Dr. Donna Ford
More than any other nation in the world, the U.S. can and does boast of its diverse citizenry. Not only are we a nation of immigrants, we are also the most diverse country in the world due to slavery, specifically the enslavement of Africans, now known as Blacks or African-Americans.
The history of the U.S. as a nation and its educational system is unique, and such contextual nuances play out in higher education.
I have been a professor in higher education for over 20 years at four universities (public, private, semi-private). My goal has been to desegregate education at all levels. Reflecting upon these decades, I am sad and disheartened to say that progress seems limited and inadequate regarding the representation of Black students in predominantly White colleges and universities.
Yes, I see more minorities on campuses, but they are mainly immigrants.
I fail to witness diversity increasing with Black students and with some Hispanic students who are U.S. born. I see universities boasting of increased student diversity but using their immigrant student population to feed this image of higher education supporting and epitomizing the American dream. This is a visual and statistical smokescreen. Just disaggregate the numbers or percentages, and we are less racially diverse in higher education than espoused when immigrants are removed.
It has been my experience that higher education’s notion of diversity is often very broad or even diluted to include a multitude of differences—gender, religion, age, sexual orientation, nationality and more—that are important, but often ignore race and ethnicity.
