Students rally for greater diversity

Students rally for greater diversity

Students led and organized a protest outside of Old Chapel against administrative handling of "minority affairs" and voiced a desire for greater racial diversity within the student body. Rally was sponsored by AAA, Alianza, and the Middlebury Asian Student Organization. Specifically, the protesters were against the administration's consideration of Charles M. Burdick '63 as assistant to the president on minority affairs, due to Burdick being "completely underqualified and incapable of representing the diverse cultures which the position's criteria required". There was also the concern about the lacking racial diversity amongst the faculty itself. Following the protest, President McCardell addressed the group and met with some students following the rally. This all resulted in Burdick NOT being hired for the position described above.

Volume 90, Number 20

Sara Switzer

The Campus

4/30/1992

Shawna Mitchell '94
Charles M. Burdick '63

"Shawna Mitchell '94, one of the demonstrators, explained, 'We've been trying to get the administration to recruit more minority faculty members.'"

"Currently, 10.3 percent of Middlebury's student body and 15 percent of Middlebury's faculty are people of color. Over 300 students of color apply to Middlebury each year, and the 'yield rate', the number of students that are offered admission and choose to attend, is 31 percent."