Paper: Arizona Daily Star, The (Tucson, AZ)
Title: UA: An in-depth look at new diversity
Author: Eric Swedlund, ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Date: April 5, 2006
Section: NEWS
Page: A1

Diversity - a big buzzword on college campuses - is being redefined by the
current generation of students.

Freshman students now are far less concerned with the old boundaries such as black/white, male/female or Catholic/Jew than previous generations and consider diversity in much broader terms, focusing down to traits and characteristics of individual people.

Quite simply, everyone is diverse.

A new study at the University of Arizona will follow the class of 2009 - this
year's freshmen - throughout their university years, assessing their attitudes
on diversity and examining how experiences influence their ever-changing
perspective.

"I personally consider diversity a mix of people who come from different
backgrounds," said Kelli Daher, a 19-year-old study participant. "Everyone can be diverse."

If there's no specific emphasis placed on people's differences, they're not
likely to be noted to any significant degree, said Daher, a freshman from
Corona del Sol High School in Tempe.

"I like the idea behind the project because it's showing certain things," she
said. "We are one of the most diverse incoming classes. We've grown up in a very different culture than our parents and grandparents."

The millennial generation has been heavily market-researched, but "diversity is a topic that hasn't really been touched on," said Melissa Ousley, a research analyst in Multicultural Affairs and Student Success who is leading the study.

"The way past generations have explained diversity is quite a bit different from the way these students have presented it," she said. "Before there was more emphasis on ethnicity, more putting people in boxes.

"This generation from their early years grew up with the concept of diversity and really they're more open to it."

The Millennial Student Project is discovering the relationship between
experiences with diversity and acceptance is much more fluid than the linear
description offered by past theories.

"Our identities are fluid and we develop as we change as humans," Ousley said. "That's what's so interesting about this topic - everything's intertwined. You have to factor in every part of a person's identity."

Matt Ferguson, an 18-year-old from Sunrise Mountain High School in Peoria, signed up because wanted to be involved with the documentary aspect of the project.

Exposure to diversity might change a student's views over time, but students aren't in the position to objectively analyze themselves and come to any grand conclusions, Ferguson said.

"It's something I don't think most college students think about," he said.

Daher, who worked on discrimination and diversity issues as a peer adviser in high school, said she sees a lot of diversity in the freedom on campus for
individual expression, as well as the wide array of students on campus, from the United States and abroad.

"I like it here. It's more worldly," she said.

The study - which combines annual surveys of about 500 students, in-depth interviews that track 60 students for four years and a documentary - launched this fall with the incoming freshman class. The study is funded in part by a grant from Alltel.

"The boundaries are quite a bit different from past generations," Ousley said. "They think beyond the historical distinctions. We don't have to convince them that diversity is a good thing."

A pilot study last spring produced a theoretical model of student views on
diversity, known as the Dynamic Diversity Paradigm Plane. The results are based on 1,144 students who responded to 38 questions related to diversity.

The model categorizes student views into four areas:

* Postmodern, which defines diversity broadly but doesn't address social-justice issues, was the most common, with 62.3 percent of students

* Meritocratic, which emphasizes talent and skills over issues related to equity and privilege. Such a position would advocate race-blind college admissions, for example, but was held by 3.4 percent of students.

* Divisive, which argues an emphasis on diversity in itself divides people.
Students in this area had a good knowledge of specific issues but were just 1.8 percent of the sample.

* Critical postmodern students voiced both an openness to diversity and a
knowledge of critical issues relating to inequality. Those students were 7.5
percent of the sample.

The remainder of the students fell in between categories, with the largest group - 9 percent - combining postmodern and meritocratic views in an openness to diversity while also emphasizing merit.

Some of the past research indicated that students' fields of study might affect their views on diversity, with science and math students slightly less open to it, Ousley said. The pilot study found students across the board are open to diversity, but education majors are most likely to focus on social justice themes.

"There's definitely a correlation between having diversity experiences and being more open to diversity and having a complex and sophisticated knowledge of the issues," Ousley said.

While students are generally open to diversity in a broad sense, it's not often until later in college that they develop concrete and articulate understanding and opinions of issues related to diversity, such as privilege, power, class, social justice and merit, Ousley said.

"The more college education you have, the more you see people having more concrete ideas," she said.

* Contact reporter Eric Swedlund at 573-4115 or at eswedlund@azstarnet.com.

Author: Eric Swedlund, ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Section: NEWS
Page: A1

Copyright 2006  The Arizona Daily Star