CONNOR HOFFMAN
Managing Editor
Although the recently released Student Affairs report shows that enrollment is down, as reported by The Leader last week, it also shows that Fredonia’s campus has become more diverse.
Corey Bezek, the director of admissions and also an alumnus, explained how the campus used to be less diverse and how the University intended to increase diversity on campus.
“Fredonia very much reflected the community in which it was situated,” said Bezek. “We did not have a large amount of historically disadvantaged or minority students, and it’s been a real intention effort on behalf of the entire University, but really trying to have campus reflect more of New York State. New York State’s quite a diverse environment, and we want to make sure the campus reflects that.”
According to information from the Office of Institutional Research and Planning, in 2008 the University’s student body was 90.9 percent white, 7.7 percent African American, 1.3 percent Asian, 3 percent Hispanic and .5 percent American Indian. According to the recent Student Affairs report, in 2016 the University was 74 percent white, 8 percent African American, 1 percent American Indian, 3 percent Asian and 9 percent Hispanic.
Bezek also explained some of the programs he thought were successful for helping increase diversity.
“We truly believe that some of the great gains we’ve made on this campus have been to really reach out more and spend more time in populations and pockets with the Buffalo ‘Say Yes’ Program, with the New York City public schools … [and] other programs like this to try and encourage growth in these areas.”
Also, he said that this year they were able to hire a former Fredonia student to recruit full-time in New York City.
President Virginia Horvath agrees that the campus is more diverse now and that she makes it an initiative to try to welcome all kinds of students.
“When I came to here in 2005, there was a very low percentage of students of color,” said Horvath. “I’m always interested in, and concerned about too, if we succeed in bringing people here from all different backgrounds. What do we do to sustain an environment where people feel welcome and respect one another?”
Another interesting thing this report revealed was that the university has received only five Korean students this year. This is a direct result of the South Korean government ending the agreement the University had with the Hankuk Universities of Foreign Studies in 2015. This program allowed South Korean students to study one year in South Korea, and then study three years at Fredonia and receive a degree from Fredonia.
Naomi Baldwin, the director of International Education, explained that what happened with the Hankuk agreement is not usual of international education agreements.
“The Ministry of Education in Korea, they went to the program leaders there at Hankuk, and they said, ‘Hey, you can’t do this. You can’t just let students attend our university for a year, and then send them out.’ So it was really on the Korean government side that started slowing down the program.
“I think it’s highly unusual that this happened,” added Baldwin. She said that usually these kind of international education agreement are filed directly with the foreign governments.
Baldwin explained some of the new discussions that her office is currently working on to bring in more international students. She said that they are in discussions for a study abroad or visiting student program of some kind with the Catholic University of Daegu and with Kookmin University in Seoul, South Korea.
Horvath further explained just exactly what her goal is for diversity at Fredonia.
“I think, more than anything, [we want] to be the kind of place that respects one another and that has strong beliefs that everyone belongs here and that we can learn from each other,” said Horvath.