It’s UNC’s worst kept secret. Our University is a predominately white institution, and students of color on this campus are acutely aware of this, leading many to feel uncomfortable and isolated on campus.
This was proven in the 2016 UNC Inclusion and Diversity Climate Survey, which stated, according to Friday’s Daily Tar Heel, that among undergraduates “63.1 percent of people identifying as Black or African American, 30.2 percent of people identifying as Latino or Hispanic and 8.5 percent of people identifying as white strongly agreed or agreed with the statement: ‘I feel isolated in class because of the absence or low representation of people like me.’”
Although Chancellor Carol Folt sent an email in 2016 that the results would be published, the University didn’t release the results until a Daily Tar Heel inquiry this semester.
The timing of these results coincide with the extension granted to Folt and the Board of Trustees regarding Silent Sam. Much like the leadership surrounding Silent Sam and the aftermath of the statue’s fall, the results of the survey were, instead of addressed and met with a conclusion that will benefit minority students, stalled.
The Editorial Board has addressed the lack of leadership regarding Silent Sam throughout the semester, but liked to believe that the University’s leadership had the best interest of students of color, at least to some small extent. The lack of transparency with the racial climate survey showed that the University refuses to even acknowledge the discomfort and trauma minority students feel, whether it be microaggressions in the classroom or the former presence of a Confederate statue at the forefront of campus.
Increasing diversity and recruiting students from different backgrounds at UNC, which has been predominately white institution for the past 225 years, is not a process that will complete in one year. It requires a nuanced approach, and a rehaul of the education system starting from elementary school. There isn’t one true solution to this issue, especially with the underpinning of affirmative action policy by the current presidential administration.
But making campus a more comfortable space for minority students already here is a problem that can be fixed in the short term. The first step is acknowledgement, which the University took two years to do and with a complete lack of transparency.
The University can still redeem itself to its students of color. The campus’ racial climate is certainly tenser than it was in 2016, and although the Editorial Board did not have the time to survey all of UNC's students and faculty members, it's probably safe to assume that the amount of undergraduates who feel uncomfortable on campus has stayed the same or increased. The Editorial Board encourages Chancellor Folt and the Board of Trustees to use this extra time granted to them to truly reflect on who they want to protect — and we hope the answer will be students and faculty of color.
The different backgrounds and experiences of students enrich each other’s educations inside the classroom and out. It’s a critical component of the Carolina experience, and one that the University chooses to celebrate. The administration should prove this, not by proclaiming it on the covers of promotional brochures, but with substantive action.
