Diversity

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Richmond
1

<p>First off, I'll provide some statistics, which you may or may not already be aware of. 13% of our students are American students of color, 7-8% are international, and 15% choose not to report ethnicity. 15% of first-year students are members of the first generation in their family to attend college. 9% of first-year students speak English as their second language. Students represent a wide variety of international faith traditions. There are 17 campus religious organizations. </p>

<p>The University's website states: "The University of Richmond strives to create a climate of inclusive diversity where the open discussion of different opinions is sought and valued, and where individuals of every race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, religion, ability, and socioeconomic status are heard, understood, and respected for who they are, without pressure to conform." </p>

<p>Diversity can be defined in many ways. You brought up minorities, which would fall under racial/ethnic diversity. I would say that for a school of our size, we have a reasonable representation of different minority and ethnic groups. I have not visited many other campuses, and so I cannot compare, but I would say our campus is diverse in terms of different minorities and ethnicities. </p>

<p>There are so many different student organizations and they allow for collaboration among students. Such groups may include African Students Alliance, Asian Student Union, Black Student Alliance, Spanish and Latino Student Alliance, etc. In terms of addressing whether the minority groups are "highly visible," I believe that is a matter of personal perception that I cannot address. But as I noted prior, I believe we are well represented in terms of our minority and ethnic groups on campus. </p>

<p>Geographically, there is no questioning the diversity on campus. Students come from 46 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and 71 countries. Socioeconomically with the need blind admission process, we strive to have students of all different economic standings. If you have not already visited our campus, I encourage you to do so and see the campus first hand for yourself! </p>

<p>Extract from Jeff Kent, Admissions Rep '09, Facebook Group Richmond Class of 2013</p>

2

<p>Ok just one quick question,</p>

<p>I’ve been comparing my remaining choices, and would just like to ask for a response to the biggest criticism of Richmond, because it was disputed in several different places.</p>

<p>Basically, the only criticism of Richmond is that it’s 80% white, super-Republican, rich kids who all belong to fraternities and that it requires a car to do anything fun off the campus. I did find several arguments against that argument, made mostly by Richmond’s administration, but I figured I’d throw it to you guys and ask for your response.</p>

<p>:) I hope it’s not entirely like that, being a fairly liberal, middle class kid, who doesn’t own a car, and isn’t entirely sure he wants to join a fraternity.</p>

<p>Sell me.</p>

3

<p>In terms of being super-Republican on this campus, that is completely not true. There is a good mixture on the campus and more of our students do tend to be from states that are geographically considered liberal states. We do have student organizations concentrated on both the republican party and the democratic party. Obama, a democrat in his own right, did win the state of VA in the most recent presidential election. 28% of the men are in fraternities, in comparison to 48% of the women who are in sororities, so that is the breakdown with Greek life. The fact that we have second semester rush and absolutely no set residential housing for fraternities or sororities, makes it easy to be an independent. It is not a disadvantage. About 50% of students do have cars in addition to free shuttles that run downtown and to local malls, move theaters, supermarkets, etc on Thurs, Fri, and Sat. I would say that you need transportation to do anything off campus, unless you want to walk to one of the more expensive restaurants that are a walking distance away from our on-campus apartments. But the fact that so many students have cars, and the fact that we are aligned with both a free shuttle system and the public transportation system, makes it pretty easy to get off campus. In terms of socioeconomic standing, when comparing us to our main competitors, Wake Forest, Boston College, William and Mary, UVA, Villanova, etc, you will see a similar range of upper class and upper middle class students, but at the same time a good mixture of middle and lower class students.</p>

<p>I myself am not in a fraternity, I do not have a car on campus and when I return home during break I share a car with my brothers. I am from a more liberal state. Without question I have had great opportunities here and I do not regret coming here one bit. I was the first student from my high school to come here in probably over 10 years. Since coming here I rave about this school and try to get students from my hometown to apply here every year. </p>

<p>Hope that helps!</p>

<p>Extract from Jeff Kent, Admissions Rep '09, Facebook Group Richmond Class of 2013</p>

4

<p>This is alright, but can anybody elaborate on what nash18 asked a little bit more? Because I am exactly in the same position – liberal, middle class, no car, non-white. More specifically I’d like to know about the international student scenario. </p>

<p>Almost EVERYBODY I ask say the same old things – Don’t go. UR is primarily full of rich, white kids you’ll have trouble adjusting with. UR is my top choice school; I hope somebody comes up with good points I can use to refute this!</p>

5

<p>MCrue, my daughter will be attending in the fall. She is white, very liberal, middle class with no car. She currently attends a public high school which is very conservative and middle to upper class. She has learned how to swim upstream and be her own person. She has a tight group of friends who vary in their backgrounds and she gets along with everyone. She figures Richmond is a step in the right direction and she knows that you can find friends wherever you go. </p>

<p>I say you should come join her. If enough folks stop worrying about this and go to the school they like the best for the education that’s there, the overall environment will change.</p>

6

<p>MC, what specifically do you want to know about the “international student scenario?”</p>

