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Rethinking, prioritizing diversity yields results

By Laura Fitzgerald, For The Miami Student

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In recent years, Miami's administration has shown a heightened attention to diversity.

"Our overall multicultural population keeps climbing and that's the trajectory that we want to be in," said Ron Scott, Associate Vice President for Institutional Diversity.

The number of first-year domestic minority students in each enrolling class has increased by 59 percent since 2006, from 8.2 percent to 13 percent in 2014, according to Senior Associate Director of Admissions Kathleen Pruckno.

The overall percentage of undergraduate domestic ethnic minority students has also increased, from 8.6 percent in 2004 to 11.9 percent in 2014, according to data from the Office of Institutional Research.

Scott said Miami has the potential to increase its diversity even further.

"Our numbers are what our numbers are. They're not as high as we want them to be … but our target is to increase them," Scott said. "The acknowledgment is Miami has not always done a good job, but that's what the past was. Where we are right now is different."

Miami runs several recruiting programs to attract an ever more diverse student body.

Introduced in 2007, one of the most successful programs is the Bridges Program, which invites prospective minority students and students committed to diversity to come for an overnight visit.

Of the nearly 450 Bridges students admitted for fall 2014, about half are now enrolled, Pruckno said.

The Office of Admissions also runs other programs to recruit diverse students, such as Day of Champions, in which prospective students take a campus tour, conduct a faculty/student panel and attend a basketball game. Admissions also runs a recruiting event called Future Redhawk Overnight.

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The Office of Admissions uses other strategies to recruit students, such as media, partnerships with various communities, high school visits and college fairs, Pruckno said.

"We are continually seeking, developing and assessing strategies and initiatives that allow us to maximize our resources to recruit diverse students," Pruckno said.

She also said increasing Miami's diversity has been a university-wide effort, with faculty and staff participating across all departments.

"That's been the push in the last couple of years, is asking the deans and the colleges to take a more active role in recruitment," Scott said.

Pruckno said Miami has also reached out to more racially diverse high schools in recent years, in hopes of attracting underrepresented students.

The largest minority growth has been in the Hispanic/Latino population, which reflects national trends, Pruckno said.

The percentage of undergraduate Hispanic/Latino students has doubled in the last 10 years, from 1.7 percent in 2004 to 3.4 percent in 2014, according to data from the Office of Institutional Research.

Another area of growth is the percent of students who identify themselves as multi-racial. The category first became an option in 2010, in which only .8 percent of students identified themselves as such. This increased to 3.3 percent in 2014.

The African American student population has remained relatively constant, hovering above 3 percent for the past 10 years.

Despite all the university's efforts to increase diversity, some students, like Taylor Edwards, an African American first-year, still think Miami lacks diversity.

"Yes, there is a lack of racial diversity," Edwards said. "The fact that I can be the only black person in class for most of my classes kind of screams that there is a lack of racial diversity."

And Miami's reputation as a homogenous campus can deter some prospective minority students, Edwards said.

"It's pretty intimidating, I mean I'm used to diversity and I knew what to expect when I came here," Edwards said. "Still, it's kinda difficult walking around campus and not seeing people who look like you."

Edwards hosted Bridges students because she said she wanted to help recruit diverse students.

"I wanted them to come here, I want them to see that it's OK, that there're going to be safe, and help Miami get diverse," Edwards said.

Other students take a more optimistic view of diversity at Miami. As an Asian-American student, first-year Matt Kline said the reputation for a lack of diversity at Miami did not deter him.

"There is diversity on campus … It's not as evident as other campuses, but you just have to look for it," Kline said.