MARY WISNIEWSKI
Assistant Living Editor
Like all students, Cathy Vu can be defined by her class (senior), her major (business), or her age (22). But, unlike most other students at Pepperdine, Vu is from Vietnam, making her stand out in a predominately Caucasian school.
Although she is an international student, Vu said she does not feel strange about it because she attended high school in Houston, Texas and already transitioned into the American culture.
“In general, I feel very happy with Pepperdine,” Vu said. “I think the school is doing its best, and I appreciate its efforts to diversify the community.”
Part of its best efforts is a result of Pepperdine’s International Affairs Office, which hosted the Annual Summit on Diversity on Jan. 19-20 at the Warner Center Marriott. Forty students attended.
Workshop and Conference manager of the Intercultural Affairs Office Nikhil Jacob said the diversity conference is like a retreat with various workshops and discussions that address a wide range of diversity issues.
“The workshops aren’t just limited to race,” Jacob said. “We are diverse in so many more ways.”
One such workshop dealt with differences in socio-economics where people role-played various economic statuses.
“It was a neat experience to witness truth and injustice, within the simulation” Jacob said.
Seeing others point of view is important at a school whose students come from varied backgrounds. According to the Seaver College Student Ethnic Group Report as of the fifth week of Fall 2006, Caucasians comprised 60.87 percent of the undergraduate student body. The rest: Hispanics, 9.74 percent; Asian, 9.67 percent; African American, 8.25 percent; International, 6.56 percent; Unknown 3.08 percent; and 1.83 percent Native American.
Although mostly Caucasian, this isn’t so different from Loyola Marymount University. According to Princeton Review, the college is composed of 56 percent Caucasians; but, the University of Southern California is composed of less Caucasians at only 46 percent.
Because USC is larger too, it can offer more classes that are unique like African American Art as well as Exploring Ethnicity through Film. USC also boasts a litany of cultural groups like Armenian Students’ Association and the South Asian Forum to make minority voices heard. Of course, diversity isn’t limited to just large schools.
LMU works toward greater diversity too through its Intercultural Committee that explores diversity on campus. Last Wednesday, Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel addressed hate. To further cultivate awareness, students wore armbands that read “LMU: No room for hate.”
Director of Equal Opportunity Larisa Hamada said Pepperdine’s diversity compares fairly well to other private, Christian colleges but still has a long ways to go when compared to USC that has the numbers, endowment and a diverse neighborhood that contribute to its diversity.
“We still need to improve,” Hamada said.
An area of improvement is integrating various groups together. Vu said she thinks the different ethnic groups do not always interact for on-campus activities.
“Pepperdine student life is still kind of segregated,” Vu said.
To help remedy the separation, Vu said she would like to have an International Greek group like other major universities possess.
“The majority of student activities are surrounded by Greek groups, so if they have that then maybe it will help international students to really get involved [with the activities],” Vu said.
Jacob sees some of this separation and said the international students tend to stick together because of similar cultures, languages and experiences, whereas groups like fraternities and athletes hang out together because their activities are done together.
To deal with diversity issues, Pepperdine has two councils comprised of faculty and staff that discuss ways to improve. Additionally, Hamada said various clubs try to bridge diversity gaps. She said BSU hosts barbeques that are open to everyone, and in the past, Intercultural Affairs sponsored dinners for Seaver leaders and international students as a way to get to know each other.
Besides integration, colleges must also recruit.
Vu said the Office of International Student Services does a good job of recruiting and even sends people around the world to find students. Despite recruiting efforts, people with diverse backgrounds don’t always want to come to Pepperdine. Senior Ali McCourt said Pepperdine’s location is a factor in its lack of diversity.
“You are in Malibu,” McCourt said. “Talk about no diversification.”
McCourt is Caucasian but said she realizes diversification is fairly important because it exposes people to a lot of things they aren’t used too and personally hangs out with people from all different cultures.
“Diversity breeds awareness,” McCourt said. “You can learn a lot. Diversity is not so much educational learning as life experiences.”
Vu concurs and said a diverse body is the best way to learn.
“You learn how cultures are and how people think a certain way,” she said.
Student diversity is not all that is important. After all, the lack of diversity on campus is not limited to simply students — most professors here are Caucasian too.
Currently, the ethnic breakdown for full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty is 87 percent Caucasian, 4 percent Latino/Hispanic, 4 percent Asian/Pacific Islander, 4 percent African and 1 percent Native American.
Vu said the professors should be more diverse.
“Diversifying the staff should be on the agenda,” Vu said. “They could make minority students feel more comfortable.”
Vu said she believes the lack of diverse professors is not intentional but is happening all the same, and believes in the necessity of a diverse body of professors.
“What they teach is what students receive,” Vu said. “A diverse faculty is beneficial to the
community.”
02-D1-2007