False promises from Middlebury College

Author: AUSTEN LEVIHN-COON '07

In the College brochures and magazines that are distributed to parents, alumni and prospective students there are a myriad of photographs that picture "diverse" students next to white ones. On other pages there are pictures of students with baskets full of fresh vegetables from the student-started, student-run organic garden. These are the reasons why you should be proud your child goes to Middlebury College, why you should send your child to Middlebury College, or why you should donate more money to Middlebury College.

But if you look around here on campus, you will see that we aren't really that diverse, or at least nowhere near the 1:1, minority: white ratio you would expect to see from thumbing through the brochures. I have even heard of photographers flagging down a non-white student on campus to try to feature him or her in a similar photograph, and when she said she was too busy, she was then asked if there were any "diverse students" on her hall whom they could photograph. Middlebury College we are mostly a liberal, rich, white school. I rarely hear a conservative opinion in my classes, even though I would greatly appreciate both sides to any issue. While the College would seem to think that skin color is the only important part of diversity judging by the photographs and brochures, socio-economic and geographic background are important components of diversity as well. Even though Middlebury College advertises a need-blind admission process, supposedly to attract a diverse socioeconomic student body, admissions officers have a very selective target audience, that mirrors rather closely our student body. They do this so that the College won't have to provide large amounts of financial aid to qualified low-income applicants, because then they would have to change the need-blind policy. Even the financial aid that is offered to lower-income students probably isn't enough to entice many of them away from local state schools that are incredibly cheaper than Middlebury College. A large portion of the students of color are not even a result of the financial aid office, but are international students or are on independent scholarships.

Just as Middlebury College does not support socio-economic, ideological or racial diversity as much as it boasts, neither does it actively support many student-led initiatives such as the Middlebury College organic garden. The organic garden, currently has land to utilize; however, it is lacking funding for the year-long garden advisor it needs in order to continue its success. If it is not endowed soon the garden will begin to struggle to survive. In addition to spending time securing funds to provide for their advisor, students running the garden have been forced to waste additional time each year searching for funds to cover the paid internships of the students who devote their summers to providing local organic food to the dining halls and local community, and to improving the garden. Students devoted to organic gardening, uniting the College on the Hill with the local community and providing the College's clearest connection to the agricultural heritage of the incredibly fertile Champlain Valley should not be spending the majority of their time fund raising. The College administrators should step up and support this student-led initiative which is so highly-touted in its literature as a symbol of our environmental leadership.

If Middlebury College is truly in suppor of creating a diverse community and supporting student-led initiatives such as the organic garden-and you can't count the number of times on the Web site and in the literature that the College's commitment to diversity and environmental sustainability are mentioned-I believe it is time that administrators consciously take action to drastically improve financial aid and recruitment, endow the organic garden and take note of the other amazing student-led programs and initiatives on campus that lack funding. Middlebury College cannot continue to portray itself as something it is not, leading everybody on with its incredibly disheartening false promises.