When University President Fr. Jeffrey von Arx revealed his strategic plan for the University in 2005, he included an important statement about diversity. He created multiple programs to encourage diversity across campus and emphasized that diversity was more than just about race, but also about financial situations. With the addition of the Bridgeport Tuition Plan, Fairfield moved closer to its goal of becoming more diverse.
But Fairfield still has a long way to go and it is clear that both inside and outside of the University the appearance that diversity has not grown remains strong.
The Princeton Review ranked Fairfield as No. 1 in its category for Little Race/Class Interaction, a distinction that the University will clearly not be promoting on its Web site.
While diversity has increased, many students who come from diverse backgrounds, both of low-income or non-Caucasian nature, seem to remain segregated from the remainder of the community. The creation of so-called diverse dorms in 2008, created a controversy as some who joined the dorm realized they were only with those considered to be diverse, in essence Hispanic or black, instead of a dorm including all students sharing their diverse backgrounds.
What few people realize is that everyone is diverse. All Fairfield students come from a background that is not completely alike to another students. While the majority of students are white, Catholic and upper middle class, everyone has something about them that they can share with others. The University must invite those students to share their diverse pasts with each other, and not worry so much about making sure that those diverse people that bring up the University’s statistics stick together.
It is also up to the students of the University to spend time working with each other to improve the relations between races on campus. A recent Facebook group was created by a sophomore student, Kenni Nwajagu, called “The Fight Against Racism at Fairfield.” Nwajagu writes in the group that he was inspired to start it after hearing a story about a black student who was told by a white student to go drink at a “colored fountain,” that is “in the back.”
While the story may or may not be true, it shows that racist feelings are still felt on campus. With a black president in the White House and years after the Civil Rights Movement, it is astonishing that the very rumor of the story occurring exists.
Fairfield is a school that has earned praise for its Bridgeport Tuition Program and one that has surely made strives to improve diversity as a whole on campus. But there is still a long road ahead.
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