Bridging the Gap
Increasing Miami's Ethnic Diversity
Mel Matzker
Issue date: 12/12/09 Section: Scene
There are many things for students to take pride in on Miami's campus - the university's reputable academics, the hockey team's success, the striking consistency of brick - but vast diversity certainly isn't one of them.
The Princeton Review's 2009 ranking of Miami as second for "little race / class interaction" and fourth for "most homogenous population" may leave students feeling a bit embarrassed. Most people joke about the lack of diversity on campus - the overabundance of brands like North Face, Sperry, Lacoste and Ralph Lauren - but these national rankings are staggering to the point where they can't simply be ignored anymore.
To fix this, the university created a diversity initiative program called Bridges, which took place this year in two separate sessions on Oct. 25-26 and Nov. 1-2. Bridges provides round-trip bus transportation to "high-achieving underrepresented" high school seniors from Akron, Cleveland, Toledo, Chillicothe, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Hamilton and Middletown.
The program was created in the early 1990s by Wayne Dancie, a member of Miami's black alumni advisory council, in conjunction with the office of diversity affairs to increase the number of students of color on Miami's campus, says Jonika Moore-Diggs, assistant director of outreach and multicultural recruitment for the office of admission.
This program was certainly called for, especially after College Prowler, a Web site which defines itself as "unbiased college reviews written by students, for students," gave Miami's diversity a D-. It did however award Miami B+'s in campus dining, facilities, offcampus housing, athletics and the drug scene.
As of 2007, the percentage of Miami's undergraduate ethnic diversity on campus was just 8.5, further confirming the need for the Bridges program. Ohio's other state campuses average double Miami's oncampus ethnic diversity at 17 percent.
Bridges program heads define diversity as more than racial / ethnic diversity, also including socioeconomic, ideological, religious and geographic diversity, as well as first generation college students, Moore-Diggs says.
Students in the program can be recognized around campus by their matching "Bridges" backpacks.
According to the university's Web site, Bridges is an all-expense paid (meals, lodging, entertainment, etc.) overnight program complete with a campus tour, Miami student support panel, academic opportunities fair, performances by various a cappella groups, a speech from President David Hodge and more.
"A lot of (visiting students) really enjoy it, especially when they get to walk around and see the campus," says Lauren McBride, who participated in Bridges as a high school student and now conducts tours for the program. "For some of them it's a chance to experience something they've never done before."
She thinks most students like the tour.
"One student absolutely loved the Shriver Center," McBride says. "He told me four times, before we even went on the tour."
High school students enrolled in the program stay overnight with Miami students, called "hosts," who live in on-campus housing and offer to volunteer.
"They really like that they're staying with college students," McBride says. "They use that to their advantage to talk to the students about their personal experiences and get insight. They're more likely to trust them than admissions counselors."
Once students have successfully completed the program they are granted an application fee waiver when applying for admission. If accepted, participants receive a $4,000 four-year renewable merit scholarship.
"The Bridges program was a very positive experience, but it's a little bit different now," McBride says about her time in the program. "When I did it, it was a lot smaller. It's grown over the past few years. They didn't have the scholarship and the program's expanding to a lot more cities."
Still, McBride says she loved the program.
"It was one of the reasons I decided to come to Miami," she says.
Encouragingly, the number of participants in the program has increased each year.
In 2007, 95 students participated. That went up to 206 in 2008 and 284 during 2009's two sessions, Moore-Diggs says.
In terms of the program's diversity initiative, it seems to be truly effective.
"I am proud to say, with the university-wide efforts, the fall 2009 class was the most ethnically diverse (at 12 percent) in Miami's history," Moore-Diggs says.
The Princeton Review's 2009 ranking of Miami as second for "little race / class interaction" and fourth for "most homogenous population" may leave students feeling a bit embarrassed. Most people joke about the lack of diversity on campus - the overabundance of brands like North Face, Sperry, Lacoste and Ralph Lauren - but these national rankings are staggering to the point where they can't simply be ignored anymore.
To fix this, the university created a diversity initiative program called Bridges, which took place this year in two separate sessions on Oct. 25-26 and Nov. 1-2. Bridges provides round-trip bus transportation to "high-achieving underrepresented" high school seniors from Akron, Cleveland, Toledo, Chillicothe, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Hamilton and Middletown.
The program was created in the early 1990s by Wayne Dancie, a member of Miami's black alumni advisory council, in conjunction with the office of diversity affairs to increase the number of students of color on Miami's campus, says Jonika Moore-Diggs, assistant director of outreach and multicultural recruitment for the office of admission.
This program was certainly called for, especially after College Prowler, a Web site which defines itself as "unbiased college reviews written by students, for students," gave Miami's diversity a D-. It did however award Miami B+'s in campus dining, facilities, offcampus housing, athletics and the drug scene.
As of 2007, the percentage of Miami's undergraduate ethnic diversity on campus was just 8.5, further confirming the need for the Bridges program. Ohio's other state campuses average double Miami's oncampus ethnic diversity at 17 percent.
Bridges program heads define diversity as more than racial / ethnic diversity, also including socioeconomic, ideological, religious and geographic diversity, as well as first generation college students, Moore-Diggs says.
Students in the program can be recognized around campus by their matching "Bridges" backpacks.
According to the university's Web site, Bridges is an all-expense paid (meals, lodging, entertainment, etc.) overnight program complete with a campus tour, Miami student support panel, academic opportunities fair, performances by various a cappella groups, a speech from President David Hodge and more.
"A lot of (visiting students) really enjoy it, especially when they get to walk around and see the campus," says Lauren McBride, who participated in Bridges as a high school student and now conducts tours for the program. "For some of them it's a chance to experience something they've never done before."
She thinks most students like the tour.
"One student absolutely loved the Shriver Center," McBride says. "He told me four times, before we even went on the tour."
High school students enrolled in the program stay overnight with Miami students, called "hosts," who live in on-campus housing and offer to volunteer.
"They really like that they're staying with college students," McBride says. "They use that to their advantage to talk to the students about their personal experiences and get insight. They're more likely to trust them than admissions counselors."
Once students have successfully completed the program they are granted an application fee waiver when applying for admission. If accepted, participants receive a $4,000 four-year renewable merit scholarship.
"The Bridges program was a very positive experience, but it's a little bit different now," McBride says about her time in the program. "When I did it, it was a lot smaller. It's grown over the past few years. They didn't have the scholarship and the program's expanding to a lot more cities."
Still, McBride says she loved the program.
"It was one of the reasons I decided to come to Miami," she says.
Encouragingly, the number of participants in the program has increased each year.
In 2007, 95 students participated. That went up to 206 in 2008 and 284 during 2009's two sessions, Moore-Diggs says.
In terms of the program's diversity initiative, it seems to be truly effective.
"I am proud to say, with the university-wide efforts, the fall 2009 class was the most ethnically diverse (at 12 percent) in Miami's history," Moore-Diggs says.
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