Occidental CollegeDiversity Summary

Written by William Suh

William Suh

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Especially after looking at other colleges, Occidental is a truly diverse school. The numbers that are given out by the admissions staff can be verified just by walking through the quad at lunch and seeing a multitude of people that one would have a very hard time finding at another school. However, many people do complain that while there are a lot of "diverse people" at Oxy, the level of multiculturalism is nowhere near what it could be. Unfortunately, as is the same at many other schools, some complain about a lack of interaction between different groups of people, that there is no real diversity because people of different minorities tend to stick with others of the same ethnic background.

Oxy does have diversity and makes serious efforts to both promote it to the students and increase it in curriculum and student life. It is not as perfect as it is made out to be, though, as many students have complained of a dropping number of minority students being admitted, and a lack of diversity in the upper levels of the administration that seriously challenges the values the school preaches. Some students are satisfied with the amount of diversity at Occidental, whereas others want to see a vast improvement.