Facing Criticism, Middlebur Continues to Strive for Diversity

Author: Charlie Goulding

The history of racial discrimination and prejudice in the United States dates back almost as far as the history of the nation itself. Despite the fact that slavery had been formally abolished in 1865, a tradition of racial discrimination and hatred continued to pervade much of the country well into the 1960s. To some, it had become abundantly clear by this time that the war against racial discrimination needed to be taken to the next level - a simple declaration of equality did little to combat the myriad manifestations of hate and prejudice that permeated the nation and divided its people.
President Lyndon B. Johnson's commencement speech at Howard University encapsulated these sentiments when he stated, "You do not wipe away the scars of centuries by saying, 'Now, you are free to go where you want, do as you desire, and choose the leaders you please.' You do not take a man who for years has been hobbled by chains, liberate him, bring him to the starting line of a race, saying, 'You are free to compete with all the others,' and still justly believe you have been completely fair . . . This is the next and more profound stage of the battle for civil rights. We seek not just freedom but opportunity - not just legal equity but human ability - not just equality as a right and a theory, but equality as a fact and as a result."
It is within this political and cultural milieu that President John F. Kennedy first used the term "affirmative action" in 1961. In Executive Order 10925, Kennedy announced the creation of the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity and mandated that projects financed with federal funds "take affirmative action" to ensure that hiring and employment practices were free of racial bias.
In 1964, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, one of the most influential ordinances in American history, prohibiting discrimination of any kind based on one's race, religion or ethnicity. In Executive Order 11246 of the following year, Johnson enforced affirmative action for the first time, stipulating that government contractors must "take affirmative action toward prospective minority employees in all aspects of hiring."
In 1978, the Supreme Court ruling of Bakke v. University of California addressed education - the second focal point of affirmative action. This landmark case featured Alan Bakke, a white student who had been rejected twice from the University of California at Davis Medical School. The University, which only accepted 100 students each year, maintained a rigid minority quota of 16 students per class. Davis, whose test scores far surpassed many of those let in due to their minority status, argued that the University's admissions policies violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the inflexible quota maintained by the University was unconstitutional, though it affirmed the notion that race was a legitimate factor with respect to admissions. Later, in Fullilove v. Klutznick, the use of more elastic quotas was approved by the same court.
As affirmative action solidified itself legislatively and judicially, Americans began to polarize on the issue. Conservatives argued that affirmative action gave unjust preference to minorities, providing them with a "free ride" in a social system that should reflect a meritocracy. Liberals, on the other hand, called attention to the undeniable strides in occupational and educational diversity facilitated by affirmative action.
Recently, the political tide has turned with regard to affirmative action. Proposition 209 outlawed discrimination of any kind within California's public school system in 1997, and the state of Washington soon followed suit. Even more recently, President Bush weighed in on the pending Supreme Court case concerning the University of Michigan by filing a friend of the court briefing which opposed the use of race-based discriminatory quotas.

The Middlebury Angle

This news has prompted a deluge of heated dialogue at the College and nationwide, compelling an inquiry into the history of affirmative action within the College, and the role diversity continues to play at Middlebury's admissions process.
Within the past five years, two key developments have molded Middlebury's admissions policy with respect to diversity into its current form: the first is a report submitted by the Human Relations Subcommittee on Middlebury College Diversity, published in 1999. The second is a written statement made by the College's Board of Trustees subsequent to the report affirming Middlebury's commitment to diversity.
The admissions section of the Human Relations report begins with the following quote: "There are the Middlebury students, and then there's me." The quote is intended to epitomize the prevailing sentiment felt by minority students at Middlebury at the time of the report. It goes on to say, "While it is true that the College can implement programs aimed at changing behavior and attitudes of students once they arrive on campus, much can also be done in admissions to recruit more students from diverse backgrounds and to admit more students who through the admissions process demonstrate openness and tolerance of human differences."
Along with criticizing how the College had remained "mostly white," the report included three recommendations for improvement within the admissions department: 1) "continue to diversify recruitment across national, international and socio-economic classes;" 2) "develop recruitment materials with language and photographs that are welcoming of diversity;" and 3) "attract and retain professional staff of color [within the Admissions Office itself]."
In direct response to the findings of the report, the Board of Trustees drafted a statement affirming the College's dedication to diversity. In paragraph three it reads, "The report of the Human Relations Committee offers specific ways in which we, as a campus community and an extended family, can broaden the limited reach of our own understanding... We mean to ensure, by word and by example as Trustees of this institution, that all those who seek association with Middlebury College will be expected to bring to that association a mind free from prejudice and a willingness to engage in diversity in all its forms." While the statement makes no mention of "affirmative action," its sentiment, and the climate of change from which it emerged, parallel President Johnson's commencement speech in the midst of the Civil Rights era.

