Out of all undergraduate students enrolled at the University of Georgia, 77 percent are defined as white, according to the UGA Fact Book 2010.
Out of more than 25,000 undergraduate students, around 20,000 were white, limiting the scope of diversity at the University.
“I thought there would be a lot more diversity here,” said Hemali Vin, a junior from Pittsburgh, Pen. studying Microbiology at UGA. “In my classes it’s overwhelmingly not diverse.”
Coming from a hometown like Pittsburg, Vin attended a high school where she could always find someone like her - of Indian decent - to talk to. Here in Athens, Vin cannot even attend a Hindu temple because the closest one is in Atlanta.
“I haven’t found a good religious outlet yet” said Vin. “It would be nice to be able to get students together.”
Although the majority of Vin’s classes put her in the minority, the Foundation Fellow excludes her honors classes from that bundle. “In the honors program it is smaller groups so you can find more diversity,” said Vin. Out of UGA’s expansive campus within a sub-culture such as honors more diversity is cultivated.
Vin is a member of the Foundation Fellowship, a program according to the honors website, that was founded by the University of Georgia’s Foundation’s trustees to offer “undergraduate scholarship, placing students in a community of similarly dedicated scholars, offering a stipend that approximates the cost of attendance, a post-first-year Maymester study abroad program, individual travel-study grants, group travel-study opportunities each spring, research and academic conference grants, dinner seminars with some of the university’s best minds, and a mentoring plan that matches Fellows with professors who share their interests.”
Vin cannot say exactly how it is the honors program creates such a community, but feels that the diversity in the school enhances communication and engagement since she can talk to a number of people regarding a multitude of cultures.
Aaron Marshburn, from Charlotte, North Carolina agrees with Vin’s sentiments. “The honors program is so diverse because they take people on merit and that’s recognizing a very fundamental thing about the ludicrousness of trying to draw distinctions,” said the international affairs and journalism double major with a minor in German. “When you take the best students, and the students who are open minded and want to challenge themselves academically, what you get is a naturally diverse crowd.” If all of UGA was set to the same standards as the honors college students, according to Marshburns theory, there could be an entirely different, less one-sided enrollment pool.
Like Vin, Marshburn is also a Foundation Fellow and cites the program as a platform for his interest in diversity, especially thanks to the international focus. But, being a Foundation Fellow is not the only way to experience diversity at UGA.
Tracy Yang, a senior from Macon, Ga., studying Anthropology, will begin pursuing a master’s degree in medical anthropology at Oxford University in September as a Rhodes Scholar. Yang, a Foundation Fellow, does feel that honors has created a space where a wide variety of students can be found.
But, Yang does not find diversity to be exclusive to honors. “I have mingled with a very diverse population,” said Yang about her classes.
Along with her classes, Yang has found diversity in her extra-curricular activities, namely her work with the Roosevelt Institute and as a mentor in Clarke County Mentor Program, working with a younger demographic of diversity.
“The Roosevelt Institute has helped me find a lot of diversity because it’s a think tank,” said Yang. “Think tanks are all about talking about ideas, discussing current events and trying to solve problems.” This brings students from a variety of backgrounds together, and for Yang who was a teaching assistant for the class, it has been a major source of diversity at UGA.
Vin and Marshburn both agree that UGA does have diversity, despite what the numbers may suggest. Programs such as the Indian Cultural Exchange or non-Panhallenic sororities and fraternities, along with a number of programs listed on UGA’s master calendar, provide the average student with a number of options to enhance their UGA experience by seeking out diversity.
According to Marshburn, UGA pushes for diversity such as bringing in more minorities from race to gender through their summer programs and the Governors Honors Program. It is up to the students to embrace these opportunities and incorporate them into their daily lives to truly create a diverse environment.
This diverse environment can be defined in a number of ways. “It just basically reflects recognition of the fact that people are different,” said Marshburn, adding that it is then up to the person to be open or close-minded about how they see other people. Marshburn said that they is room for everyone at UGA to work on “objectively evaluating things around them and approaching things they are not comfortable with,” and combat a potentially unconscious close-minded attitude.
Yang’s definition of a diverse environment would be one that “involves not just a variety of ethnicities and cultures, but also experiences and opinions… that bring them to be the unique people that they are currently.”
Marshburn may describe himself as the average American, but not every average “white guy” is interested in “bringing Americans in contact with the outside world” or being the only white member of the Asian American Journalism Association. Despite his diverse tastes, Marshburn is still able to feel comfortable in every place on UGA’s campus.
On the other hand, Vin said there was not a place where she felt uncomfortable, rather instances when she noticed that she was different. For example, UGA sporting events such as football games are overwhelmingly white. Also, in general, there is a lack of religious diversity.
Issues of diversity are so unlimited because the definition is so broad. Ethnic origin, gender, religion, sexual orientation, even political views are all characteristics that set people apart from each other. At UGA, it is easy to pinpoint the limited ethnic origin numbers as proven through statistics, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. Even within those ethnic origins are deeper issues of intercultural diversity such as religion or gender, etc. This brings an enormous opportunity for diversity to exist, but also makes it very easy to squander.
Vin said that when first coming to UGA, she felt hat there was not a lack of diversity and that feels that a lot of progress has been made since desegregation. “It’s really nice when you think about it,” said Vin commenting on the number of cultural events such as India Night and how these groups are well established. “It just may not be obvious from an outsider looking in on a first impression.”
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