I assumed that the discrepancy between the student body and the actual demographics of students in WA would have been much worse.

http://www.wwu.edu/diversity/stats.shtml

http://reportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us/summary… (taken as the mean, given that it's 2012 all students at WWU)

Not representative of actual demographics of high school students and that's always a conversation to have, but leading up to the "76 percent white" I was honestly expecting something much more discrepant. It's probably a bad thing that 76% white for a state college in Washington doesn't sound shockingly bad to me at first blush :-/

Without knowing any details, you can be sure you're on the right side of an argument if Dori Monson is on the other side.

Well when you a a state school in a very white state, it could be a reason.

Right wingers are such predictable assholes. Do you think the chairmen of the leading Fortune 100 corporations don't look around and say "If our customer base in ten years looks like todays's Fox News audience, we are completely fucked"?

Not that more diversity is bad, its a good thing but one shouldn't be surprised when a state school in a state 77% white is 76% white.

@3 & @5

This is the same reason I thought "wow, 76 percent, not so bad", but the pool for current students would be (for the MOST part) high school students from the last 4-6 years of classes. Those stats are closer to just over 60% white.

Another question to ask would be what the demographics of the schools are from which folks typically head to WWU and what the demographics of the students who apply look like... but someone's probably getting paid to do that shit.

I know this is cynical, but I wonder if not having any serious sports programs is making the school whiter. It would be interesting to see the before and after numbers when Western cut their football program.

While all of Washington state's second tier four-year colleges have worked very hard at promoting themselves as places where it's easier to acquire "job ready" specialty degrees (EWU and a Computer Science program supported by Microsoft, a broader than average set of Business-related degrees at CWU), Western is still very much a Liberal Arts school. My daughter goes there, and for her and a number of her friends, it was the kind of program she wanted but on a quieter, smaller scale from what the UW could provide. I don't see Western promoting itself much in places like Sammamish or HIghline HS, but saw them promoting their Masters programs via poster ads at both Smith College and the Claremont Colleges when visiting these campuses with my daughter.

@7 - The football program at Western was cut only a few years ago, and according to @6, it's become a fair bit more diverse since then.

I think another issue is a lack of a local social network upon which students of color can rely. My daughter and I visited Western three times when trying to figure out where she would go to college, and we ran into a fair number of students from local tribes in the general area. Almost all of them acted like they had won the lottery.

According to census tract data the nearby area is becoming much more Hispanic, as is the entire state

Not sure if you call that white

I worked with the WWU Admissions office and the Ethnic Student Center every year when I was there to help recruit more diverse students. I don't know if the ESC is still as helpful and awesome, but -- I loved what they were doing and hope they are still doing it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3c62n5I…

Also people who are upset over these comments should check their white privilege.

@ 6 That is a good point

Nope. Sorry, but ya'll are wrong. Again. As usual. Doesn't that ever get tiring to you folks.

Well, not all wrong. You'd think a presumably well educated man (as well educated as any leftist can be said to be anyway) would have understood the basic demographic data several posting here did. Before opening his mindless yap and making racist statements, that is. But no, he can't help but check against the list of ideologically acceptable ideas and brainlessly repeat leftist slogans.

Between him, Mudede and Sawant teaching students their inane reality challenged bullshit the next generation is in real trouble. And the current one, those paying for pedagogues to lie to the kids whose tuition they are paying- those folks deserve a refund and an apology.

@ 1 Please the left is always more educated that the right, we actually embrace science.

As was pointed out to me white HS students are 60% of the population, the white population at WWU is 76%.

Now you may not be good at math but 76% is bigger than 60% so there a higher proportion of white students in WWU than in Washington State.

And nothing wrong with what he said diversity is a good thing.

There was nothing racist in what he said, how could it be taken as racist. The GOP is just not smart.

@17: To put on my robe and wizard's hat for a moment:
Seattleblues thinks that it's perfectly fine for the university to be 76% white because Washington State is 77% white. He doesn't realize that it's not drawing on the population as a whole, but rather the portion of the population that is high school students. You are, as usual, so wrong you don't even begin to realize how wrong you are.

Ever notice that the same people who cry and whine at the very notion of increasing diversity are the SAME people who rant and rave against affirmative action?

"More nonwhite faces in higher ed" = EVIL, anti-white!

Fewer nonwhite faces in higher ed = The natural order of things, to be celebrated!

Right winger hypocrisy never ceases to amaze (or make for a good laugh)

The point everyone seems to be missing is that if Western is not taking race into account in their admittance process how do they intend to solve the "white problem"?

Western doesn't have any power other than the ability to manipulate their admittance process, advertise in ethnically diverse communities, and/or alter the curriculum in such a way as to attract a broader range of students. That's it.

