National diversity? We think not

"The University promotes the goal of community within a context of diversity. The University, therefore, encourages students to understand and appreciate the diversity of cultures which exists locally, nationally and internationally.

"It also seeks to promote appreciation of biodiversity by helping students understand the impact and dependence of human beings on their environment."

This is the second of four parts of the mission statement of the University of La Verne, according to the University's website. It states that one of the foremost goals of ULV is to promote diversity throughout the campus.

This specifically states that the pursuit and retention of campus diversity is one of the highest priorities among the entire University.

The cultures that are prevalent not only in southern California, but those throughout the nation and around the world are embraced at ULV.

When looking at the student statistics at the University, one would think that this piece of the mission is being fulfilled.

The Leopard population consists of 53 percent of students who consider themselves African American, Asian American, Native American and/or Latino or Latina, according to the University Relations' website. Over half of ULV's population considers itself to be a part of an ethnic minority.

Statistics like these seem to be the reason for ULV's administration to "puff out" its collective chest and boast readily about our so-called campus diversity.

Why is it then that many college-bound high schools students in the Los Angeles area have never heard of ULV? Isn't the University's top priority finding diversity?

A worse problem lies in the pursuit of diversity on a national level.

Walk around campus. Try to find a student who has come from out of California to ULV.

Sadly, you will only find a few of those students roaming around.

Here is the real challenge: Try to find a student from out of state who has come to the University strictly to pursue a higher education rather than athletic interests.

After an exhausting search, one will find few from any west coast state and even fewer from any state east of the Rocky Mountains, making the national part of the mission statement seem like an absolute fabrication.

Why is this? How can ULV suck in a few high school students from Washington, Oregon, Hawaii and Arizona each year and feel that it is fulfilling its national diversity part of the mission statement?

What about students from other the Midwest, East Coast or the South? The United States is so big and in no way has the University pulled an equal amount of students from those areas.

We are not stating that ULV does not have any students from east of the Rockies; that would be blatantly untrue.

We are saying, rather, that the percentage of students from the rest of the country is embarrassing for a school that states national diversity as one of its highest priorities.