By: Alexandra Davis, Tavari Merriman, Torie Costa, & Elizabeth Ahn
“Diversity
has increased at Frostburg State University (FSU) due to the focus on
recruitment in the Baltimore and Prince George county areas,” as explained by
Dr. Kara Rogers Thomas, a sociology professor who has been at FSU for 13 years.
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In the fall of 1989, the total enrollment for
undergraduate students was 4,784. Of those 4,786 students, one student’s race
was unknown, 314 were African American, 9 were American Indian/Alaskan Native,
35 were Asian, 25 were Hispanic, 4,375 were White, and 22 were Non-Resident
Alien.
In this current semester, the fall of 2017, the total
enrollment for undergraduate students at FSU was documented at 5,396. Of those
5,396 students, 141 students are an unknown race, 1,530 are African American, 7
are American Indian/Alaskan Native, 118 are Asian, 277 are Hispanic, 2,869 are
White, 229 are Non-Resident Alien, one student is Hawaiian/Pacific Island, and
213 students are considered as two or more races. With this being said, in
1989, the race categories of “Hawaiian/Pacific Islander” and of “two or more
races” did not exist at FSU until recently. It was not until 2011 when students
who fit these race categories enrolled at FSU.
The chart
below shows the different race enrollment numbers in 1989 in comparison to the
race enrollment numbers in 2017.
Lisa
Hartman, from the Reference and Government Documents area from FSU’s Lewis J.
Ort Library has been at the university for a decade. Due to her position, she
has noticed a change in the race and ethnicities at FSU. “Sometimes I just
think it is the number of applicants. I have not seen a lot of diversity in
just the pool of folks who are applying for the jobs, but this is specific to
the library area. So, I think that might be part of it, but I do not know if
that explains it for the whole campus,” explained Hartman.
Dr. Kara Thomas,
a sociology professor at FSU also explained that the increase in diversity has
to do with the university’s economic values. Since FSU has cheaper in-state
tuition rates in comparison to other Maryland colleges, it is clearly an
appealing choice.
FSU
welcomed Thomas in 2004. “In my classes teaching sociology we only had three to
four African Americans and now they make up almost half the class”, mentioned
Thomas. She goes on to explain that minorities ceased to exist at FSU since the
university’s population consisted mainly of local students. Since the town of
Frostburg is not very diverse, FSU pushed for heavy focus on growing and
changing the diversity at the college. However, when a spike in diversity took
place at FSU, it happened rather drastically.
From the
fall 1989 to the fall of 2017, the different races/ethnicities at FSU have both
increased and decreased. The chart below shows the difference in the Unknown,
African American, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian, Hispanic, White,
Non-Resident Alien, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and two or more races categories
and how those enrollments numbers have increased or decreased in the fall of
1989 compared to the fall of 2017.
Thomas
mentioned, “When African Americans first started coming to Frostburg they were
followed around by cameras because the university wanted to promote diversity.
They wanted to show the nation that FSU is growing racially.” She went on to
share that once the diversity started to fluctuate at the university,
professors had to start becoming more mindful when approaching controversial
subjects in order to limit tension in the classroom. “Although, being mindful
is something that the staff still needs to reflect on and deal with today,”
remarked Thomas.
Hartman
explained, “There is something that is attracting people to come to Frostburg.
My first thought is because it is a ‘different area;. I tend to imagine that
more urban areas tend to have more diversity, and this for certain is not an
urban area. Something along those lines – to experience something different.”
She believes that the undergraduate student diversity at FSU will continue to
increase. With this being said, she hopes the same increase will take place
among the staff members. Hartman went onto explain, “Diversity is a positive
thing. It can only be better to have different points of views and to learn
from each other, and also understand a variety of needs. So, depending on
whatever your major is or anything like that, you will be working with
different populations. For instance, if you only work with one group of people,
then you could have culture shock whenever you end up somewhere else. So just
having awareness can be good too.”
Thomas also
sees the racial diversity at FSU increasing a little bit in the future.
However, she thinks that the diversity is going to plateau once it reaches 51%.
“The Hispanic and Latino race population is not as high as Frostburg would hope
it would be,” remarked Thomas. She mentioned this regarding to one of the
race/ethnicity groups that FSU wanted to increase.
From the
fall of 1989 to the present 2017, diversity at the university has clearly grown
and changed. With recruitment locations playing a significant role in this
increase and fluctuation, the areas that FSU plans to focus on in the following
years could potentially affect the university’s overall diversity.
Frostburg State has heavily focused
on growing the racial diversity of the student body population. However, this
has not been applied to the area of faculty and staff at FSU. Regarding this
area, the following sidebar story and website pages from FSU and the Bottom Line explore the racial diversity of the faculty and staff at FSU.
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