So when they ask themselves, "how do we fix the problem of too many white people?" They already have their answer. The questioning is nothing more than an attempt to appear superficially provocative.

Additionally, if the demographics of the state are changing then the demographics of WWU will also eventually change. If the demographics flipped to 40% caucasian, 60% other ethnicities these changes will, sooner or later, be reflected in the student population.

The real issue is the cost of education and the socio-cultural impetus to achieve academic success as way to improve livelihood. The former, Western has direct control over, but the latter they are essentially powerless. As the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink.

Despite some peoples attempts to discredit the outrage over the comments of the President, they represent an egregious use of language that can be easily misconstrued as racism. In fact, the comments are intended strike with a provocative hint of racism, as admitted by the President himself, "No surprise. My word choice was intended to be provocative."

It's race-baiting in a completely unqualified sense, rather, the actual definition. All it does is push away people, white and otherwise, who may now see Western as a race-baiting institution attempting to use sensitive racial issues to either fire up an ideological point of view, or draw attention to the school in a shrewd attempt to increase enrollment.

Either way it's a fairly deplorable way to conduct university affairs.

@23 said "The real issue is the cost of education and the socio-cultural impetus to achieve academic success as way to improve livelihood"

^This is excusatory BS. The argument that minorities dont achieve as much because they dont place cultural value on education has been a red hearing for institutional racism apologists for years.

To go to college and become successful in the first place you need a few things:

1- Money.

2- To be lucky enough to have attended a high school with decent enough funding to prepare you (which, due to things like white flight, segregation, and school district defunding, is hard to come by in minority dominated schools).

3- You have to live in a nation that is not inherently racist in its hiring and employment practices.

Studies have shown that minorities (african americans in particular) with college degrees are LESS likely to be hired to even the most basic job than white excons with high school diplomas.

You cant call that "lack of cultural impetus". You can call it good old fashioned American ingrained bigotry.

@24: Are you white, 17-20, conservative, and concerned with legalizing marijuana?

Sorry, my post @25 should have been directed to @23.

@24

Can you hear that? It's the sound of wind rushing through the limbs of a straw-man.

Did I mention or argue against any of the things you bring up in your post? No.

So as a rebuttal it falls completely from the mark of dealing with my actual statements. As to your statements:

1- Money: I mentioned this as problem. Coincidentally it's one that reaches across all ethnic backgrounds and affects lower-income whites as much as ethnically diverse populations.

2- The rest of your argument is predicated on a sort of victimized Determinism that fundamentally denies the intellect and agency of an entire swath of people. It's its own kind of implicit racism, but I digress.

The more important reality is that you can only do so much. Increase funding to ethnically diverse schools, recruit better teachers, and design curriculum intended give them the best foot forward. It's up to the individual to recognize the opportunity and attempt to utilize it to their maximum benefit.

You cannot force anyone to succeed at anything. It's impossible. While they maintain sovereignty over their own intellectual consciousness no amount of work by anyone can get into their psyche and fire the appropriate electro-chemical impulses to make them want to do something.

I'm all for equality of opportunity, in a qualified sense, but equality of outcome is rigging the system to such a degree that it denies agency, the fundamental value of the people participating, and engenders alienation amongst the populace.

Regardless of the roadblocks anyone might face, it is up to them at a certain point to make it happen. I don't really see how this can be denied. The alternative is literally forcing people to do something they may not want to do.

"I didn't feel like studying today." Said any individual.

"I'm going to lock you in this room with a book until you study. I'm going to do that until you are educated enough to take this job in an upper level management position at company x. You might hate me and the process, but I'm going to make you do it regardless." Said the only real alternative to offering people opportunities which they can either take or not take.

The basis of making the decision to study, go to class, or do anything, is based on the individual personality and cultural background of that specific individual. No one is entirely free of the cultural context they grow up in, as you tried to point out with your remark about, "ingrained American bigotry." Being in the case you are mentioning that by implication white americans are culturally biased against black people.

This necessarily implies that a portion of the reasoning to do anything is partially how you view it in terms of cultural importance. East Indian and East Asian people don't seem to be struggling with the supposed blight of white bias in the education system, how do you explain that?

In the case of academic success especially it is largely predicated on individual effort. Beyond that in the working world, bias and intolerance can play a much larger factor, and definitely do exist. But it's still up to the individual, no matter the struggle, to improve their situation.

@25

I'm a white 26 year-old male currently double majoring in Philosophy and Biology. I do not affiliate with any political group or ideological distinction. I survey reality, the best evidence available, and make the most reasonable determination about individual political issues that I can.

The cultural upbringing I was lucky enough to have taught me to be self reliant and aim for academic success to improve my life situation.

I suppose if you want to discredit my opinion because of my racial and cultural background that's up to you. Though it would strike me as being somewhat ironic.