In a January 14, 2016 post on the Black Girl Dangerous site, Chanelle Adams writes Why Calls for ‘Diversity’ On Campus Arent’t Enough. This post takes on the danger of campus diversity plans that focus on recruitment. My favorite quote is as follows:

This ‘just add and stir’ model for instant-diversity is flawed. It expects that once you add people of color, their flavor will dissolve into the bland white soup. But diversity does not work by some divine property of osmosis. And it certainly does not work when the effort comes from only one direction.

Adams focuses on retention and how people of color are positioned once they are on campus. It’s implied, but I think it’s worth bringing out that being a person of color doesn’t automatically mean that you are prepared for and/or interested in being a champion for diversity; there’s a basic fairness issue with assuming people of color not only want to be the cover photo for diversity but will automatically take leadership in addressing racial injustice.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

One thought on “Are Campus Diversity Plans the Answer?

Comments are closed.