Diversity At Miami University

By Ellen Kahle

Miami University journalism student

Miami University has long been stereotyped as a place where upper class, white families send their children. People walk around with their Patagonia, Vineyard Vines, and LuLu Lemon labels on full display. Not to mention the seemingly endless stream of Mercedes, Range Rovers, and Maseratis that zip all around the campus, filled with students living out the college dream.

These are images some people have of Miami University. But are they wrong?

When you dig into the numbers, it is not hard to see why the university is imagined this way. Miami University has almost 17,000 undergraduates and more than 12,000 of them are white, as of October 2016.

Further breakdown shows how underrepresented other racial and ethnic groups are.

As far as socioeconomic status goes, Miami's family income statistics have the largest percentage of students' families making between $100,000 and $149,000 (23.5 percent) and $250,000 or more (20.4 percent) as of 2013.

Religion And Race

On top of that, there are also things like religion and sexuality that have to be taken into account.

The breakdown of Miami students' main religious identification is Catholic and Christian, at 34.9 percent and 12.2 percent respectively. Because these religions have the largest presence on Miami's campus, students who belong to those faiths have much easier access, and closer proximity, to churches and places of worship.

Muslim students, on the other hand, struggle due to their lack of proximity to a mosque or other type of congregational location.

"We usually have our prayers in Armstrong Student Center's Ford Family Meditation Room, which is one big thing Miami has done for us. There's also no space for us to commune like other religious student organizations have (Hillel and the Hillel house, churches, etc.). If there was a space open to Muslim students where we could have our texts available and open to read, that would be nice," President of the Muslim Student Association Zaheer Choudhury says.

"The Muslim community is pretty expansive, and we feel there are many Muslim students on campus we don't know. Wider recognition of Friday prayer in terms of class scheduling is also important -- many students can't come to Friday prayer due to mandatory classes at that time."

Another student religious organization, Chabad Jewish Student Group, has struggled in a different way. There has been a slight increase in anti-Semitic remarks and threats across the country, some targeting college campuses. In an article by the Miami Student, Rabbi Yossi Greenberg talks about the struggles of being Jewish.

Simply put, Greenberg joined the Chabad Jewish Student Group to "add in Jewish pride at Miami University."

As far as the underrepresentation of different racial groups other than white on Miami's campus, there are several organizations for African American, Asian American, and Native American students. One such organization is the Native American Student Association (NASA), which celebrates students that are members of different tribes.

A member of NASA, Gloria Tippman, says that she has practiced her Miami tribal traditions all of her life in Oklahoma and she was excited to find out the university has an opportunity for her to continue those practices at school.

"The university has a great relationship with the Miami Tribe but this is not always expressed to the student body. As a result, many are unaware of the Miami Tribe's presence on campus, let alone tribal students from other nations," Tippmann says. "I think that more recognition of NASA would be helpful for tribal students as well as for the community because there seems to be a lack of recognition among the student body."

Gender And Sexuality

Another hot button topic, especially on college campuses is the idea of inclusion for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) individuals. Miami has a couple of organizations and they continue to gain more support. A student organization called Colors offers LGBTQ students an opportunity to come together, as member Tawny Howell came to experience firsthand.

"This was the first opportunity for me to be able to express myself and my sexuality. Colors gives me the opportunity to meet others in the community, or allies, while on campus. I have seen some classrooms with the sign: this is a safe zone, which is amazing," Howell says. "I think that Miami just have that aura that makes you feel comfortable and want to be yourself. You don't feel the need to pretend, which is awesome. All the students are so welcoming and judge you on the kind of person you are - not your sexual orientation or skin color."

Aside from specific groups and organization based on ethnicity or sexual orientation, Miami also has an organization for students who want to promote a more stable and understanding climate on campus in general: Project Civility. The project goes around Miami's campus and the surrounding area to promote an atmosphere of acceptance and understanding.

Director and student leader of Project Civility, Shannon Golden, was invited to an event by a peer and had no idea how much of an impact it would have on her.

"When I found out about the initiative I was super excited that we were going to recognize people for doing the right thing, instead of only focusing on negative events. You have no idea how much it brightens a person's day when you give them a civility coin and say thank you."

Photo: International flags line the walls of the lower level of MacMillian Hall on Miami's campus. -- Photo by Ellen Kahle