Vol. 128, No. 70 Thursday, November 29, 2018
OPINION
SPORTS
ARTS & CULTURE
CSU embraces inclusive language
Multiple Rams honored after football season
5 exhibits at CSU to see in wake of finals week
page 11
page 15
page 19
Colorado State University’s College of Business undergraduate program has “approximately 2,500 students of which 39 percent are female and 29 percent are minorities,” according to Zeel Patel, the College of Business’ director of marketing and communications. Students have reported a biased culture in the college. PHOTO BY COLIN SHEPHERD COLLEGIAN
Minority students describe biased culture in College of Business By Jorge Espinoza & Matthew Bailey @CSUCollegian
Despite efforts by the College of Business to promote an inclusive culture, some students at Colorado State University continue to see systemic issues within the institution. “The College of Business undergraduate program has approximately 2,500 students of which 39 percent are female and 29 percent are minorities,” wrote Zeel Patel,
COB director of marketing and communications, in an email to The Collegian. “The College of Business also has 31 percent female and 9 percent minority faculty.” According to the fall 2018 COB Census, White-identifying students make up 73.5 percent of all students in the undergraduate program. Male-identifying students make up 61.2 percent of that total. “We continue to assess where we are and where we still need to improve, but our efforts are intentional and driven by a genuine desire to create a culture where every-
one feels welcomed and affirmed, and can flourish,” Dean Beth Walker said. For business students Brayan Montes-Terrazas, Alan Casavantes and Yailynn Almanza, the lack of representation of women and people of color within the college creates a difficult environment that is continuously fueled by people who openly express biases and microaggressions. Several students anonymously shared one instance with The Collegian where a professor in the COB presented an iClicker question
written in Chinese to which the answer was “dog,” which students perceived to be a derogatory insinuation of Chinese food stereotypes. “The College of Business takes all allegations of racism, sexual harassment, gender-based discrimination and other forms of misconduct seriously,” said Chelsey Lane, the human resource operations manager of the college. “If students, faculty or staff have concerns, we encourage them to make a report so that those concerns can be investigated.” Latinx students represent 10.4
percent of the total students enrolled in the COB according to the fall 2018 COB Census. For students like Montes-Terrazas, a senior studying marketing, being in the COB means he’s used to standing out amongst his peers. “When I was a freshman, as soon as I walked into my first class, not only was I the only person of color, I was also the only person with semi-dark hair. Everyone around me was blonde,” Montes-Terrazas said. “That was really see Business on page 4 >>