LACK OF UNDERREPRESENTED ETHNIC GROUPS

Diversity at California University is a constant goal for students, staff and administration to make sure all people are included and represented throughout campus. It is no question why CLU’s initiative to increase diversity is made prominent on its website stating,

“We strive to open our doors to students and employees from all walks of life and to assist them once they arrive.”

Even though there has been an increase in diversity on campus since this statement has been implemented, the numbers are still low compared to other universities.

That is why I believe we should have programs for all ethnic groups throughout campus as equally as possible.

According to the Campus Diversity Initiative Report of Fall of 2012 - Spring of 2015, the report shows many charts and graphs relating to the numbers of underrepresented groups at CLU. One chart shows that the growth of undergraduate Hispanics attending CLU has significantly increased from 18 percent in the fall 2013 to 25 percent in fall 2014, making CLU a Hispanic-serving institution. However, other major ethnic groups such as Asians and African-Americans have not shown much increase. In fact, from 2012 to 2014 undergraduate African Americans attending CLU decreased from 5 percent to 4 percent.

The CDI Report also shows our faculty and administration split into groups of minorities. A trendline of full-time faculty members of color had a steady growth reaching 20 percent at 2013 but decreased to 17 percent the next year. Administration staff had 13 percent growth since 2003. As of 2016, full-time faculty members who are minority make up 22 percent.

Caucasians still dominate a majority of the the student body by 49.1 percent and faculty and staff by 66 percent as of 2014.

But it’s not just about the numbers. It’s also about the physical makeup of these numbers represented by clubs and real students on campus.

CLU does offer a variety of clubs and organizations to represent some minorities such as the Latin American Student Organization club, also known as LASO, to represent the Hispanic community and share their culture on campus. CLU offers the Black Student Union, which helps raise awareness about African Americans’ history and provide information about African culture in the U.S. and around the world. All of the these clubs allow those groups to be represented, but there is still a lack of representation for Asians, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and other underrepresented ethnic groups.

“From what I see, CLU is trying to represent the Asian community by having the Multicultural Club which include a mix of cultures and there are a good amount of Asian international students. But I still think CLU is still dominated by white people, Katrina Delos Reyes said. Katrina Delos Reyes is an undergraduate at CLU who is concerned about a slight lack of Asian representation on campus.

Other universities offer a significant amount of minorities clubs compared to CLU. Chapman University, for example, offers not only LASO and Black Student Union but also Asian American Association, Chinese Student Union, Japanese Club, International Students Association, Pua’ikeana (a Hawaiian club), Taiwanese American Association and Vietnamese Student Association just to name a few.

Although CLU provides many opportunities for underrepresented groups to be shown, how equally these groups are represented is questionable. There are many cultural events, organized by the Multicultural program at CLU, which is a great way to experience new cultures, but why can’t we establish more clubs and programs for students that already attend the institution, such as Asians? Although LASO does a great deal for Hispanics on campus, there is still an issue for other minorities being neglected.

When I was in high school they offered many diverse clubs such as LASO, French Club, Asian Club, Mandarin Club and even Sign Language Club. I was a part of Mandarin Club for three years and while I’m not a part of any clubs at CLU currently, I expected our university to have more of a variety of clubs. Although they have a huge representation for Hispanics on campus (being a Hispanic-serving institution) I want CLU have equal representation for all ethnic groups. Chapman University is able to offer a wide range of cultural groups just with their clubs and they are also a private institution like CLU. I find it shocking how lacking CLU is with the number of diversity clubs on campus especially knowing how capable the university is.

I do believe that the university has a improved a lot from 2014 with 49.1 percent undergraduate students are ethnic minority. But minority makeup of faculty and administration staff are still low which hinder the idea of equal cultural representation within the professors and faculty on campus. Also, students should have clubs to represent all groups and have diverse enough staff so ethnic students don’t feel excluded. It will take a while to see these changes on school grounds. I’d love to see baby steps at least. Why not simply add more clubs for minorities who are being ignored?