Margaret BauerWashington University held its annual Multicultural Celebrations Weekend Friday and Saturday. Recently admitted students were flown in by the University to stay with host students and participate in activities ranging from water balloon fights to multicultural student group meetings to the Asian American Association’s (AAA) Night Market. Looming over this year’s events was the recent announcement that the University’s John B. Ervin Scholarships for African Americans will, due to increasing legal pressure, be open to students of all races in the future.
Monica O’Malley, president-elect of the Association of Latin-American Students (ALAS), said that although the prospective students on campus for the weekend asked few questions about the fate of race-conscious scholarships at the University, it was an issue that the various multicultural groups involved with the weekend actively addressed.
“We didn’t have so many questions asked about the scholarships, as we tried to address what was happening with them,” said O’Malley. “A lot of the groups contributed to a single statement about our position on the matter. In our ALAS meeting, we also gave out information about various Supreme Court cases and how they have affected what Wash U. has to do with its scholarships.”
The statement, which was drafted by groups such as ALAS, the Association of Black Students (ABS) and Ashoka, among others, commended the University for its efforts toward maintaining race-conscious programs, but also stressed the difficulties ahead.
“On Thursday, April 1st, 2004, students who are part of the John. B. Ervin Scholarship Program at Washington University in St. Louis were informed that the scholarship would be opening its applicant pool to all, when previously it was exclusively for African-American students,” read the statement. “This is per investigations and lawsuits across the nation on scholarships, fellowships and recruitment programs that had race as a criteria for entrance. Washington University in St. Louis was one of the last universities to fold to the case.
“For this, we commend the college of Arts and Sciences administration, Dean McCleod and Chancellor Wrighton. However, despite all effort, the Ervin Scholarship has now been forever altered and other race-conscious programs, such as the Rodriguez Scholarship and the Chancellor’s Fellowship are under close scrutiny. Within the year, it is unlikely any of these programs will remain open exclusively to the minorities they were meant to recruit and retain.”
Chancellor Mark Wrighton also issued a statement in which he re-affirmed his unwavering commitment to diversity.
“The students of Washington University will not allow our diverse community to diminish. So as we all enjoy this multicultural celebration, let us savor the community that we have nurtured and continue to celebrate the multi-faceted community that is Wash U,” said Wrighton.
Despite the scholarship issues, O’Malley, who also served as a host for prospective freshmen, said she felt like the weekend was a success.
“It seemed to me it went really well. I was very pleased with my PF’s. They were a lot of fun,” said O’Malley. “I think that the Celebrations Admissions Committee planned lots of good events, so that all of the students who were here always had something to do and got to meet a lot of new people.”
O’Malley said she thought one of the best things about the weekend was that prospective students got the opportunity to attend meetings for multicultural student groups.
“We had a meeting here on Friday where a lot of PF’s came. We had both our old and our new exec staff there and I think it was just really good for them [the prospective students] to get to see how our group works and the sort of community that they’ll have if they come here,” she said.
According to O’Malley, over 200 students are involved with ALAS and about 50 regularly attend the meetings. Many of the active members of the association hosted students over the weekend. O’Malley said that her only concern about the weekend was that it may have given prospective students a skewed sense of the level of diversity on campus.
“I think that it can be misleading because people come and see so much diversity and they think that that is how it is all the time,” said O’Malley, “But at the same time I think it is good for them to see that we do have a multicultural weekend and, in that sense, that we are very committed to diversity.”