President Bernie Machen often touts the importance of diversity at the U, but quantifying the effects of diversity can be difficult?a campus center is attempting to change that.
The Center for the Study of Race and Diversity in Higher Education first started Spring Semester 2001, researching the effects of diversity.
Although the center does not currently have a physical location, Bryan Brayboy and two others, all assistant professors in the College of Education, have pooled their individual research and work from their offices.
“I think [diversity] enriches the educational experiences of everyone because beliefs and perspectives are challenged so people have to think outside of the box,” Brayboy said.
He also believes diversity promotes personal growth and a healthy society by allowing interactions with minority communities to challenge stereotypes and preconceptions. In a more global context, Brayboy believes diversity enhances economic competitiveness.
“We are living in a global society, and the more we interact with people who are different than we are means that we are better prepared to live in that global society,” he said.
Another member of center, William Smith, believes diversity is important, but for different reasons.
“When you have diversity, you have some of the best thoughts and experiences among different people and those differences will encourage looking at other people’s perspective and come up with solutions,” Smith said.
Smith feels people often don’t understand the importance of diversity.
“People see the importance of biodiversity, the diversity of stocks, the diversity of orchestras, but people don’t see the benefit of racial, ethnic and gender diversity,” he said.
The third center member, Octavio Villalpando, hopes the center’s research will influence universities’ policies.
“When decision makers at universities make decisions about the benefits of racial diversity, those decisions are based on research. There’s some sort of empirical evidence about diversity, it’s not just based on myths,” he said.
To dispel any myths about minorities, each professor researches a specific demographic. Villalpando’s work focuses on Latinas and Latinos in higher education.
“One of my projects is following up a group of college graduates who finished almost 10 years ago, and look at their experience as undergraduates and who they are becoming,” he said.
Villalpando, an assistant professor of in the educational leadership and policy department, is also assessing the racial composition of the colleges the graduates attended.
“I’m looking at how attending a very diverse university impacts student lives as compared to a more homogeneous campus, and how those experiences changed their perspective about social justice, civic responsibility and other very important factors in society,” he said.
Brayboy, an assistant professor in the education, culture and society department, focuses on American Indians.
“My work focuses on this group in elite colleges and universities, especially Ivy League schools,” he said. “I examine how students maintain home culture and academic success in school.”
He is also researching the experiences of students and faculty of color in predominantly white institutions, but he is still in the beginning stages of that work.
Assistant professor Smith, also of the education, culture and society department, focuses on African Americans.
“I look at the benefits of diversity on predominantly white college campuses, including campus climate issues and diversity policies such as Affirmative Action,” he said.
He recently served as the senior editor for the book The Racial Crisis in American Higher Education. The center helped contribute to the book.
“The book deals with what we don’t want to happen on this campus,” Smith said. “The U can be an example of how diversity works, and avoid racial crisis.”
According to the professors, the center wouldn’t have happened without support from U administrators and faculty.
“President Machen, Vice President for Diversity Karen Dace, David Sperry, the dean of the College of Education and the chairmen of our two departments and others have served as beacons for diversity that makes it that much easier to do our job,” Smith said.
Although U administrators and faculty support the center, the idea originally came from the three professors.
“Being the only professors that look at diversity in higher education, we came together and looked at the climate on this campus and talked about our common research,” Smith said.
After informal discussions, the three professors decided to create a formal center.
Villalpando hopes the center’s research will help answer questions about diversity.
“Maybe there’s a way to collaborate and coordinate work to help institutions answer pressing and important questions students have about attending diverse universities,” he said.