Diversity at Tulane

kreativekat
Thu, 21 Mar 2013 19:26:25 +0000

It is a little less than eight years since Tulane was faced with closing for a semester to deal with the ramifications of Hurricane Katrina, not knowing at that point in time if students would return or stay at the institutions that had been charitable enough to take them in. It was during this same time period that the word Diversity has become the biggest buzz word in College Admissions. If Tulane is not as diverse as many would like for it to be, I think we should cut them a little slack. They were busy rebuilding the student body and trying to attract students to a school located in a city that was devastated and certainly not going to be “back to normal” overnight. They weren’t in a position to worry about diversity. The focus has seemed to be to get the most qualified students regardless of color, but even more importantly, students that were INTERESTED in coming to Tulane and being part of that rebuilding process. Recently, I have noticed that the accepted students seem to be coming from a wider variety of backgrounds. And I think Tulane has made a real effort to develop it’s multicultural organization which is very visible on campus. And as others have pointed out, the geographical diversity of Tulane is pretty incredible. Diversity is about more than skin color. It is about being exposed to those with different life experiences. You can’t always SEE diversity. I think it’s only fair to look at Tulane in the context of history and recognize that survival had to be the first priority. I think there is definite movement in the direction of diversity, but the student population will not change overnight. The only way it will change is if those admitted students who would add to the diversity commit to Tulane. From what I can tell, there have been plenty of invitations offered.