Being an ethnic minority on the Humboldt State campus has its ups and downs. It has its ways of making you feel unique at one moment and out of place the next. Some say that this school is diverse, full of acceptance, full of harmony and respect. But what is being done to help those who all too often feel out of place?

“When you first come here, when you first see how people look, it does have that appearance of being a predominant culture, a majority culture,” said Helen Jones, director of diversity and compliance services at HSU. “It certainly is a majority-culture campus. And it reflects the community and the region of California that this is in, in a lot of different ways.”

Humboldt State University is far from being in one of the most diverse regions of California. But being in a college town, those of us who are ethnic minorities do need a place to go when the feeling of being out of place is too hard to handle.

The amount of black students equaled only about 3 percent of the student population during the Spring 2004 semester. But on a positive note, these numbers are up from previous years. During the same time in 1997, blacks made up only 1.8 percent of the student body. There are also more black students enrolled at HSU during Spring 2004 than there have been in the last 7 years.

HSU’s Spring 2004 student body is made up of 3.2 percent Asians students, 8.4 percent Hispanics, 2.6 percent Native Americans, and .5 percent Pacific Islanders. The white students on campus make up a whopping 61 percent of the student body. The last 21.2 percent is either in the “other” category or are “unknown.”

To some, Arcata is considered a completely different world. Issues of institutionalized racism are scary and often too difficult to confront—but that is not a good enough reason to avoid a frank and all-inclusive discussion. Here at HSU, classrooms, club meetings, newspapers, advisors’ and the offices of professors and administrators can serve as forums for debate and dialogue about race. Students need to be clear and organized in explaining their experiences, and the administration must be open to change, which it seems to be.

HSU President Rollin Richmond has established a focus group to help develop a diversity plan with “specific numerical goals” for the campus.

“That plan is still being vetted and talked about,” Richmond explained. “We’re not there yet, but we’ve developed a plan to get us there.”

Many on campus have stated that HSU is fortunate to have a president who views diversity as a priority. For Richmond, diversity is simply a matter of treating people fairly and equally.

“For me, fairness is a really important issue,” said Richmond. He added that it is important to provide students of all ethnic origins, genders and physical abilities “the same opportunities that others have had.”

President Richmond has assembled a group of administrators, staff and faculty to make up these focus groups, which collect information regarding the precise steps that the university could take in order to promote diversity on campus. Last summer, the committee worked on the comprehensive diversity action plan.

One of the members, Issac Carter, associate director of administrative and residential services, says, “The ultimate goal of the plan is to transform Humboldt’s campus community into an environment where diversity is welcomed, acknowledged, appreciated and is vital to the success of all university endeavors.”

These focus groups are a step in the right direction, but we need a close analysis of how effective these current university programs are in addressing race and ethnicity issues on campus. Is our reliance on race- and ethnicity-based categories alleviating problems or creating and reinforcing problems?

Students who need help should get help. If students need help because of economic disadvantage, or because of racial discrimination, or because of systematic exclusion in their discipline, the university community needs to become aware of and responsive to such problems. Mentorship programs, internship programs, and provost initiatives help. But what we need most is an open and honest dialogue, a straightforward dialogue about race relations on campus. However, this could make people uncomfortable, upset, angry, sad, or embarrassed. And that’s the point—this issue is infuriating.

There is a lot of dialogue on campus with various clubs, including Sistah2Sistah, Latinos Unidos, MeChA, APASA and the Multicultural Center and there are places that have already been established to help minorities on campus feel much more secure. Besides clubs on campus there are also different events such as the Multicultural Festival that is held in the Kate Buchanan Room at HSU. It is a fun way to experience food, music and other essentials of different cultures, with live performances and lots of free information.

But when the number of ethnic minorities on campus rises closer to that of whites on campus, what then? Is the goal achieved just by reaching a numerical figure? Or do the problems continue to get worse? Some will say that things will get better while others will disagree.

Many believe that increasing the number of ethnic minorities attending HSU will promote greater learning and cultural enrichment.

President Richmond said, “If you came to this campus and all you were to see were white people that looked like me and came from my background, sure we have interesting things to teach you but it’s only a small part of what you’re going to need to know to be able to live within the world as it is now and as it will be.”

To find out more about the University Strategic Action Planning Committee and its diversity action plan, visit http://www.humboldt.edu/~planning/focus/index.php