Background on Diversity

at Emerson College

Valentina Amaro holds up a #ThisIsEmerson sign during the walk out. RIANE ROLDAN/BERKELEY BEACON CORRESPONDENT

Although Emerson College is ranked in the top 10 for LGBTQ-Friendly colleges, according to the Princeton 2020 Review, Emerson College is not as diverse when looking at racial and economic demographics. On the college’s Facts & Figures webpage, admission demographics in Fall 2018, showed that international students made up 16 percent, African Americans 4 percent, Asian/Pacific Islander 5 percent, Caucasian 56 percent, Hispanic 14 percent, multi-racial 4 percent, and 1 percent of races unknown/not reported.

From these statistics alone, one can clearly see that Caucasian is the predominant race on campus, furthermore the breakdown of international students is not provided. International students are simply lumped together even though there are a variety of races and ethnicities from different countries that attend the college.

Because of the inequalities of race and privilege on campus, a few protests have taken place on Emerson’s campus. On April 28, 2015, students demonstrated a walk out at the last faculty meeting of the 2014-2015 school year to address the apparent and overwhelming need for increased cultural competency amongst Emerson community members. From this original walkout, POWER (Protesting Oppression With Educational Reform) was created.

In 2017, another protest was held on October 24th to follow up on the lack of Emerson’s response to their original demands. Written in a post from the POWER website, hundreds of Emerson students came together peacefully to present a series of demands to the Faculty Assembly. The protest was organized by Lucie Pereira (Co-Chair of POWER), Celia Reilly (Co-Chair of POWER), Lissa Deonarain (President of Flawless Brown), Aliyah Browne (President of EBONI), and Vivien Liu (Co-President of ASIA).

During the protest, organizers addressed the need for action in regards to diversity, inclusion, and cultural competency on campus. Through this protest they were able to garner over 2,000 signatures for their petition.

The organizers wrote, “It is our plan to work with members of the Emerson community to make changes within this institution so that we can ensure Emerson will be a welcoming, inclusive environment that stands for justice and against oppression, and enables all members of our community to thrive. We are proud to have formed a movement that was entirely by students, for students, and look forward to collaborating with faculty, staff and administration in the process ahead of us.”

With it being two years since the 2017 protest happened, some changes have come but more can always be done. The conversation about race and diversity on Emerson’s campus should continue to be an important topic.

Yes, there has been an increase of students of color and international students on Emerson’s campus since the 2017 protest, but there hasn’t been any programs or organizations created to help and support these students once they enter the campus. For example, support and aid for first-generation and low-income students is necessary for student retention. Seminars for cultural competency for faculty, staff and students are needed to create a more inclusive community. Furthermore, it is also important to recognize the privilege we all have in being able to attend a school like Emerson, a liberal arts college focused in the arts. Students of color and low-income students are taking personal and financial risks to pursue their passion and Emerson needs to do a better job in supporting us, whether that be providing more financial aid or simply reaching out to communities to know that we are seen and heard is needed.

Because of all these reasons and so much more, Beneath the Surface is a multimedia platform for Emerson students to voice their concerns and speak of their personal experience here on campus.

From listening to these student narratives, we hope to spark an honest conversation about race and diversity on Emerson’s campus and we hope change from Emerson’s administration and student body will come.

“We are not a voice for the voiceless. We all have a voice, people just aren’t listening.”

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More reports on the protest can be found below:

Emerson students march to Paramount to express their demands to end bias and discrimination at the college. EMILY CRISTOBAL