The hiring of eight diverse professors is a part of an administrative effort to make the student and faculty body represent the world population, according to campus officials.
“I believe that having professors who can help our students understand what diversity has meant, and what diversity might mean in the future is among the most important tasks we can accomplish to prepare students for citizenship and for careers,” said Orin Grossman, academic vice president.
According to The Princeton Review, the Fairfield University student body is the fifth most homogenous in the nation. Last year the university was ranked tenth in the nation. Almost 90 percent of the student body is considered to be white.
“Diversity is important to students’ overall educational experiences,” said Terry Ann Jones, who currently teaches at the University of Miami and will join the department of international studies next fall. “However, if the student body is more or less homogeneous, diversity should be sought through the faculty, and courses that are taught, as it can certainly enrich a student’s education.”
Of the incoming freshmen this year, 7.9 percent of the 2008 class were AHANA students. When class of 2005 began, 14 percent of the class were AHANA students.
“Increasing diversity has been a priority of my tenure at Fairfield and a challenge that most institutions of higher education are facing,” said President Jeffrey von Arx.
Compared to other similar Jesuit colleges, Fairfield falls short in the number of AHANA students.
At Boston College, one out of every four, or 25.1 percent of the student population are AHANA students.
“The world is diverse,” said Mike Davis ’08. “If the school continues to be a snow globe, its graduates are going to leave here numb to the cultural differences that exist and it will be rough transition.”
According to Dean Timothy Law Snyder, there are a number of ways to make a more diverse Fairfield campus. One step is educating the faculty and administration on diversity. Snyder said that he personally visited each department and colleges on campus involved in a search.
“People tend to support the status quo through a lack of proactive education and engagement;” said Snyder, “through a belief system that is based on myth and rumor, rather than research and fact; through a will to support improvements, but a lack of will to make them; and, through classic forms of discrimination – including, for example, people tending to favor-and hire-persons most like themselves.”
According to Walter Petry, the current director of the Black Studies program, the search committee for his replacement agreed upon a certain selection procedure before the search began.
The Black Studies Search Committee selected five of the best applicants based upon their suitability for the position. No candidates were asked about their backgrounds or ethnicities. The dossiers were submitted for commentary to chairs of faculty. The BSSC then reviewed and selected the candidates who would visit Fairfield for interviews, said Petry.
All the candidates went through the same selection process, according to Petry.
The BSSC than submitted its recommendations to the dean.
“I think that diversity on campus is very important because it is through meeting people of other cultures and backgrounds that we can best understand them and hopefully acceptance will follow understanding,” said Linda Davidow ’05.
One new hire, Renee White, who currently teaches at Central Connecticut State University and will teach sociology and Black Studies at Fairfield next fall, asked what diversity meant in the context of a typical student’s daily life during her interview.
“While we cannot represent every single ‘underrepresented’ group, we can at least recognize that they exist,” she said. “Without such a strategy, we all face the risk of becoming so myopic in our world view that our engagement in the ‘real world’ becomes unrealistic and less meaningful.”
“Diversity is, or should be a part of the reality of life in the United States or elsewhere, as is particularly the case in this age of globalization,” said Jones.
The university hired 11 new faculty members all together. Four additional searches are still pending. Since ethnicities and backgrounds are not asked for, Dean Snyder said he could not confirm them. But candidates were considered the best for their positions, according to Snyder.
“I think it’s important for Fairfield to have diversity because college prepares you for the world, and the world is diverse,” said Tim O’Connor ’05. “I think that any attempt by the administration to make us more well rounded people is a good idea.”
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