Georgetown bills itself as an institution bent on fostering diversity. It has dedicated substantial resources to the effort, including this week’s Diversity Summit and the longstanding Women’s Center, LGBTQ Resource Center, and Center for Multicultural Equity & Access. GUSA’s new Multicultural Council initiative and numerous cultural extracurricular groups espouse a parallel commitment among students.
But Georgetown’s support for diversity must be questioned. An article in The Hoya last Friday received backlash and ridicule for alleging a “shift” in the racial demographics of the class of 2019 early applicant pool from those of the previous year. As its own comparison showed, labeling such change a shift was an irresponsible exaggeration. But even more egregious was claiming a shift based on the raw numbers of racial minority early applicants, rather than on the percentage of early applicants they represent.
This Editorial Board has done the math, with discouraging results. Data from the 2013 and 2014 early applicant pools provided by Dean of Admissions Charles Deacon as percentages of each early applicant pool reveal a disappointing year-to-year increase in minority representation. For the Class of 2019, African Americans made up 8.5 percent of the total pool, a mere 0.3 percent increase from last year. Asian applicants made up 13.3 percent, up by just 0.2 percent. Hispanic applicants’ representation increased by 3.7 percent up to 11.5 percent, while the proportion of white applicants fell by 3.1 percent to about 65 percent.
The focus on numerical rather than proportional shift also masks the university’s failure to reflect national trends. The same day The Hoya ran its article, the Atlantic reported that, since 1993, high school graduation rates for minority students have increased at a rate that fast outpaces the increase in Georgetown’s proportional representation of these groups.
Georgetown’s figures also fall short of projections about the changing demographics of prospective college students. While just 8.5 percent of Georgetown’s 2014 early applicant pool is African American, the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education projects that African Americans will make up 12.6 percent of the national high school class of 2015 (a 1 percent increase from last year). Asians are projected to make up roughly 5.8 percent (up by 3.9 percent), Hispanics nearly 18 percent (up by 5.7 percent), and whites about 52.4 percent (down by 1.2 percent).
Although the racial diversity of Georgetown’s early applicants does not directly reflect the makeup of the future Class of 2019, it does indicate how accessible the university appears to racial minorities applying to college. Georgetown has not escaped the national trend, documented by Stanford University educational economist Caroline Hoxby, of top-tier universities failing to advertise themselves as financially accessible to minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged students.
Despite its efforts, these shortcomings undermine the university’s prevailing diversity narrative. Students and administrators alike must demand more than these feeble steps forward. If Georgetown is to embody its espoused commitment to inclusiveness, it must turn rhetoric into action and make the benefit of a Georgetown education truly available to all.
