Director of Admissions Jeff Lantis considers Hillsdale College’s encouragement of diversity its “ultimate irony.” Lantis sees irony in a campus that lacks ethnic diversity despite being the first college to admit all ethnicities.
Hillsdale was the first college in America to accept ethnic minorities and has stood by its policy since 1844. As part of the policy, the college has considered all students on the same criteria—no students receive special privilege based on ethnicity except for a limited supply of scholarships for international students.
The college application is “color blind;” it does not ask for ethnicity.
Other Michigan colleges, from small to large, as well as comparable private liberal arts colleges like Grove City College, ask potential students to reveal their ethnicity on applications.
“First and foremost we’re looking for a prepared student,” Lantis said.
Lantis said leadership, extra-curricular involvement, volunteerism, work experience and “unique” experiences can benefit applicants.
Admissions counselors have the opportunity to present applicants’ special qualifications, beyond academic merits, to the entire department, Lantis said. The department has tried to focus on the “unique experiences” of applicants.
Lantis said diversity is a goal but not at the expense of principles or denial of the most-prepared students who apply.
“I think it’s healthy for there to be some level of diversity,” said junior Margaret Azhar, a half-British, half-Iranian student.
“To spend four years at a college that did not at all represent the diversity one encounters in the real world could be detrimental,” senior Susan Mehari, whose father is Ethiopian and whose Mother is Dutch, said. “But it’s not important enough to be an admissions criterion.”
In terms of encouraging diversity, the college feels a competitive disadvantage to other institutions that offer scholarships to
minority students. Some minority scholarships cover full tuition and room and board, as well as supply a stipend.
“We have students that choose [Hillsdale] because of the mission and philosophy that is so unique that you cannot find it another place,” Lantis said.
Without minority-specific scholarships, the admissions department exercises the most control over the makeup of the studentry.
Lantis said he feels that Hillsdale students choose the college for the right reasons; specifically its conservatism, traditional curriculum and independence.
“Basically if you’re black and have good grades, you’re giving up a full ride to go here,” Mehari said.
Mehari said that in her hometown of Grand Rapids, the Black Educational Excellence Program offers scholarships to any minoritystudent with at least a 3.0 grade point average if the student participates in monthly meetings. The program also works with Western Michigan University (WMU) and Grand Valley State University to offer full tuition scholarships at those institutions.
Mehari, a National Merit Scholar, passed up full ride scholarships to WMU and the University of Florida to attend Hillsdale.
Hillsdale maintains its unique stance in part because of its refusal to accept federal money.
According to attorneys at the University of Michigan, multiple federal regulations require colleges to report the racial and ethnic makeup of the student body. Failure to report jeopardizes an institution’s ability to obtain federal funding. Hillsdale remains exempt from these regulations.
The federal government requires statistics, but not necessarily ethnically diverse campuses. However, groups like Collegeboard and the Association of American Colleges and Universities publish extensively on the importance of ethnic diversity.
“Diversity does not have to be a quota, that’s very artificial,” said Marie-Claire Morellec, associate professor of French.“There should be a point where affirmative action is not necessary, that’s
where we have to get.”
Gary Wolfram, professor of economics, has taught at the college over the past 17 years. Wolfram said appealing to minority students and students from low-income urban centers is beneficial to the college.
“The issue is, do we somehow want to attract minorities?” Wolfram said. “It might be useful to attract kids from urban areas. We could expand the college’s mission by having students from low income, minority, central-planned urban centers who tend to vote for the same system that failed them.”
Wolfram argues that minority and inner-city students are exposed to political philosophies and policies that harm them.
“It would be useful to have folks from there get [Hillsdale’s] education and go back there,” Wolfram said. “It would be nice to have people from those areas in class who are not pre-disposed to this material.”
Wolfram also argues that modern game theory economics, as researched by Nobel Prize winner Thomas Shelling, help explain segregation and minority issues.
“If you don’t have a critical mass of people that are like you in some sense, you don’t integrate as much,” Wolfram said.
Wolfram said more segregation tends to appear in market systems if minorities only feel comfortable if other minority students surround them.
“You have to find people who are comfortable in the minority to be the starters,” he said. “The trick is to get and maintain those first kids.”
Wolfram said the school would benefit by reaching out to minority students, a demographic he said the college is not very good at penetrating.
Although the college does not offer minority scholarships, it has begun to institute programs that attract minority students.
Each summer the Dreamer’s Camp brings inner-city students from Washington, D.C., to campus for weeklong classes in a variety of subjects. Camp organizers hope to expose students to Hillsdale’s unique curriculum.
A combination of programs and assertive recruiting appears to be the best available option for maintaining the college’s commitment to color-blind admissions while recognizing a lack of—and interest in increasing—ethnic diversity.