Spring Break
OSU in 2025 will better reflect our nation
President Ed Ray
Issue date: 10/29/09 Section: Forum
The demographic profiles of Oregon and the United States are changing, and Oregon State University must reflect those changes in the makeup of our student body. According to the U.S. Census, by 2025, Oregon and Washington's Latino populations, for instance, are expected to grow by 45 percent. By 2050, one in three Americans will be Latino.
Oregon State has a long-standing, authentic commitment to diversity, reflected today in the increasingly rich makeup of our student body. Preliminary enrollment statistics for the 2009-10 school year show that we've not only grown by 8 percent to a total record enrollment of nearly 22,000, but that the number of Latino students grew by 14 percent, surpassing 1,000 - also a record and roughly 5 percent of our student body. Notable growth is taking place, as well, in other domestic racial and ethnic minority groups and international enrollment, the latter largely an outgrowth of our INTO OSU effort to reach out to and enroll greater numbers of international students.
Despite our success in recent years, though, we lag behind some peer institutions with regard to minority and international enrollment. Part of that is a reflection of Oregon's relatively low representation of racial and ethnic minority populations compared to other states. But an equal part is "on us" - we must continue and enhance our work to be a welcoming, supportive university in which students of all backgrounds feel at home.
That's why we're determined to increase both the number of historically underrepresented students at Oregon State and the number of faculty from similar backgrounds to provide a more diverse representation of mentors and role models. These were issues I discussed at length as part of my 2009 State of the University address delivered on Oct. 8 at a special session of the Faculty Senate and in the Q&A that followed. (I encourage you to watch the streaming video of the talk and Q&A, which provide additional context and detail that space considerations preclude from covering here. Text versions of the address and Q&A are also available.)
Oregon State has a long-standing, authentic commitment to diversity, reflected today in the increasingly rich makeup of our student body. Preliminary enrollment statistics for the 2009-10 school year show that we've not only grown by 8 percent to a total record enrollment of nearly 22,000, but that the number of Latino students grew by 14 percent, surpassing 1,000 - also a record and roughly 5 percent of our student body. Notable growth is taking place, as well, in other domestic racial and ethnic minority groups and international enrollment, the latter largely an outgrowth of our INTO OSU effort to reach out to and enroll greater numbers of international students.
Despite our success in recent years, though, we lag behind some peer institutions with regard to minority and international enrollment. Part of that is a reflection of Oregon's relatively low representation of racial and ethnic minority populations compared to other states. But an equal part is "on us" - we must continue and enhance our work to be a welcoming, supportive university in which students of all backgrounds feel at home.
That's why we're determined to increase both the number of historically underrepresented students at Oregon State and the number of faculty from similar backgrounds to provide a more diverse representation of mentors and role models. These were issues I discussed at length as part of my 2009 State of the University address delivered on Oct. 8 at a special session of the Faculty Senate and in the Q&A that followed. (I encourage you to watch the streaming video
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