By Katherine Burgess
Managing Editor
Revelation 7 describes a multitude “of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues standing before the throne [of God].”
Last month I stepped into a reflection of that picture at MOSAIC’s Unity Showcase where students and faculty of different races and ethnicities shared their cultures and enjoyed the cultures of others.
But racial and ethnic diversity and unity at Union, while it has greatly improved, is a work in progress.
This year, Union’s incoming class included 17 percent non-Caucasians, compared to the 13 percent average since 2006. The overall percentage of minority students is now at 26 percent, including about one-third of graduate students, according to Dr. David Dockery, university president.
In 1995, when Dockery became president, minorities made up 8 percent of students.
Dockery said the number of minority employees also has increased from 2 percent in 1995 to 6 percent today —progress that leaves work to be done.
In 1995, no members of the board of trustees were minorities, whereas today minorities make up 6 percent of trustees and also one of the three officers.
Desirae Suggs, senior international business major, said she has seen an increase in all ethnicities since her freshman year. While at Union she has been involved with MOSAIC, an organization that provides a community for all students, especially racial and ethnic minorities.
Suggs also said she has seen other areas of the university pursue reconciliation.
“There’s a greater sensitivity,” Suggs said. “In class discussions I’ve had, people are really starting to think about [diversity].”
Union also has created positions, studies and organizations dedicated to seeking unity.
Matthew Marshall, a former student and the first president of MOSAIC, was recently named director of minority student success.
Justin Phillips, acting director of community and racial relations, describes his own position as being meant “to gauge Union’s collective attitudes, will and ideals in order to address matters of racial and ethnic diversity, as well as Union’s commitment to reconciliation efforts.”
Jason Castles, assistant dean of students and director of student leadership and engagement, is working with the Institute for International and Intercultural Studies on a study in which the intercultural competence — being aware of, valuing and understanding cultural differences — of incoming freshmen will be gauged and then followed up after time at Union.
Union’s efforts also have been recognized, as when the Jackson-Madison County branch of the NAACP awarded Dockery with the William D. Smart Jr. Race Relations award May 27, something Dockery said he considers recognition of the entire university.
Joshua Jenkins, sophomore Christian studies major, said he was drawn to Union because of the mixed student body, something that includes not only different races but also internationals and the children of missionaries.
However, 17 percent of the incoming class is still a small minority.
Just last week one of my roommates said she had seen racially insensitive Facebook posts about President Barack Obama’s supporters — posts made by Union students. Clearly, reconciliation is something we must still seek.
“I have described our efforts as three steps forward, two steps back,” Dockery said in an email interview. “Still, that has resulted in significant progress over the years.”
Claudia Velasco, senior accounting major and founder of the Latin American Student Opportunities branch of MOSAIC, said the lack of diversity might have to do with financial aid; that other schools are more affordable and thus have a more mixed student body.
She also said Union should seek out minorities who already live in Jackson.
“Jackson has changed so much in the past 10 years,” Velasco said. “There’s been a huge, huge growth in the Hispanic population as well as all sorts of other minority populations; huge growth. And that’s not really represented here.”
Nar’Asha Randall, junior biology major and member of MOSAIC, said while Union’s enrollment counselors are doing well at seeking students of different races and ethnicities, they need to continue pursuing them.
“If they want diversity then they have to go and get it,” Randall said. “Because diversity’s not just going to come to them.”
Suggs said that Union also needs to continue pursuing qualified minorities to serve as faculty and staff.
Phillips said people across Union can engage in reconciliation by asking these questions: “Did I construct a diverse syllabus for this class? Did I plan activities or events with the entire Union community in mind? Do I challenge my friends when they make coarse jokes? Do I pray for God to change my vision of my city and university so that I might be on the side of justice?”
Velasco said Union should do more to support students building relationships and serving in the Jackson community, something which would lead to reconciliation. While Velasco said she did not know exactly how this would work, the engagement would last for more than a single day and would, perhaps, be fully backed — not merely encouraged — by the university.
So while Union is doing well at seeking out diversity and unity, improvement is something Union must continue to strive for.
“In an academic organization, when you’re harvesting the power of minds you want to be able to have different types of minds,” Velasco said. “And when most of the people here have grown up in a certain environment, with certain beliefs, in a certain economic status, most people think the same. And so in promoting diversity you’re … bringing different perspectives into the equation.”
But a multiethnic and multiracial campus is not important only because it brings different perspectives.
“This is what God wants,” Randall said. “This is what He desires, and this should be our desire.”
Jenkins said seeing the different races and ethnicities on Union’s campus excites him and “does [his] heart good.”
“When you look at Scripture, God made race for a reason,” Jenkins said. “Otherwise we would all look the same. Otherwise we would all have the same backgrounds. God doesn’t shun race. It’s just another thing that man corrupts. And now we get to come here to this campus and see the beauty in it once again.”
When I am surrounded by people who speak differently, look different and come from different backgrounds yet who worship one God, I take part in heaven lived out on earth.
“We will continue to focus our devoted energies and efforts toward fostering racial harmony across campus and within the region,” Dockery said. “… When there are disappointments, which will happen, we will ask for forgiveness, readjust our efforts and strategy if needed, while pressing on toward the eschatological hope so beautifully pictured for us in Revelation 7. A call to live out what it means to be a kingdom-focused university can do nothing less.”
Katherine Burgess is a sophomore journalism major.
