4
How Cal Poly is Working to Improve Diversity, Equity and Inclusion In November, Cal Poly announced that this year’s class of freshmen is the most diverse in university history, with percentages of women, Latino and Asian students at an all time high. This is consistent with Cal Poly’s upward trends of diversity from the past couple of years. In Fall 2020, Cal Poly’s student body was 54 % white. This year, that has changed to 51.4 % white, according to enrollment data from Fall 2022. But for Cal Poly, improving Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is about more than just the numbers. It’s about creating “an atmosphere of inclusivity” where people can “learn from and engage with people of difference,” Terrance Harris, Cal Poly’s Vice President for Strategic Enrollment Management, said. “It’s about continuously doing the work to foster a positive environment for everyone here.” For Harris, this continuous effort to improve DEI is a point of pride. “There are so many positive things happening,” Harris said. One of the most recent efforts Cal Poly has made to improve DEI has been adjusting the College Based Fees. According to Cal Poly Administration and Finance, due to this adjustment this year’s incoming class is paying six to 8.5 % more in tuition and fees than last year’s
Source: Cal Poly Institutional Research | Visualization by Teja Kandibanda
incoming class. At least 60% of the revenue from this increase will be used to support financial aid and scholarships that help lower the cost of attendance for students of underrepresented groups. Cal Poly has also been working to increase diversity in faculty and promote more inclusive teaching strategies through a series of cluster hires. Additionally, Cal Poly has seen an expansion of cultural centers and resources for students of color including the opening of the Native and Indigenous Cultural Center in October 2021 and the Latinx Center in November 2022. These cultural centers and resources are a key part of Cal Poly’s initiative to improve DEI, as the university is focused on serving the
NEWS
MUSTANG NEWS
TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2023
BY ASHLEY BOLTER
students, Denise Isom, Cal Poly’s Interim Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion, said. Animal sciences junior and student assistant at the Black Academic Excellence Center Mikayla Santiago is happy to have a space to get support as a student. “As an underrepresented student, there’s just so much uncomfortability in not having someone who looks like you, who understands your experiences,” she said. To her, it’s really the students that make these centers safe places on campus. “It’s very nice to have those centers as a place to go as an underrepresented student,” Santiago said. Despite these efforts, Cal Poly remains the only predominantly white public university in California. With Proposition 209 prohibiting affirmative action in California, schools have had to find raceneutral ways to promote diversity. This has not stopped other public universities in California from successfully creating a diverse and inclusive school environment. UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, San Diego State University and CSU
Sacramento have all led initiatives to improve diversity at their respective campuses including detail DEI strategic plans that lay out specific goals and steps to achieve those goals, faculty hiring initiatives that looks for commitment to diversity and inclusion and antiracism and social justice resources. Compared to these other schools, Cal Poly hasn’t made a lot of progress. While UC Davis ranked no. 1 in the nation for diversity and internationalization in 2021 and UC Santa Barbara saw the percentage of students from underrepresented groups double over the past two decades, Cal Poly diversity stats have only improved by 8.2 % in the past ten years based on enrollment data. “Clearly, not enough is happening,” Santiago said. Santiago said she feels that Cal Poly’s biggest problem is retention rates and that Cal Poly is not doing enough to support the students already here. “How are you going to bring in more students if you don’t allocate enough resources to support the students already here?” she said. Santiago wishes Cal Poly
administration would “be a little bit more proactive rather than reactive,” and finds Cal Poly’s efforts overall to be “disappointing.” Isom acknowledges that there is still a lot of work to be done, but is happy with the progress that has been made so far. “DEI is an ongoing, continuous effort at the university,” Isom said. Cal Poly has the lowest enrollment of Black students out of all California public colleges, CalMatters reported in November. For political science junior Gracie Babatola, Cal Poly’s ASI president, the CalMatters article captured a truth many people have come to know about Cal Poly — but she wishes more people were aware of the “amazing work” being done about it. “There are people like Dr. Denise Isom, there’s people like Dr. Jamie Patton and there’s people like Terrance of Strategic Enrollment who have made it their mission at SLO to make this place a community for all students,” Babatola said. “So I think, yeah, it’s an issue, but we also want to focus on the positives.”
Scan the QR code for an audio interview with ASI President Gracie Babatola about her goals for winter quarter.
GR ACIE BABATOL A | COURTESY
Audio by Eden-Rose Baker, Trevor Baumgardner and Jada Griffith.