’s say we all came together again to do this group in 25 years, 25 years from now. And I asked the same question about what grade would you give America on race and racism, do you think you’d give America a better grade, a worse grade or the same grade? Kathryn, 34, Tenn., leftist, venue manager It can only get better. Right now, we’re in the time of pullback, where people are angry about woke culture and “How dare you make me say nice things to people” or “Why should I care if anyone has housing or anything like that?” We’ll eventually get past that. You know, when we got past like, “Oh, yes, it is wrong, and now it is illegal to commit hate crimes.” You know, like, now we finally at least grasp that. Michael, 31, Calif., independent, I.T. associate I’ll give a better grade. Because if we go back 25 years ago and where we are now, I think we’ve improved. So I’m sure in the next 25 years, there’s always room for improvement. And I see America being better. Denzel, 28, N.Y., Republican, architecture Yeah, I feel the same way. I feel like if you go 50 years back, it was worse. And if you go 100 years back, it was worse. So I feel like 25 years, it will slowly improve. But there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done. Roger, 33, Texas, Democrat, real estate agent I’ll give it a worse grade, considering that affirmative action will be gone. SOURCE The New York Times If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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