Universities and higher-education institutes all across the country have made great strides in increasing inclusivity and diversity. Some campuses, like ours at Sonoma State, have elected to create certain learning communities designed to house students of a similar culture so that these students can feel comfortable and welcome. Other universities have created specialized certification programs, like the President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program Initiative offered in the University of California system, which serves to support women and minorities with their doctoral degrees.

Still, plenty of problems regarding diversity within university systems persist. Some universities, in an effort to forcibly create diversity at their school, have been found guilty of turning away perfectly strong applicants in favor of applicants who could potentially boost that university’s reputation. For example, Ivy League schools like Harvard and Cornell have been proven to admit Asian-American applicants at rates inconsistent with the total number of Asian-American applicants, suggesting strongly that admissions offices at those institutions are seeking out applicants whose presence might diversify the campus population, according to the Asian American Coalition for Education.

With this in mind, we have to look at SSU and acknowledge that the university seems to be doing its best to invite diversity without discriminating against applicants in order to force it. No evidence to suggest that SSU uses race to give advantages or disadvantages to applicants exists, and according to CollegeFactual.com, SSU actually ranks as “more diverse” and “above average” for diversity compared to the national average for universities.

However, diversity is hard to measure. Looking at charts online of racial-ethno demographics at SSU, you find that the student population is approximately 56% people of color and 44% white students, give or take a few percentage points. This is what sites like CollegeFactual.com, CollegeSimply.com, DataUSA.io, and UnivStats.com will show you.

Looking around SSU, though, the campus does not appear to be as diverse as online calculators claim it is. This could be because people inherently have intersecting identities, and university applications often limit a person to define themselves by just one cultural identity. This is not wrong, but it may cause misleading statistics when new applicants are looking to apply to SSU and think that they will have a larger cultural community to belong to than they actually will. 

It can also be misleading when college campuses use promotional imagery that misrepresents the true population of the campus. Colleges know that students will seek out communities of culturally-similar students, so they aim to give the impression that they have a far more diverse campus than they actually do.

You might notice that advertisements, signs, and flags around SSU very prominently feature a higher percentage of people of color than campus has in reality. While it is absolutely vital to have representation, it is also important to maintain a balance between showcasing a diverse, welcoming community, and using people of color as an advertising tool to draw in more applicants. There is a fine line between representation and over-advertising diversity, and SSU, as well as most other universities, are edging closer to it. 

The best thing we can do to encourage true diversity on campus, rather than diversity for the sake of advertising, is to continue supporting campus organizations and events designed to create a safe space for people of any identity and culture. The Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion at SSU has many branches that serve to promote inclusion, support minorities, and offer educational programs.

There are many cultural clubs and organizations for students too, including but not limited to the Black Student Union, MEChA de Sonoma, the Multicultural Sorority and Fraternity Council, the Womxn of Color Collective, Native American Progressive Students, and more. You can find a comprehensive list under “Student Spaces” on the website for the Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion. By supporting the efforts of these organizations, we can help SSU continue to grow as an inclusive, welcoming institution for everyone.