7

<p>Sharon, I agree. That’s what i say to people. But i also understand it’s legitimate concern on their part, and frankly there ARE a couple of people i know who were miserable during freshmen year because of adjustment problems of this sort, so that’s what’s stalling me. </p>

<p>And Spiders05, I mean, what about international students in college? For me it will be like transferring in a completely different environment; i want to know how big and involved internationals are so i don’t feel like a fish out of water.</p>

8

<p>MC, a couple of my best friends were international (an Italian living in Mexico and an Eritrean) and I played rugby with a good number of internationals. There are a large number of internationals on campus and I felt as though for the most part, they were in one of two categories. The first group really seemed to stick with other internationals and typically didn’t take part in activities that didn’t involve the other internationals. The second group assimilated themselves more and perhaps extended their comfort zone a bit. With the first group, I found it hard to make friends with them, as they were a close-knit group, but the ones I got to know via rugby or general socialization were a lot of fun, and typically great people who had a lot of friends. </p>

<p>I think I would recommend trying to assimilate yourself at first, and step out of your comfort zone. It’s easy to stay with the people that are in the same boat as you, but how much will you grow from that, and how much will you affect other people? I would tell a UR student the same thing if they were to travel abroad – get to be friends with the locals, don’t just stay with the other Americans. </p>

<p>If you want, you can send me a private message and I can send you the email address of one of my good buddies so you can ask him about his thoughts on being an international at UR.</p>

9

<p>Hi MCrue, I suspect ALL of the freshman will feel somewhat like a fish out of water for a variety of reasons. Being an International may be your reason, but there will be lots of kids really wanting to meet people from different backgrounds…my daughter included.</p>

<p>As Sharonohio said…come join them:) Help change things!</p>

10

<p>Hello all—</p>

<p>I haven’t had time to comment on this thread yet. I apologize about that. I honestly believe that this stereotype about Richmond being all white, rich and republican is a real holdover from the 1980’s, when it was significantly more true. Today, while still majority white, it is much less so–in the middle 80’s about 95% of Richmond students were white whereas now it is closer to 80%. This is a significant change. Politically, the 80’s were the era of Ronald Reagan and our campus mirrored that. Today, students tend to be more liberal, and our campus mirrors that too. </p>

<p>This fall’s class is shaping up to be the most racially diverse in our history and we couldn’t be more pleased about that. Based on deposits received to date, just over 18% of the class will be non-white (compared to about 13% last year–this is US citizens only). Another 5% so far are international, and another significant group of students are from the first generation in their family to attend college (I knew that stat yesterday when I left the office, but it escapes me now). We’ve worked hard for a long time to increase the diversity of our applicant pool and this year it seems like we’ve also been more successful at convincing students who are different than our stereotype to choose us too! (In the past, many of those students were more likely to decline our offer of admission, but I really feel like we’ve had a significant breakthrough this year in this respect.) </p>

<p>So if you are among those students who may feel like you don’t meet the stereotype, but you like Richmond, please come ahead and be a part of the most diverse class in Richmond history and help us to change what the public believes about Richmond! It is a place with all kinds of students engaged together in the task of learning and growing and interacting with all kinds of students from all kinds of families from all over the world!</p>

11

<p>My daughter is white, liberal, not exactly rich and she loves it at UR. I hope, as URAdmissions proposes, this “white spoiled rich kid” stereotype is a leftover from days past when it was true. I like to think my daughter is helping to genuinely “enrich” the UR by making it more inclusive and less like the UR of decades past.</p>

12

<p>I have a few questions about diversity, but mine are more in regards to the LGBTQ (Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Questioning) community on campus.</p>

<p>I’ve been reading recent articles from The Collegian that say things like, “the GLTBQ community is one that often lives cloaked in shadows — invisible, silent, fearful of ridicule and largely fractured and divided,” (Petty & Larter, 2/19/2009). I was just wondering if this is true.</p>

<p>If anyone is willing to give their opinion on the student body’s overall attitude toward LGBTQ people/issues, I would REALLY appreciate it.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

13

<p>I feel like after all those issues were brought up in the Collegian some major awareness was brought to campus. Last month we had a huge event called Day of Silence that was advertised by hundreds of free t-shirts given out the week before saying “gay? fine by me” and on the actual day people wore the shirts, and didn’t speak to protest harassment of and violence against LGBTQ’s. Obviously a lot more people chose to wear the t-shirt than to go the full way and not talk, but it still was very eye opening. A lot of LGBTQ groups are re-forming, including the group who put on this event (their name escapes me - something about sexual alliance) and another group called Ice Breakers which is a more secretive group where people who are closeted can come to discuss their situations. Another new group has been formed called UR Men for Change, which is not totally devoted to this issue but will have a heavy focus on these type of issues on campus. This group is the male version of WILL, Women Involved in Living and Learning, which has a similar focus - again not focused on LGBTQ specifically but gender issues overall. I think overall alot of people have had their eyes opened to the issue because of the things in the Collegian and the responses that occurred on campus.</p>