Reese News Lab seeks racial diversity

The Reese News Lab is known for experimenting with new ideas in the media industry — and now they are looking at ways to increase innovation within their own student staff.

The lab, a project based out of the School of Media and Journalism, is trying to diversify its applicant pool, said Sara Peach, the lab's associate director. In the spring, Peach asked the Reese News Lab marketing team to think of new ways to recruit students from different backgrounds and experiences. 

“We see better results when we bring a lot of different perspectives into the room — the ideas for startups gets better,” Peach said.

In past years, Peach said, applicants came primarily from the journalism school, which comprises around 16 percent minority students, according to the school’s website. According to a registrar report, 32 percent of UNC undergraduates reported a race other than white. 

“We all, as journalists, have been trained in similar ways, so when you add someone from computer science or business — immediately the ideas are richer,” Peach said. “That works for people from different walks of life, too. Someone who is a first generation student brings a different perspective to the room. That’s what we want — a sort of check on people’s assumptions.”

As a result of the new attempts to reach out, Peach said the applicant pool for Reese News in April was much more racially diverse than ever before. 

“It’s a strong personal belief that this is a university of the people,” Peach said. “Every place on this campus needs to be open and welcoming to lots of different kinds of people.”

Peach joined the staff in 2010. She wants to improve diversity on the Reese student staff partly because of her personal experiences as an undergraduate at UNC.

“When I was an undergraduate student, on campus, there were spaces where I didn’t always feel welcome. I thought that was really wrong,” Peach said.

Lincoln Pennington, a senior in the journalism school, worked on the marketing team last year. He said the team reached out to the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs for ideas on increasing diversity in different ways — seeking applicants from different schools across campus, as well as race, gender, sexual identity and political orientation. 

“You really have to think about the best fit and the students who would be most interested,” Pennington said. “If you check a box, that’s token diversity — not really intentional, thoughtful recruitment."

Pennington said when talking about diversity, it’s especially important to address socioeconomic factors by eliminating financial barriers.

“Part of the goal of Reese is there are paid opportunities, because it opens the door for all students. Students who are on work-study may not pursue as many extracurriculars, but may be able to do Reese because they can treat it like their job and have income if they aren’t able to do work-study,” Pennington said.

Ted Zoller, director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, said any good entrepreneurship program should be committed to diversity. 

"Diversity is a hallmark of entrepreneurship," Zoller said. "Without diversity in perspectives, diversity in the way you're trained — and even cultural diversity — you don't come up with good answers. You follow conventional wisdom."

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