CVK
There’s an interesting opinion piece in Macalester College’s school paper, written by two young women who attend the school, asking that the institution think about diversity in its student body in a more nuanced way. They use themselves as examples of why traditional ideas of diversity simply don’t hold true anymore. One is of mixed Asian descent, the other is white. It would appear that Emiko is the minority student - presumably underprivileged. However, if you look at their family’s economic positions, Emiko comes from a far more privileged background than Amanda does. The problem is that these two students feel like their school’s multicultural programming does not take their situations into account. There’s an assumption at the institution that students of color are automatically from a lower socioeconomic status than white students:

While Emiko fits the traditional racial profile of a minority student, her socioeconomic status often divorces her from the multicultural discourses on this campus. Though she is biracial, growing up in a predominantly white community never helped her question her multiracial identity. Often labeled the Asian girl without ever understanding what that meant, she came to Macalester looking for answers to these questions. It was not through multicultural programming that she found these answers, but rather in the conversations and experiences she has with fellow students, whether or not they fit the standard definition of minority student.

Amanda, whose grandparents came from Norway, Sweden and Germany, does not fit the traditional profile of a minority student. Growing up in an a mostly white community where the main method of social distinction was economic, she was shocked upon arriving at Macalester when people assumed that because she was white she was also at least comfortably middle class. Amanda continues to look at the support programs for students of color and wishes she had something similar to help her adapt to life at Mac.