Representations?

BY: ANTOINE STROMAN

Albright College hangs its hat on being culturally diverse, using the tagline, “A Different Way of Thinking.” When one travels the campus, diversity seems to be present at face value. However, with the hundreds of minorities inhabiting the institution, one is left to wonder where the representation is. When you read a brochure for Albright, or venture into visuals of the website, how many minorities do you find?

This year’s homecoming theme was titled “Decades”, a time in which Albright celebrated its many classes of the past. Every year Albright prints a brochure with a complete layout and schedule of all of the festivities of the weekend, this year being no different. However, in the many photos of the college’s rich history, there was not one minority. Oh, excuse me--there was one minority--and she was in the back. Kind of reminds me of a time in history…sorry, I’ve digressed. 

An anonymous source feels that minorities are not well represented on Albright College’s campus. “Besides the sports, minority activities are not respected or recognized”. The student feels that minority athletes are often approached with a “congratulations!”after a game, but when an organization led by students of color is having an event nobody even knows. 

Sophomore Vashonna Fraser feels that minority faculty is an issue. “Its hard to find someone to go to that understands”, Fraser says emphatically. Fraser feels that with the increase of the minority population on campus, it’s difficult to see the “product”, given that there is very little minority faculty on campus. When asked if she felt their needs to be more minority faculty on campus, Fraser simply replied, “yeah”. 

While Albright College continues to admit minority students, only time will tell if representation, whether minority faculty, or minority activity on campus, will progress or digress. After all, how can you promote diversity, if it is missing in places on campus?