Lack of diversity in campus administration is a disservice to minorities

Tori lemon
Lantern Staff
With the rising growth in diversity among students on the collegiate level, one would think there would be a closer positive correlation of diversity among administration and faculty members as well. Unfortunately, here at Butler as well as other universities, this is not the case.
According to research gathered in 2016 by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR), this racial gap among higher administration among universities is a growing issue. Only seven percent of higher education administration positions–this includes top executives, division heads, deans and associate deans– are held by African American staffers. On top of that, three percent were held by Hispanic or Latino staffers, two percent by Asian and one percent identified other.
CUPA-HR reported that nearly 86 percent of administrators nationwide were white.
Let’s bring it closer to home for a second. Looking at the teachers and higher administration at the El Dorado campus, one will easily see a common theme– most are white.
According to former staff member Matt Cooper, who reported on statistics pertaining to diversity on campus in the third issue of the fifty sixth volume of the Butler Lantern, less than three percent of those job titles are held by a minority race or ethnicity. In an area where most of the student population is culturally diverse, and when you look around at students, the majority are not white–this is a problem. Now, do not get me wrong. It will never be possible to match the percentage of administration with those of student diversity; however, it would be nice to at least see a person of color on our college hiring committee.
That is the beauty of Butler– you get to see all of these different ethnic groups in the same class, interacting and learning with one another. It is funny how they can connect on such a deep level, but they do not even realize that decisions are being made that affect them, without even thinking about them and all that diversity.
Having an entire administrative team be of the same majority race creates problems for minority students. It is as simple as that. How can a group of a majority race understand or create empathy for what minority members need or want on campus? They cannot successfully do so. We are behind the learning curve when it comes to dealing with diversity and inclusion in a significant way.
If we are trying to be culturally diverse, maybe we ought to consider our hiring practices– who parents and students see when they are walking around campus, and who they do not see. Simply ignoring the racial gap does not, and will not, make it disappear. Denying that there is a lack of diversity among our administration certainly does nothing but increase the marginalization of minority students.