Telling Statistics

Statistics show that the College did indeed respond to the Committee's report by word and example. The incoming class at the time of the report - the Class of 2002 - boasted the highest level of diversity to date. The racial breakdown was as follows: African American: 15; Latino: 39; Asian American 32; Native American: 5; total domestic students of color: 91.
These numbers reflected a concerted effort on the College's part to expand recruitment efforts as well as to develop recruitment materials that welcome diversity. "We have the entire country divided up into regions," noted John Hanson, director of admissions, "with each Middlebury representative assigned to a particular region." Hanson went on to say, "There are schools from which we know we'll receive a number of applications each year, and there are others from which a student may be applying for the first time in five years, maybe even ever. Over time, our representatives develop relationships - very genuine ones - with the schools in their regions. Part of their job is to constantly seek out the underprivileged schools and to develop meaningful relationships with them."
In an article published in The Middlebury Campus written by Hanson entitled "Diversity at Middlebury: An Admissions Perspective" (Jan. 5, 2001) Hanson stated, "The Admissions Office mails information to several thousand secondary schools, visits more than one thousand schools annua
lly, and makes special outreach efforts for international, inner city and rural students." One such program takes students from DeWitt Clinton High School in New York City and also sends Middlebury students to DeWitt in order to participate in teaching internships there. "All admissions decisions are made on a 'need-blind' basis, and the Financial Aid Office carries out the College's commitment to meet 100 percent of demonstrated need, thus making Middlebury affordable for any admitted student who wishes to enroll."
In response to speculation that affirmative action allows underqualified students to be admitted, Hanson responded, "Every student admitted to Middlebury has the ability to succeed and thrive at the College."
In the spring of 2000, the College established the Office of the Associate Provost for Institutional Diversity and appointed then Dean of the Faculty Roman Graf as Associate Provost. Graf was a member of the Human Relations Committee which submitted the report. Among the many duties of the Office for Institutional Diversity is to collaborate with other offices in order to ensure a diverse student body. In Graf's inauguration speech, he reiterated a key function of the Associate Provost delineated in the report: "This person will oversee the College's efforts to obtain a more diverse faculty, assist chairs in their recruitment efforts, identify and develop new sources from which to draw applicants." Hanson said of Graf, "He's been an invaluable addition to the College. The work he does in terms of promoting diversity both within our faculty and our student body is incredibly important."
Since the submission of the report, diversity at Middlebury, from a statistical perspective, has essentially plateaued. The racial breakdown of Middlebury's newest class - the class of 2006 - is as follows: African American: 19; Latino/Hispanic: 23; Native Americans: 12; Asian Americans: 46; total domestic students of color: 100 - a nine person increase from the Class of 2002.
The Admissions Office at Middlebury does not maintain a strict quota with respect to domestic diversity the way it does international diversity. The College ensures that 10 percent of each class contains students of international origin. Despite this lack of a fixed domestic number, each of the four current classes at Middlebury contains between 19 and 21 percent students of color. This number, according to Hanson, exceeds that of the 17 percent average for colleges and universities nationwide.
Moreover, Hanson noted that while no college can ever be diverse enough, "I think the College right now truly embodies a marketplace for ideas."
With controversy swirling over the efficacy of affirmative action, and with the world in a constant state of turmoil, few deny the role diversity must play in keeping the College and the world educated and open-minded. "People like to say college isn't the 'real world.' I look around and I see students here from all over the globe, and from every race, interacting, working together, and I think how this place is more 'real' than anywhere else," said Steve Abbott, Co-faculty Head of Ross Commons.
"It's got to be diversity," Hanson concluded.