By Julianna Clipson
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – With more than 23,000 undergraduate students and over 4,000 graduate students at the University of Arkansas. Seventy seven percent of those students are white. In a recent ranking released by Bestcollegereviews.org of the top 50 most ethnically inclusive colleges in America, Arkansas fell short. Not one university in the state of Arkansas made the list.
September 1st marked the beginning of Diversity and Inclusion Month nationwide and at the U of A. One student said even with the events and programs put on by the school, inclusion isn’t always a reality on campus.
“The interaction between groups we have here is kind of lacking.” Junior Apparel Major Sterling Smith said.
Smith continued saying, “I have classes with those people, but I don’t hang out with any of them and they have their own groups.”
Being a black student at a predominately white school, the U of A Junior said when he looks around his classrooms on campus it is not often for him to see someone who looks like he does. University of Arkansas Clinical Assistant Professor Niketa Reed said, “We say we are diverse and inclusive, but are we really? Are we giving grants to fund students from different backgrounds to be able to come here in the first place?”
Reed said the focus needs to be placed on allotting adequate resources to go towards the promotion of diversity and inclusion at the U of A.
“It’s a university. I mean by default it should we should be diverse right? We have all these different minds. We have all these different philosophies and theories and ideologies so let’s just start stepping outside of ourselves.” she continued.
When it comes to putting yourself out there to break down barriers Sterling Smith said, “Talk to somebody you haven’t spoken to before. Go out and just have conversations with different types of people.”