Although the First-Year Advisory Counselor Program has been criticized for its lack of diversity in past years, FAC board co-chairs Geoff Bass and Bronwyn Lewis, both seniors, said this year's group of counselors is more ethnically diverse due to a more diverse recruitment pool.
The percentage of Asian students accepted as FACs has doubled since last year, and the number of multiracial students has seen a fivefold increase, Bass and Lewis wrote in an e-mail.
Ethnic diversity, while important to the program, is not emphasized in the selection process, the co-chairs said, and greek affiliation is not considered at all. Disproportionately high numbers of fraternity- or sorority-affiliated students in the program have been one criterion for criticism in the past.
Instead, applicants are evaluated numerically based on five qualities, including peer leadership ability and Duke enthusiasm, which the program has identified as necessary to serve as an effective FAC, Bass and Lewis said.
"The selection process itself places no emphasis on the diversity of individual applicants," they said. "We achieve diversity within the program by making a concerted effort to attract a diverse applicant pool, out of which the most qualified candidates tend to fit University-wide diversity statistics."
Kyle White, Trinity '07, a former member of the FAC board, said the program tries to achieve diversity by attracting a large pool of applicants instead of filling quotas but said other similar programs inhibit that goal.
"For instance, the Freeman Center has their own version of the FAC program, so kids who are Jewish might be inclined to be mentors at the Freeman Center instead," White said.
He said diversity is very important for the program to make freshmen feel welcome, but sophomore FAC Maja Falcon said she was surprised that the ethnic makeup of the program was a concern.
"I don't think it's an issue, because the school is diverse," Falcon said. "Whether the people helping you unload your stuff are of certain races isn't an issue."
If the program were to add ethnicity to its selection process, Falcon said she would be disappointed.
"They don't ask us what our race is on our application, and it should stay that way," she said. "That just goes to show they're not taking particular quotas. The process is fine the way it is."
Fellow FAC and sophomore Zach White, however, said that one of the program's central goals-making freshmen feel welcome-could be hindered by a homogeneous pool.
"I definitely think a lack of diversity could be perceived by incoming freshmen as a problem," he said. "A lot of incoming freshmen might want to see a FAC and think, 'They're like me, and they fit in here.' They're looking for someone they can connect with."
Kyle White added that diversity can mean a lot of things.
"The diversity everyone focuses on is racial and greek," White said. "Having people who are diverse of interests and backgrounds, where they are from, is something that gets looked over. One of the best parts of the FAC program and board is diversity of interests."
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