Smaller, largely historically White colleges got a wake-up call when they found their easygoing, liberal-minded students lined up chanting “Black Lives Matter” and vehemently demanding inclusion and justice for all.
As a professor who has been working in one of these colleges with dedicated peers and community partners to achieve just this for 14 years, this was no surprise at all to me. I have seen students mobilize before to draw attention to issues of injustice, marginalization and exclusion, with little change resulting. For those seeking such change, the underlying dissatisfaction remains.
But both the new backdrop of demographic shifts and the increased intensity and more widespread nature of recent student protests made me think about the special advantages and disadvantages that small colleges face in climbing this mountain of achieving diversity on campus as part of an effort to achieving inclusive excellence.
First, the advantages. On small college campuses, a rapid response program is easier to implement for changes such as “inclusion training for all;” peer pressure is strong — if professors and students come on board they can more quickly sway others to join their view; and even a small rise in the number of students of color, for example, is noticed, which helps attract more. In addition, acting with alacrity, small liberal arts colleges can educate and train faculty and staff so that they become effective partners in the effort to change the makeup and the focus of their campuses.
Most importantly, any additional students, faculty members or administrators from historically marginalized groups based on race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation have the potential to make a significant difference in the quality and focus of the education offered by these nimble institutions.
As for the disadvantages: many small colleges are private and highly dependent on student tuition, which often drives recruitment, and that then determines the makeup of the student body. This can make recruitment of socioeconomically disadvantaged students more of a challenge, as recruiting them is more difficult to rationalize in terms of the financial bottom line.
At the same time, the academically best-performing students of color are in high demand from competitor colleges — some of whom have far heftier financial aid budgets. However, these students are more likely to bring much-needed diversity, thus small liberal arts colleges should employ creative and innovative approaches, including joining forces with similar institutions to raise money and create scholarship opportunities.
