I am not saying Tulane cannot and/or should not improve diversity. But I strongly disagree with the statement that the numbers speak for themselves. I find that is rarely the case. What’s that old saying? Lies, damn lies, and statistics? Of course while funny, it is an exaggeration, but does speak to the fact that one often has to be very careful that the numbers are capturing the entire story. Speaking of not telling the whole story, where is the discussion regarding LGBTQ issues in all of this. I think one has to admit that keeping up with all the issues of what constitutes diversity is no easy task. Of course the easiest thing to do to appease perceptions is just to pass the “eye test” for visitors. Still I have to say, 20 kids a class for Posse would be more than 1%, which is significant since we are dealing with single digit percentages to begin with. I don’t know that is right about Pell Grants to each of them, it might be or might not.
Average loan amount for Tulane students on graduation is right around $30,000 last number I saw, so maybe now it is slightly higher like $32,000. But not $40,000. If I am reading the CDS right it looks $32,000 is about right, but I am finding it a bit confusing. But I saw a report on this 3 years ago and it was $28,000 and then last year a similar table to an article quoted it as just over $30,000. So essentially we are talking about maximizing Federal loans, on average. Tulane meets 95% of need on average.
We can argue stats until the end of time. I go back to my statement earlier that if the point of diversity is to expose students to a different reality than what they have been brought up perceiving, then Tulane does that at least as well as any school in the country. There are more ways to do that than increasing the percentage of people of color, LGBTQ people, and those of lower economic circumstances that are students. Again, I do think that is important and I hope President Fitts can lead the way to making that happen. But it doesn’t come close to telling the whole story, in Tulane’s case at least.