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December 14, 2004
Letter to the Editor: Defending diversity publications
I am writing in response to the story in the Nov. 16 Oracle story “A lot whiter than I expected.” I have some concern about the details of the article and the assertion that images in Hamline’s promotional materials for the College of Liberal Arts are slanted toward students of color.
The article is inaccurate in the count of students in the publications and the percentage of the individuals who are persons of color.
As I indicated to the reporter, we publish three pieces with photographs. The most widely distributed piece is what we call the road piece. Its title is “All the Difference.” We distribute it both on and off campus in large group settings (high-school visits, college fairs, on-campus programs, and large mailings). It is designed to provide a snapshot of the campus and its programs. We have a total of eight photographs in the piece. It has a large amount of information in it, including overall 2003 enrollment statistics for the college (1872) and a breakout of students of color (14 percent) and international students (four percent). There are 14 people pictured, and four or five people could be considered people of color, for a total of 28 percent. This is more than the overall percentage of the college; however, our photo selection we consider representative of the “face” of the college.
We also print, on a three-year rotating basis, a viewbook titled “Roads Less Traveled.” This piece is mailed to many of our inquiries and is given to all individual campus visitors. There are 147 people pictured in the piece, 20 of whom one could clearly construe as members of the Hamline community (students, faculty and staff) who are people of color. There are an additional 17 persons of color, including a family of five who are pictured with an alum in the Honduras, one child and the back of an adult dressed in traditional Tibetan clothing in a photo taken in Tibet, and at least 10 elementary-age students who are from the Hamline/Hancock community. Including the 17 non-Hamline students, staff and faculty members, the viewbook portrays 25 percent people of color, without them 14 percent.
We also distribute a publication called “The Many Shades of Success” that is designed to affirm Hamline’s commitment to cultural diversity and the strengths that a diverse learning community can provide to student learning. With major input from the Multicultural and International Student Affairs Office (MISA), the piece was redesigned to be more personal than previous versions of it. The MISA Office and the Admission Office worked closely together on photo selection. This piece is distributed to all campus visitors and at off-campus college fairs and high-school visits. It is designed to be a partner to the road piece.
Since the focus of this piece is diversity at Hamline, its 12 photos show 19 persons of color of the 25 people pictured. This is a total of 76 percent.
Of the three pieces, 186 people are pictured, 61 are persons of color (this includes 17 clearly nonąHamline students, faculty and staff). This is a total of 33 percent; excluding the 17 would make it 24 percent.
This is not nearly the “overrepresentation by a factor of two” as indicated in the Nov. 23 issue, nor anywhere near the 41 percent the Oracle reported in the Nov. 16 issue. We stand by our photo selection as representative of the Hamline community and consistent with the both the goals and the mission of the university as a whole.
Steve Bjork
Associate Vice President
Admission and Career Services
Posted by msveum at December 14, 2004 10:44 AM