What the heck is diversity? Anyone?

Author: SCOTT GREENE '08.5

"I believe diversity is an old wooden ship that was used during the civil war era."- Ron Burgundy

Could Ron Burgundy have been a Feb?

Most members of the Middlebury College community would completely reject such a proposition. Many would probably fall down laughing. After all, Middlebury prides itself on international diversity. The school Web site rightfully highlights Middlebury's "prominence in foreign language instruction and international studies," and Middlebury used to be found as a member of the now-inactive International 50, a directory of the 50 liberal arts colleges and universities most active in international education and scholarship.

Furthermore, Middlebury's number of international students consistently ranks in the top 20 among liberal arts schools, most recently slotting in at number 16 in the U.S. News and World Report rankings with eight percent of its student body hailing from overseas.

Still, it seems that Middlebury's commitment to cultivating a diverse environment with which to embrace the era of globalization does not extend into its February Admissions program.

Of the 365 new Febs to start at Middlebury during the last three years, only seven (less than two percent) have been international students, including two with American passports.

The reason for this is simple: Middlebury does not promote its February program for the potential that it possesses-a potential to become a significant recruiting force in the international community. Most national school systems in Asia, including Korea, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia, follow a February-December cycle. Australia, New Zealand and several South American nations also exhibit a year-round school system.

These nations' university systems follow a similar cycle, for the same practical reason that colleges across the United States begin their school years in August or September. Middlebury's Feb program could serve as an equally practical and better educational alternative for international students who would otherwise attend their local colleges and universities.

But it doesn't, and it won't until Middlebury raises international awareness that such a program exists. This requires more than a "February preferred" box to be checked on the application. Most international school guidance counselors are unaware of Middlebury's Feb program, even though they guide numerous expatriate Americans through the application process, and a Middlebury College representative usually makes a recruiting visit to their school during the fall. If they haven't heard of it, there is little hope that their counterparts in the national school systems know about it.

Why can't the Feb program do more than fill vacated beds? Why can't Middlebury utilize its Feb program and take advantage of its unique potential to attract international students in a way that other institutions can't?

In addition to striving to further inject its students into the international community, why doesn't Middlebury also do the opposite, and further inject the international community into the College?

Middlebury claims on its Web site that its education "reflects a sense of looking outward, and a realization that the traditional insularity of the United States is something of the past." As long as its February program remains off the radar and nonexistent in the eyes of the international community, such a claim is very much up for debate.